PFL vs Bellator MMA: Is this a Wise Decision?
via Wikipedia
On January 16th, PFL announced that they would be holding a massive fight card matching up their current champions against the champions of their newly acquired promotion, Bellator MMA. Despite the fact that this card has mayhem and excitement written all over it, many are wondering whether or not this will work in favor of PFL.
This event will put three PFL Champions against Bellator Champions in the same weight classes. PFL has selected Heavyweight Champion Renan Ferreira, Middleweight Champion Impa Kasanganay, and Featherweight Champion Jesus Pinedo to compete in this event. Initially, Welterweight Champion Magomed Magomedkerimov was also scheduled to compete, but had to pull out due to injury.
On the other end, the Bellator Champions that will be competing are Heavyweight Champion Ryan Bader, Middleweight Champion Johnny Eblen, and Featherweight Champion Patricio Pitbull. Their Welterweight Champion Jason Jackson will also be competing, not against Magomedkerimov, but against PFL’s former Welterweight Champion, Ray Cooper III at a catchweight of 182 lbs.
Press Conference for PFL vs Bellator Champs on January 24. (via ArabsMMA)
Other stars from each promotion will also be competing, such as Bellator Featherweight Aaron Pico, Light Heavyweight Yoel Romero, and Lightweight A.J. McKee. PFL has only one other certified star competing, that being Light Heavyweight Thiago Santos.
Even though this card is absolutely loaded, the question still remains: Is PFL cannibalizing their newly acquired talent in order to prove something about their current fighters? Although they have put certain stipulations in place, it certainly seems as if they are trying to prove a point that their champions are definitively better than the ones that they just acquired.
PFL has stated that they will still allow Bellator Champions to defend their titles after this event by holding events that specifically showcase them, but this could blow up in their face. If PFL makes a clean sweep of Bellator’s Champions, then there would likely be little to no interest in tuning in to watch the proverbial “C League” which Bellator would effectively become.
However, this could be very interesting if there is a relatively even split between Bellator and PFL Champions. They could market this as an ongoing conflict between brands, and continue to matchup champions from each promotion. This would be far more interesting than the former, and could lead to lots of success for the PFL. This is a big if though, and fans will be eagerly watching to see which side will prevail.
