The promotion announced today that Henderson’s first fight in Bellator will be at Bellator 153 against Andrei Koreshkov and it will be for the Welterweight title. “Bendo” had two fights in UFC at the higher weight class, winning them both, in 2015. He won a split decision over Jorge Masvidal in his last UFC fight in November which followed a 4th round submission of Brandon Thatch in February.
Koreshkov is 23-5 and won the Bellator Welterweight Championship over Douglas Lima via unanimous decision in July at Bellator 140. That was his fourth straight win in the Bellator cage and fifth straight overall. He has not lost since being knocked out in the fourth round by current ONE Championships Welterweight Champion Ben Askren in a 2013 bout. Overall, he’s 9-1 in Bellator with 5 wins by knockout.
The Henderson-Koreshkov fight should do good TV numbers for Bellator, given Henderson’s track record in terms of TV ratings. This bout has been announced for April 22nd, a Friday, so this would not appear to be a “tent-pole” event for Bellator, which is interesting. Should Henderson win the title, he would likely end up facing the winner of the upcoming Paul Daley-Josh Koscheck fight and former Champion Douglas Lima would be another possibility.
Bellator 153 will take place at the Mohegan Sun Casino on April 22nd and tickets go on sale this Friday February 5th. There will be a presale for members of Bellator Nation starting tomorrow, February 3rd.
Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson announced Tuesday that he has signed with Bellator MMA.
Henderson’s contract expired after his split decision win over Jorge Masvidal on 11/28 in Seoul, South Korea, and it was well known he was in talks with Bellator since that point. UFC had the right to match the Bellator offer, but declined according to a tweet from MMA Junkie’s John Morgan who spoke with Dana White.
It is expected Henderson will fight at welterweight in Bellator where he would be considered a strong favorite if he were to face current champion Andrey Koreshkov. The 170 pound division is wide open for him to talk into a title fight, but he’d have more money fights at lightweight. Lightweight is the company’s strongest division with the likes of current lightweight champion Will Brooks, Michael Chandler, and Josh Thomson.
On Facebook, Henderson (23-5) thanked the UFC, including a number of people behind the scenes as well as White and Lorenzo Fertitta. He also did an interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour show.
“I’m beyond excited for this next phase of my career,” he wrote. “It’s a big move, like any move when switching employers or jobs after having worked somewhere for such a long time.
Henderson started with Zuffa in 2009, as part of the WEC lightweight division. He had a classic all-time match later that year when he won the interim title in a match with Donald Cerrone, and followed that up with by beating Jamie Varner for the title. Henderson lost the title to Anthony Pettis in another of the great fights of the era, via decision, in 2010, featuring Pettis doing the Showtime kick off the cage to knock Henderson down in the closing minute of the fight. Henderson then defeated Frankie Edgar on February 26, 2012, to win the UFC lightweight title. He defended it four times before losing to Pettis on August 31, 2013. He fought at welterweight in his last two UFC fights.
Spike announced tonight that it will be airing a Best of Bellator special tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Eastern and Pacific time, as a prelude to the Rizing show.
The show, hosted by Sean Grande and Jimmy Smith, called “Bellator MMA: Best of 2015,” will cover the biggest matches of the past year and feature fights like Kimbo Slice, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Liam McGeary and Phil Davis, and start the build to a McGeary vs. Davis light heavyweight championship match.
The Rizin show, built around Fedor Emelianenko, King Mo Lawal and the sad spectacle of the Shinya Aoki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba fight, starts at 10 a.m., on tape delay from the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, as promoter Nobuyuki Sakakibara attempts to rebuild the pageantry and circus like atmosphere that made Pride events so big a decade ago.
Last Friday’s Bellator 147 event averaged 656,000 viewers on Spike TV, headlined by former Strikeforce lightweight champion and UFC fighter Josh Thomson knocking out Pablo Villaseca. This was the final show of the year for Bellator, and the average viewership for their regular Friday night shows was 655,833 viewers – virtually identical to what they did Friday.
Notes:
– Bellator ran 16 shows in 2015; 12 regular shows (down 3.1% from 2014’s average viewership of 676,571) and 4 “tentpole” shows. They ran 21 regular shows in 2014 and plan to move to a more frequent schedule again in 2016.
– The 4 tentpole shows for the year averaged 1,016,500 viewers — greatly inflated by the 1,580,000 viewers for the Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock show in June. In fact that number was almost twice as high as their next highest rated show, which was the 872,000 viewers for the February British Invasion show. In 2014, they ran one tentpole show, Tito Ortiz-Stephan Bonnar at Bellator 131, which did 1,241,000 viewers.
