Jackson Vs Ortiz: Bellator continues to fall behind the 8-Ball

In my best Paul Harvey voice here. Hello fight world! This is the Crypt Keeper. Standby for craaaappp! Before you get all defensive, read on further as I'm talking about one bout in particular. And in my sites today is the red-headed step child that's always behind the 8-ball, Bellator MMA.

Bellator directly in my site.

Before I get into the match I'm loathing, let me get those of you who don't know me up to speed on my opinion on Bellators current state. With Zuffa's purchase and integration of Strikeforce into the UFC, a lot of fighters were let go for various reasons. Some good, some bad, but none the less there were a good number of fighters looking for a new organization to call home. Bellator had the opportunity to really step up here, add some weight to their roster, and gain some main line credibility as a viable threat to the UFC just as Strikeforce was before their buyout. Bellator dropped the ball. Fighters that should have been picked up were left to walk. And instead of looking at a strong future, they pulled a play out of Dixie Carter's book, and started snatching up big names that should be retired or are just garbage. Essentially Bellator is now the TNA to UFC's status as the WWE of cage fighting. Is sad. It's not to say Bellator doesn't have any good fighters. They do. Their overall product just isn't up to par, and they're too blinded by the well polished turd in their hands to realize it's a turd.

So fast forward to the fight I'm talking about. The recently announced debacle between Quinton Jackson versus Tito Ortiz. What the french toast? Now that we know what match has my blood pressure up, lets take a look at the fighters. Then I'll go into the match.

Lets start with Jackson, who I have respect for. He stepped away from the UFC and admitted he just can't hang with the big dogs anymore. He's close to retirement and is looking at that horizon. He probably has one good fight left in him, but essentially he's done. His attitude reflects this as well. So now he has a contract that allows him to test the waters of the fight world to see if it's really still worth it to him, and he can start making a transition to "professional wrestling" with TNA. A world where his name can still pack an arena, and net some big money. He's at that stage where a crowd chanting, "One more time" actually means something. Rampage, more like Junkyard Dog these days, is a good veteran to Bellator to test its people against to see if they really are ready for that next level. Could Jackson hold a belt? Possibly, but he probably wouldn't hold that strap for very long.

Now for the Huntington Beach Bitch Boy. This classless dingle berry just needs to leave the fight world. It doesn't matter if he wins or loses, he's a bad sport and brings down the fight world anymore. Win, lose, or draw he always has a story about how he broke this, strained that, or some other training mishap that took away from his a game, but he fought anyways. Hey jackass, this isn't the WWE! You don't have to play a heel character! This guy has an excuse for everything. If it was just when he lost, it would be one thing. You could chalk it up to being pissed about the loss. But even when he wins he has something ugly spewing from the suck on his face. Then look at his record. Over the better part of the last decade, his loss record has quickly added up to almost match his win record. Some of those loses are to fighters that are not even up to Jackson's caliber. It's sad. Very, very sad.

The fight itself is good purely for nostalgia purposes. But really it's nothing more than a trip down memory lane as both are far from their prime. It should in no way be the Main Event status it's being given. It's like watching Hulk Hogan go one more round with Ric Flair. Will Tito do the Flair Flop? It's ridiculous. For me, it shows just how involved Spike TV/ Viacom really are with their programming. This fight is entertainment, not a fight. And I know I'm not alone in this opinion. If Bellator really wants to be taken seriously as a fight organization, and not as a stepping stool to "professional wrestling" they really need to change their game up.

TNA Wrestline Sting Vs Hogan. Purely a nostalgic match. So Sad.

This "fight" has the potential to go either way. It could be a money maker provided Tito takes it seriously, and does everything he can to actually deliver a fight. Or it could be just another match on Jackson's path to TNA. Either way, it's a gamble that Bellator has placed way too much in. Queue the music, I'm out. In the words of Paul Harvey, "Good Day."

Ultimate Badasses

You have to love how people respond to the question of who their all time favourite MMA fighter is. The responses are hilarious, and highlight how little the average fan know about the sport. While I'm not putting down the fighters, as many are pretty damn good, I am sitting here wishing the average fan would vest a little more time getting educated before opening their sewers. Typically responses include the likes of Couture, Liddell, GSP, Silva, Bisping, etc. Fighters that for the most part are still fighting, or in some form still a face for the UFC in general. Sometimes you'll get a name from the recently defunct Strikeforce, but that's about it.

The average fan doesn't give a thought to other organizations such as Invicta, and even more rarely female fighters such as Michelle Waterson or Holly Holm. But the Holy Grail that isn't but a whisper are the early days. I'm talking the tournament style fights that occurred long before Dana White got involved, and actually had UFC banned in many places, and had the far east fall in love with Pancrase . Styles where fighters would gather, and then have multiple fights in a night where they would climb the ranks to be the ultimate bad ass in the land. We're not talking some 5 minute round, where the ref would stand you up if he didn't like what he was seeing after a few seconds. We're talking knock down, drag out, 30 non-stop minutes of beating your opponent senseless. Back when men like Royce Gracie, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, and Tank Abbott ruled the cage.

You have the great Gracie family who have not only shown that size isn't always a factor in a fight, but have given the world what it knows as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Dan Severn who would tie his opponents up like a pretzel and ended his career recently with over 100 wins to his name. Now you're probably looking at the other names and thinking to yourself, "What the hell is he smoking?" So I'll start with Ken Shamrock. Yes, he's an obnoxious ass who needs to get away from the sport. However, if you take a look at his early career, his prime if you will, he was a great fighter. He racked up wins and was a submission machine. Up until his first retirement, he was a top fighter. I had a discussion with a friend the other day about Tank Abbott, who made a valid point. Tanks career is similar to Shamrocks in that he started off as a man to be feared. While his record was never spectacular, he was a man that would win or lose in spectacular fashion, and almost never allowed a fight to be left in the hands of the judges. Win or lose, someone was getting knocked out, or choked out, end of story. And this kept pace until his first retirement as well.

Retirement is where Shamrock and Abbott are virtual mirror images. Both went to "pro wrestling" organizations for brief runs. And then both returned to the world of MMA to pretty much trash their records, and look more like street thugs than fighters. Both talk an incredible amount of crap, which doesn't work well since they don't win often. And neither one of them seems to believe that they have nothing left in them. The only reason they get fights is so small organizations can put a name on the marque to generate a little more money.  Which is sad. Apparently some managers think they'll be able to recreate the Rocky movies with an old MMA fighter.

My point is this, while these are fighters that have either had good endings to their careers or crap, they were pioneers that rarely get credit. For MMA they are the Babe Ruth, Roger Staubach, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, and Hulk Hogan. Fans need to look at the history of the sport, commentators and practitioners need to teach the history when they can, and owners should make it a point to remind people of the fighters that made today’s sports possible. I love Mir, Nelson, and many of today's other fighters. But lets not forget the days of old either. Tribute is due. And knowledge brings more enjoyment, and pride to the sport.