Hello fellow fight fans, I have returned! No time for chit-chat, let's get down to business.
I have mentioned in my previous articles that Bellator's Scott Coker is in hot pursuit of new talent that will make their company grow big and pose a threat against the almighty UFC, a pursuit that saw the return of the internet sensation Kimbo Slice. Scott is no stranger to competing with the UFC, since some of the biggest names on UFC's current roster have migrated from Scott's previous company, Strikeforce once it was absorbed by the Zuffa owned giant. The list includes the likes of; Nick Diaz, Ronda Rousey, Alistair Overeem and Luke Rockhold among many others. Although Coker's track record shows that he means business, ut's safe to say that a few people expected that it was gonna shake up a few things within the UFC's ranks. Now, let's go back in time a bit. Although nothing was ever confirmed, rumors and talks dating as back as Feburary of 2014 stated that, Bellator will reach out to the former WWE champion and try to sign him. Further more, when Punk became a free agent with no ties to his former employee the rumors got even stronger. Some time later, UFC's "UFC181" PPV event shows CM Punk in a sharp suit speaking to Joe Rogan and saying that he is their newest addition to the middleweight division. The re-signing of Rampage Jackson didn't raise as much eyebrows because of Rampage's own statements about wanting to come back to the UFC and finishing his career there. Even though his wins in Bellator were less then impressive and UFC worthy. Now these were just small ripples going under everyone's radar. Bellator's signing of Kimbo Slice brought a unique flavor of a "freak show" signing and a potentially large ppv draw. Because, as I pointed before, having Kimbo means having high ratings. With his signing the fun part began, who is he gonna fight? Almost immediately the name of Cro Cop sprang to both Kimbo's and Cocker's lips. Sure enough, a flood of articles claiming that the signing of the PrideFC and UFC veteran was just a matter of time, followed quickly. Everything was pointing towards a Kimbo- Crop Cop "superfight" which had potential to bring over the much needed eyes on to Bellator's side. But the UFC quickly realized what was about to happen and swooped in with, what I'm guessing is, a very lucrative offer. Mirko is now scheduled to face Gabriel Gonzaga on UFC's debut card in Poland. The UFC is in a very bad place with controversy seemingly popping up from every corner. Jon Jones testing positive for a cocaine metabolite, Anderson Silva testing positive for 2 banned substances, former fighters issuing a class action lawsuit against them and the we're just 2 months in 2015. With this in mind it becomes obvious that Dana White and UFC personnel are paying close attention to what's going on over at Bellator. Especially, since the competition is serious about leaving a dent in UFC's pocket and I'm sure that's the last thing they would want to happen.
As I mentioned before, an epic bidding war is expected to happen when Brock Lesnar's WWE contract expires. With both UFC and Bellator being very confident that Lesnar will return to MMA that he will sign with them. I believe that this will ultimately show how serious of a threat Bellator really is. If Brock even as much as blinks at the mention of Bellator that means that they actually stand a chance in competing against UFC. If Brock goes with the excepted choice and re-signs with UFC. Things stay the same, more or less. UFC is still #1 but Bellator take a back seat for a while. As it would prove that they may be aiming a bit too high for now. Not saying they're doomed, but they will have to go back to the drawing board and start again.
I've been delaying this article for weeks now and finally got it done. I would like to say I was busy, but frankly I was just being a lazy fuck. As always, you can share your thoughts in the comments bellow and like my fb fan page, at facebook.com/armbarsmmaworldoffical, It's been a while since I posted something on it, but I'll get give it a breath of fresh air in the following days. As for further blog posts go, a whooole lotta stuff happened since the last time I posted , soooo I'll have plenty of writing material.
Uuntil next time, in case you forgot, I'm Armbar, this is my blog, and I wish you a good fight and good night!
