June - 2016
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
8
is a business, and if you
can’t make the business
side of things work, well,
it’s time to say goodbye.
While Bellator are clearly
hesitant to let Minakov
escape to the rival UFC or
WSOF, it’s clear something
had to be done.
The good news is that the
stripping of Minakov could
not have come at a better
time, because for the first
time in ages, Bellator has
more than a single option
in their heavyweight divi-
sion. For starters, recent
signees Sergei Kharitonov
and Matt Mitrione, both
of whom wouldn’t look
out of place in a Bellator
title fight. Then, consider
Bobby Lashley and Cheick
Kongo, both on mutli-
fight win streaks at the
moment.
All four of these men are
solid fighters. While not
approaching the top five
in the UFC, they wouldn’t
look horrible there (neither
Mitrione nor Kongo can
be said to be failures), and
lets face it, unlike Coker’s
old haunt Strikeforce, a
deep heavyweight division
is something Bellator has
yet to come close to.
So the obvious approach
here: make like the WSOF,
and host a one-night
heavyweight tournament.
Pairing these four up is a
no-brainer.
There’s a reason why this
should be a one night deal:
as Scott Coker learned
in Strikeforce, staging a
heavyweight tournament
with more contenders
over a longer period of
time can become a logis-
tical nightmare. Though
Daniel Cormier eventually
won the tournament, lets
not forget that he started
out as an alternate, and
that the biggest names
in the tournament back
then were eliminated ear-
ly, or pulled out due to
injury. Names like Fedor
Emelianenko and Andrei
Arlovski fell early, shock-
ing many. Then Alistair
Overeem couldn’t make it
to the next round due to
injury.
No, a long, drawn out
tournament is not the way
to go. At least a one-night
deal means, assuming all
fighters make fight day,
you’ve got your full roster
to start the event. Maybe a
tournament alternate gets
called in due to injury, but
you finish the exercise in
one shot come hell or high
water.
There are other options of
course. Bellator should be
pushing full force to sign
Fedor after his Rizin FF run
is complete, but that may
mean having Viacom write
a pretty fat check. Alter-
nately, a bout between
whatever names the pro-
motion feel are the big-
gest right now, with a title
eliminator the same night
deciding the next in line,
could also work.
One thing is clear: names
like Kimbo Slice and any-
one else on the freakshow
side of things (Lashley gets
a pass as he has displayed
solid athleticism over the
course of his career) needs
to be kept far away from
the heavyweight title
scene. And the promo-
tion must do everything
possible to avoid a stinker
akin to the recent middle-
weight debacle between
Melvin Manhoeff and Ra-
fael Carvalho.
At the end of the day,
however, Bellator’s heavy-
weight ranks smell of op-
portunity for the first time
in two years, and that is a
very positive sign.
