Growing Pains: Bellator Will Roll With The Punches And Can Overcome Their Ratings Hurdles

This Saturday, upstart promotion Bellator FC will hold another live, weekly event on the MTV2 network. After opening to high ratings, Bellator’s broadcasts have begun to slip in viewership while paradoxically improving in quality. But let’s not rush to conclusions, it’s far too soon to say whether or not Bellator will be a long-term success or failure on MTV2. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney recently said just that in a new interview. Here are the highlights.

With full credit going to MMA Junkie, the Bellator head honcho recently had this to say: “This is a marathon – this is not a sprint… What I’m getting drawn up in is improving the quality of our production, increasing the quality of our fights, and trying to make this bigger and better… The bottom line is we all forget because we’ve been around this and talking about and thinking about Bellator for the last couple of years, but we’re still a relatively new brand in terms of general market crossover.”

I agree with what Rebney says for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, Bellator is a new, growing promotion and you don’t get to the top without going through plenty of growing pains. Let’s not forget, the UFC was in pretty dire straits before “The Ultimate Fighter” saved them and brought the promotion into the mainstream. Strikeforce had to acquire the bulk assets of another promotion in order to get to their spot as #2 in the world. EliteXC rose to the top lightning-fast and imploded just as quickly. In MMA, there are too many come-from-behind success and shocking failure stories to count.

But let’s be honest: a prolonged decline in the ratings has always been the beginning of the end for any television show, including MMA shows. Bellator has hit a few bumps in the road, and I think they’re ran efficiently enough to right those wrongs and get back on track with better shows and bigger ratings. But anything can happen in MMA, including promotions both rising and falling. I certainly hope Bellator stays alive for a good long while, but I just don’t know.

Here’s what I do know: Bellator is not a bad promotion. In fact, I’m really beginning to get behind the promotion. I’m definitely a fan by this point, I’ve got both feet planted in the Bellator war wagon. How could I not? In just a handful of shows on MTV2, we’ve seen dramatic KO’s, amazing three-round wars, and all manner of exciting fights. Where else but Bellator could we see another Inverted Triangle submission? Where else but Bellator would an Inverted Triangle be a two-time occurrence?

Whether it’s the MTV2 audience having short attention spans or the Bellator shows going on early or the competition from the UFC’s free preliminary fights, there’s a lot of reasons why Bellator’s ratings may have taken a bit of a skid. But notice I said “reasons” and not “excuses”. Rebney isn’t hiding behind any facts or figures, and neither am I. Rebney remains confident in his product and I appreciate his honesty. I’m a bit scared for Bellator but I believe they have the ability and fortitude to improve their ratings while continually improving the quality of their product.

So hope is not lost, and doomsday is not upon us. Bellator is experiencing growing pains, but they’re not down for the count. I look forward to continuing to watch this promotion, and I wish all involved nothing but the best. And what about you, fans and friends? Any reactions to Bellator’s dip in the ratings and/or Rebney’s reaction to it?