– For their 16 shows this year, Bellator averaged 746,000 viewers overall for 22 shows, up 6.2% from the 2014 average of 702,227 viewers.
Thoughts:
– 4 of the last 5 Friday night regular shows have done between 650,000 and 669,000 viewers, so that seems to be what their steady audience is, going up a couple hundred thousand viewers for a tentpole show. It’s only when they bring in a name that would mean something to very casual fans (like Ortiz, Shamrock or Slice) that they are able to get to the 1 million threshold and beyond.
– Bellator has three shows upcoming in January and February with the big one being Bellator 149 on February 19th. That show will feature Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie and Slice vs Dada 5000. It should break the company’s viewership record if those two fights take place as scheduled.
After years of being confused for each other, Bloody Elbow investigative journalist John Nash joins BE alum Josh Nason on the 22nd episode of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out!
On the menu this week:
– The future of MMA free agent Benson Henderson
– Why MMA free agency isn’t more of a thing we can talk about
– How John got into the business
– How his three-part series on UFC financials came together (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
– What fans should take out of that series and understand about the UFC’s business practices
– Why part of the UFC business ledger he’d like to see if given the chance
– His thoughts on the groundbreaking of the new UFC facility in Las Vegas
Bellator MMA is back on Spike TV at 9 pm eastern with it’s final event of the year, from San Jose University Events Centre. Former Strikeforce Champion Josh Thomson hopes to get closer to a title shot in Bellator with a win over virtual unknown Villaseca. Also on the card is an interesting Featherweight match between former WSOF Champion Georgi Karakhanyan and perennial Bellator contender Daniel Weichel, coming off a loss to then-champion Patricio Friere. And speaking of the Pitbulls, Patricio’s brother Patricky returns to the Bellator cage in a Lightweight fight with another longtime Bellator competitor Derek Anderson. Brian Rogers makes his Light Heavyweight debut against former Strikeforce fighter Virgil Zwicker. Rounding out the card is a Lightweight fight between unbeaten Adam Piccolotti and Mario Soto, with only one loss on his record.
The prelims start at 7 pm eastern and can be viewed at Spike.com. We’ll have results here after they take place and then full play by play and results of the main card once it starts on Spike.
Light Heavyweights Virgil Zwicker (14-4-1) vs Brian Rogers (11-8)
First round: Zwicker missed weight. He doesn’t look in shape at all. They traded punches. They traded again. Another big trade. Neither is getting the better of it. Hard body kick by Rogers. Rogers slammed him down into side control and kept him down the rest of the round. 10-9 Rogers.
Second round: Rogers kicked him in the groin hard and Zwicker went down. This was a super nasty kick. Zwicker is up and going to be able to continue. Zwicker with a low kick. Nice right by Zwicker. Low kicks by Zwicker. Rogers threw a kick and lost his balance but got back up. Takedown by Rogers. He got his back. Rogers moved to full mount and throwing punch after punch. Zwicker is in trouble. He’s working for a head and arm choke from side control, and got it.
Lightweights Adam Piccolotti (6-0) vs Mario Soto (6-1)
First round: These are two local fighters. Piccolotti has his back in the piggy back position. Now he’ got him down and has his back. Now he’s moved to mount. He’s working for a head and arm choke. Who is the agent tongiht? Trying to steal finishes form the opening match. Soto tried an ankle lock but Piccolotti reversed to his back. Soto out of trouble and back up. Left and right by Piccolotti. Piccolotti with some punches. Piccolotti 10-9.
Second round: Piccolotti took him down off a kick and throwing punches on the ground. Now he’s in full mount. Now he’s got his back. Piccolotti just throwing punches. Piccolotti workihg for a choke. Piccolotti gave it up to throw more punches. Sotob leeding from elbows and Piccolotti working for a choke and looks like he has it. Soto tapped. Soto was busted up pretty bad from the elbows.
Lightweights Patricky Freire (14-6) vs Derek Anderson (12-2)
First round: Glad Coker doesn’t hate Ole Anderson, or else he’d be Derek Kennedy. Trading hard shots. Freire smiled. Anderson landed a good right. High kick by Anderson. Right by Anderson. Anderson got inside and landed some more. Both now missing a lot. Pitbull tried for a takedown, Anderson went for a choke but Pitbull escaped and got his back. He’s in the piggy back position now. Both to their feet. Anderson with a nice slam and Pitbull reversed to the top in side control. Now Pitbull on top with an elbow. Andeson reversed to the top. Pitbull up. Good round. 10-9 Anderson.
