SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
August - 2016
33
Bellator has been for years the
main rival company compet-
ing with UFC by creating their
own stars and using a differ-
ent tournament style format.
They have produced stars such
as Michael Chandler, Mu-
hammed Luwal, Pat Curran,
Patricio Freire, and current
UFC Lightweight champion
Eddie Alvarez. They also have
a deal with a huge television
network in Spike TV that fea-
tures their events which helps
them bring in more viewers.
Since Bjorn Rebney stepped
down as chairman and chief
executive and chairman of Bel-
lator, Scott Coker has come in
and tried changing things up
to make the company draw
more viewers and develop a
bigger fan base. Coker has
put together big fights that
have the non casual fight fans
tuning in to watch such as Tito
Ortiz returning and fighting
former UFC fighter Stephen
Bonnar as well as competing
for a title, one of the biggest
draws in all of mixed mar-
tial arts Kimbo Slice headling
events and MMA legend Ken
Shamrock returing to headline
events against Slice and facing
another legend in a rematch
against Royce Gracie.
While all of these fights will
bring in new viewers from
an entertaining standpoint,
these fights aren’t the most
talented fighters which is the
opposite approach that the
UFC takes in which they have
headlining bouts that feature
the two best fighters in that
weight class. The reason Bel-
lator can’t do that is because
they can’t compete with the
UFC when it comes to talent
so they have to have fewers
cards where the stack up the
biggest names on their roster,
featuring the same big names
as the big fights on majority of
all big events.
A new trend that has been
happening with UFC stars is
they feel they are being under-
valued and have now begun
testing the market, which is
something that has never real-
ly happened in the past. Most
recently Bellator has been able
to sign former lightweight
champion Benson Henderson,
and heavyweight Matt Mitri-
one, as well as being in talks
with some other fighters try-
ing to test the market with
rumors of talks with welter-
weight Rory Mcdonald. Bella-
tor is starting to become more
appetizing to UFC fighters
and seems to be on the rise.
With the promotion bring-
ing in these big names they
are going to be able to create
big match ups for events and
bring in those fighters follow-
ings that they created while
competing in the UFC, as well
as put on more competitive
bouts.
Bellator signed undefeated
British prospect Michael Page
back in 2014, and he has since
gone 6-0 with 5 impressive
finishes. Page brings a fight-
ing style to mixed martial arts
that has never been seen be-
fore, coming forward with his
hands down and chin up, he
relies on his speed and power
to mock his opponents, look-
ing at times as if he is literally
dancing in front of his oppo-
nents until he finds an open-
ing and using his explosiveness
to charge in and end the fight
with a highlight finish. If you
were to look up his highlights
it would look like something
from a video game and that
is exactly what makes fans so
eager to want to see him.
Although Page had the skill,
entertainment, and cockiness
to sell any fight, due to him
not being on the biggest stage
in MMA like the UFC many ca-
sual fans haven’t been able
to see him, but after his last
bout he has made huge waves
all around the world and has
many people looking forward
to tuning into his next bout to
see what he will do next.
Page faced his toughest test
to date when he took on
Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos,
a former strike force fighter
who has been a veteran in
mixed martial arts and has
competed against big names
such as Gegard Mousasi, Siyar
Bahadurzada, and Nick Diaz.
He was also fighting in his
home town of England which
made this the biggest fight by
