Belator in talks with Alberto Del Rio

[Duckman]

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/12/23/7438867/bellator-in-talks-with-former-wwe-star-alberto-del-rio
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What'd you guys think of this?  Good?  Bad?  Ugly?

[Fnord]

I'd like to see it... Maybe we can get Del Rio VS Punk! lol

[Jon]

I'm pretty indifferent.

I don't really watch Bellator too much. It's mainly a bunch of has beens. Except for the lower weight divisions.

He'd be a money draw though.

I wonder if it would have any effect of him going to ROH though.

[Cory]

Only for a Cro Cop rematch, if not....Im a firm believer that wrestlers with "miles" on them will never...ever be able to make the transition to be a legit fighter....too much of a grind.

....unless your a freak like Brock Lesnar....but hes the rare case. Del Rio is an average athlete, expect him to be a can in MMA.

[Duckman]

It's crazy to see how much the MMA promotions are now going back to the 'stunt casting' route of signing names and former stars.  You've got Punk to UFC.  Bellator scored a huge hit with Ortiz v Bonnar.  Rampage is back in UFC and now Del Rio in talks with Belator.

So my question is, do these kind of signings hurt the sport or help it?  I'm looking at it from a purely money drawing point of view, so I think they're good moves - they get more eyeballs on the product and maybe convert new fans.  Then on the flip side you've got to be careful the sport doesn't become too much like wrestling - where personality and star power is what drives the business.

Where do you guys stand on the sport vs. entertainment argument?

[Cory]

Its clearly that.....everything falls MMA wise under the UFC....and what the UFC does trickles over to smaller promotions like Bellator.

Its easy to say UFC tho events growing at a massive rate, have lost some steam and isn't as popular as it was 2 years ago due to over saturation and quantity over quality. Not saying its dying, far from it, but the growth I believe has peaked and now is the time where their audience decides how much of their time they want to invest in the UFC product. Can they keep up with all the shows, or are they going to lose those who enjoyed AT most 2 cards a month, with one of those having at least 3 drawing, meaningful fights on showcase.

I remember there was at least a card every other month worth watching, and when the big UFC event loaded with star power was on once a month you head to your buddies or to a bar and catch it...now there's seemingly one a week with maybe one solid draw of a fight on each card....plus 2014 was a year hit hard with injuries cancelling big fights.

Im in the middle. I watch all the big cards, usually will catch the UFC on Fox ones, and treat the fight nights and anything else like WWEs product. I'll watch if I'm around/nothings on but other than that I'll just check online and see if anything happened worth watching.

RE: Pro Wrestlers in MMA, sport vs. entertainment

UFC wants a quick return, and that's CM Punk. As I stated in my theory above, they've pushed all the triggers for people watching for a pure sport, athletic competition aspect however outside of MAYBE 2 fights a year, there's not much in ways of story-lines for the casual or wrestling cross-over fan to bite into.

People who like CM Punk probably are the older WWE viewers, who nag on the WWE product, who if not already a UFC watcher will watch to see what Punk does and that's a draw for the product...the same tap they drew fans from Lesnar coming over.

Because what I said earlier about everything MMA wise falling under UFC, Bellators growth is stunting because the UFC product isn't as strong going into 2015 as it was going into 2014 IMO. I imagine losing their top talented fighter in Eddie Alvares as well as maybe their top draw in Rampage is making them pull at strings, so Bellator being the 'B' level company is doing the 'B' level move to match UFC and get a lesser name in Del Rio to try the same customer gaining move.

My worry is this. Any legit MMA fan knows CM Punk is going to struggle. I've always felt the more power to him for doing what he wants to do, but he's an above average athlete with 1000000s of miles on his body. A training camp will be nothing like rolling with the Gracies once or twice a month, and i REALLY rate this on the same level as when Herschel Walker tried to do MMA. Brock Lesnar was an athletic freak...maybe in a ways this generations Bo Jackson in relation to when healthy I don't doubt there's any professional sport from a physical standpoint that's practical for Brock that he couldn't excel in.

Everyone knew he would demolish some people in the cage, and on top of all that he was a Heavyweight....the biggest drawing, usually most exciting (KOs) division to casuals in MMA...Punks gonna be what a Welterweight or something? A division with grapplers and higher decision rate that COULD have those wrestling fans undecided about MMA, who probably have the ironic "guys humping each other in underwear" fuck that product stigma  see his fight be a decision and not help the UFC at all.

To sum it up. Short term its easy money and a draw, long term it could hinder the product.

the end.