Penick's Take
PENICK: Despite ugly main event, Bellator 131 a significant step in the right direction
Nov 16, 2014 - 10:50:44 AM PENICK: Despite ugly main event, Bellator 131 a significant step in the right direction

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Saturday marked a new beginning for Bellator, and with a new production set up, a larger venue, and more, the broadcast had a bigger event feel than anything they've put on Spike TV to date.

It started with the stage, video boards, and entrances, which were reminiscent of Pride and pro wrestling broadcasts. That's not a negative, either. This was absolutely a mix of that style of promoted entertainment and the legitimate sporting aspects of MMA, and it works. It works for Bellator to bring a little separation and a new feel to the events, and it's a welcome shift in presentation.

They were helped Saturday night by a mostly fun card in front of a much larger live audience than they've been getting, and with a better lit cage and arena overall the event simply felt bigger. It felt more important, it felt more major league, and it's because of some more minor things being done better that they were able to separate this one from what had been the typical Bellator event the past couple of years.

It wasn't all positive, of course. The Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar main event was a dreadful 15-minute fight. Both looked their age in the cage, and it was sadly on par with the quality seen by the not-really-UFC-level fighters on the UFC 180 prelims in Mexico City.

That was all the more evident in comparison to the rest of the card. "King Mo" Lawal vs. Joe Vedepo wasn't great, as it was a mostly one-sided matchup that Lawal mercifully finished in the third, but between Mike Richman and Joe Schilling scoring brutal and exciting finishes and Will Brooks emerging as Bellator's best lightweight fighter, there was still a lot of good stuff on the card.

The Brooks vs. Michael Chandler fight again showed the type of fighters who should be getting the focus from Bellator. Terrible main events between plodding old veterans might bring some eyeballs in the short term, but that's going to be quickly exposed if the fights remain of the quality we got from Ortiz and Bonnar.

Thankfully, this may wind up being the exception overall, as Bellator got ahead of things for their 2015 schedule in a big way.

By announcing their first three events for 2015, and featuring the headliners in those title fights in cage on Saturday night, they've already built awareness for what's coming up. They've now got two full months to hype their return in January, and fans already know what's coming on the February and March events as well.

In addition to that, they took the opportunity to announce a major signing in 18-year-old wrestling standout Aaron Pico during the broadcast. The heavily touted prospect is still eying a spot on the 2016 Olympic team, but has been considered a future star in this sport given his credentials and potential for transitioning successfully to MMA.

Bellator is making some moves, and with a lighter event load in 2015 they'll be able to put more time and effort into making each event more meaningful and entertaining. It's ultimately up to the fighters to deliver, and there are many improvements yet to be made, but anyone who watched Saturday's Bellator card should feel quite good about the direction the organization is headed into 2015.