Crash Course: Bellator 38 Edition

Hello once more fans and friends and welcome to the latest edition of “Crash Course”. “Crash Course” is a series of articles designed to give readers a quick rundown on all the relevant information they need to know heading into an upcoming major MMA event. Everything from why you should watch, what you should expect in the co-main and main event, and even where and when you can find it on TV is all covered in detail. So let’s get right to it with today’s edition, featuring Bellator 38.

The Event: Bellator 38, currently scheduled for March 26, 2011 at the Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. The main card will be broadcast live on the MTV2 network starting at 7:00 PM ET and 6:00 PM CT.

Why You Should Care: Like the first three events of Bellator’s new partnership with MTV2, this third event will see the start of another “Season 4” tournament, with eight men squaring off in the opening quarterfinals in order to take the first step towards winning a title shot. On this night, the Light Heavyweight stars will be in action.

What to Look Forward to in the Main Event: As always, it’s tough to pick a main event when all four featured fights are part of a larger tournament. But I can certainly talk about the fight I’m looking forward to the most, and that fight is Tim Carpenter vs. Daniel Gracie. The last name “Gracie” is synonymous with MMA, and with the sudden resurgence of the name thanks to the ever-improving Roger Gracie, many people are looking forward to Daniel Gracie’s second fight back after taking a hiatus from the sport for almost four years.

What to Look Forward to in the Co-Main Event: Another fight that’s well worth looking forward to is the battle between Chris Davis and Christian M’Pumbu. Both men have similar records: they’ve both won three out of their last four, they’ve both got submission wins and TKO wins, and they’ve both recently TKO’d two of their opponents. This should be a fun, entertaining scrap that likely won’t make it to the third round.

Why You Should Watch This Card: Simply put, Bellator continues to impress and put on solid cards even if you don’t know who’s competing. I usually go into a Bellator event knowing a handful of names at best, and these past three events I’ve always been pleasantly surprised. My appreciation of this organization continues to grow, and it’s important that they become successful.

Why You Shouldn’t Watch This Card: Bellator finds itself in another awkward position thanks to the UFC’s Fight Night 24, which takes place on the same day. Once again Bellator is moving their start time ahead in order to not force fans to choose between Bellator and the UFC. Of course, fans now have to choose between an early show and doing whatever they normally do before a Saturday night. If you’ve got the time I think this event is worth checking out, but if you can only watch one MMA event that night, I think the UFC’s outing is your best bet.

Closing Thoughts: Based on how crazy things have been in MMA for the month of March, I still haven’t gotten around to penning the article where I detail why Bellator has become my new “dark horse favorite”. I think I’ll sit on that article for just a bit longer, I need just one more solid show in order to fully tip the scales. I’ll be watching this event with a keen eye, because if it succeeds where all the other “Bellator on MTV2” shows have succeeded, the race will be pretty much won and Bellator will replace the WEC as the promotion I continually talk about in order to encourage fans to give this under-appreciated promotion a chance.

And what about you, fans and friends? Anybody out there looking forward to Bellator 38?