Watching the Bellator 123 broadcast, I felt a sinking feeling when I saw Stephan Bonnar in the cage dressed in a suit and yelling, and I saw Tito Ortiz stomping around the octagon making the same mean face he used to make in the 90s. Bellator is going to headline their November 15th offering with a main event of The American Psycho vs The Huntington Beach Bad Boy. Am I the only one not excited by this?
Here is how the UFC and Bellator are different, and will always be. Keep in mind, that both Tito and Stephan Bonnar are both UFC discards. Yes, nostalgia may lead you to want to see them fight, but both are long past their primes. If both were ont he UFC roster, and the UFC were to consider the match, they would do it on a mid-card, or as a main event for one of their smaller shows. They would not headline and put all their eggs in the basket of this fight. And that is what Bellator appears to be doing.
The fact is Bonnar may have always harbored pr0-wrestling dreams, but his yelling in the ring just looked awkward. And I hate to say it, Tito is right, why drag Jenna Jameson into the ring? They went into this thing with little scripting and it was bad. Ortiz has a little charisma, but his act is old nowadays, and he really doesn’t have anything more in the tank. If they were to fight on a mid-card somewhere it would be interesting to see how age has changed both fighters and it is a worthy fight for what it is. But packaged as a main event blood feud, oh boy.
Bellator has talent on the roster, and there will be solid fights around it, such as Alex Shlemenko (who Tito choked unconscious in seconds) and Melvin Manhoef., but the organization continues to push these ‘hype’ sessions pro -wrestling style. I guess people should be grateful that they did not see Quinton Jackson, King Mo and Tito Ortiz cross-over to TnA wrestling as part of their hype joining Bellator, but that was a downright embarrassing display of cross-marketing. With this Bonnar-Ortiz announcement, it doesnt look like Bellator has learned much.
