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SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
January - 2015
9
since 2010, but his MMA
career spanned nine years,
and at age 37, he’s actu-
ally in the exact same age
range as Brock Lesnar, CM
Punk, and Bobby Lashley.
Will his signing, should it
happen, draw eyeballs to
Spike TV? Absolutely, es-
pecially since he has fought
at heavyweight, and could
be booked against Lash-
ley in a WWE Superstar
vs. WWE Superstar MMA
bout, the first of its kind. Is
it a good move for Bellator
MMA? Is it a wise move
for them to jump (again)
onto that pro wrestling
bandwagon?
Well, there is your ques-
tion, and it’s a question of
legitimacy. Lashley, despite
his competition level some-
times lacking, went about
his career the right way. He
worked his way up. He put
time in on the regionals.
He became a mixed mar-
tial artist, putting in the
hours, the blood, sweat,
and tears as the saying
goes. Lesnar, who jumped
almost straight to the UFC,
was an anomaly, but really,
how many guys would be
able to do what he did?
The CM Punk signing,
while good for the bot-
tom line, was not a case of
an athlete going out and
earning his spot, and it
hurt the legitimacy of the
MMA game in that regard.
How much? Not a ton, be-
cause the Punk signing is
what it is — we all know
that for the UFC, it’s about
money.
So again, legitimacy. Dos
Caras, Del Rio, whatever
you want to call him, he is
a legit fighter with an es-
tablished record, but he’d
be making a pretty big
jump, a pretty much un-
earned jump, were he to
go straight into a Bellator
main event. Should Bella-
tor handle him correctly,
giving him a few lower tier
guys and letting him work
his way up, well sure, then
the move might work out.
Would they be willing to
gamble away a marquee
fight with an ex-WWE star
on the off chance he loses
to a can? That’s the big-
gest question, and with
Bellator leaning more and
more to the side of spec-
tacle, it’s questionable.
More concerning, how-
ever, is the possibility that
Bellator is interested in
more pro wrestling stars
to bolster their roster. That
was the rumor making the
rounds after the Punk sign-
ing, as Bellator no doubt
had a case of wrestler envy
after losing out on the
straight edge superstar (is
he still even called that?).
How long before MMA
fans are forced to roll their
eyeballs at a Dirk Diggler
or Miz showing up in the
cage? And that’s not to
say that those wrestlers, or
any, couldn’t cut it — but
there’s something to be
said for paying your dues
and earning your shot in a
sport built on violence and
blood that can take years
off a fighter’s life. Cutting
the line, frankly, leaves a
bad taste in a lot of peo-
ple’s mouths.
So sure, Bellator, go ahead
and sign Del Rio if he’s in-
terested and a deal can be
made (he recently inked a
deal with Ring of Honor in
the pro wrestling realm,
but that shouldn’t stand
in the way of some MMA
fights any more than Lash-
ley being TNA champion
did). Having said that,
however, do not open the
floodgates, lest you want
to watch what little legiti-
macy you have left wash
away.