Second round: Anderson landing. Pitbull starring to land and hurt him. Pitbull low kicks and a nice uppecut and jumping kick. Body kick by Anderson. Pitbull landed a nice series. Anderson with a body kick. Knee by Pitbull. Pitbull took him down into side control. Pitbull has his back. He’s got a body triangle. Pitbull with punches. Pitbull’s round so 19-19.
Third round: Anderson landing punches. Head kick by Anderson. More punches by Anderson. Pitbull with a takedown. Anderson back up. Pitbull got in and Anderson tied him up. A knee, two punches, and a low kick by Anderson. Knee by Pitbull. Both trading. Pitbull with elbows as Anderson shot for a takedown. Pitbull reversed a takedown to the top but Anderson back up. Anderson going for a takedown and Pitbull switched to the top. Anderson tried a guillotine at the bell. Close round. Anderson 29-28 but this could go either way.
Scores: 29-28 Anderson 29-28 Pitbull 29-28 Anderson
Featherweights Georgi Karakhanyan (24-4-1) vs Daniel Weichel (35-9)
First round: Weichel with a body kick. Weichel kicked him low. Weichel landing good low kicks. Weichel with some punches. Kharakhanyan slapped him in the face. Weichel 10-9.
Second round: Weichel with a front kick. Karakhanyan with a front kick. Weichel landing punches. Weichel with more punches. Karakhanyan wih a spin kick to the head. Body kick had by Weichel. Another body kick by Weichel. Another body kick by Weichel. Body kickj by Weichel. Weichel landed a left. Weichel 20-18.
Third round: Weichel with a punch and body kick. Kharakhanyan with a body kick. Nice spin kick to the head by Kharakhanyan. Right landed by Weichel. Front kick by Weichel. Right by Weichel. Weichel continues to land. A nice exchange . Weichel still landing more. Weichel landing much more. Kharakhanyan’s left leg all bruised up. Kharakanyan tried a spin kick and missed. Weichel 30-27.
Scores: All three have it 30-27 for Weichel
Main Event –
Lightweights Josh Thomson (21-8) vs Pablo Villaseca (10-1)
First round: Thomson obviously is the star of the show. Body kick by Thomson. Takedown by Thomson. Thomson working for a triangle. Now he’s got an armbar. Now an uma plata. Villaseca escaped from all the attempts. Knee by Villaseca. Knee by Thomson. Low kick by Villaseca. Villaseca got a takedown. Thomson back up. Villaseca got him down momentarily agan. Villaseca with a knee to the groin. Thomson with a takedown. Thomson 10-9.
Second round: Thomson with a takedown and landed some blows. Thomson trying to get mount. But Villaseca managed to block the attempt. Thomson with lots of punches. Thomson landing a lot of punches. Thomson is landing punch after punch and it’s about to be stopped. And it’s over. 3:59
After the fight they Jimmy Smith asked Thomson about facing Will Brooks for the title. Interestingly, he kind of blew it off, saying he’ll fight Brooks but right now he said the hype was for a fight with Michael Chandler. That was an interesting response.
In the morning hours here in North America, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson fought Jorge Masvidal in the main event of the UFC’s debut in Seoul, South Korea — the last fight on his UFC contract. Now a free agent, the 32-year-old veteran is near the peak of his game and will be either an attractive acquisition or solid re-signing for the company that manages to secure his services.
In the past few years, many fighters considered top 10 in their weight class have been cut loose by UFC much to the outcry of hardcore fight fans who felt that if UFC was to be taken seriously as a sport, they shouldn’t let top tier talent walk away. But with Henderson, it’s different. Guys like Phil Davis, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, and Yushin Okami were still top contenders but didn’t move ratings or PPV buys (proven when they went elsewhere), weren’t serious title contenders, and carried high price tags. While UFC runs a lot of cards and could use the depth that these guys provide, they also have a future to think of and names like the ones I’ve listed here were essentially roadblocks for younger talent to make their way to the top.
This is why someone like Henderson is very important. He could arguably be a top 10 competitor at either 155 or 170, and is someone that can very easily headline an FS 1 or Fight Pass card. He also fits in nicely in a co-main event position on a FOX show or PPV. The top of the show is familiar territory for him as in 14 UFC fights, he has been in either the main or co-main event position all but two times. And on one occasion, it could be argued that he was in the co-main (UFC on FOX 1), since only the main event fight aired on television.
On those shows, Henderson has delivered in terms of ratings or PPV buys…for the most part. Here’s a look*, listed by most recent appearance:
Fight Night 60 (main event vs Brandon Thatch) – 913,000 viewers on FS 1 (above average vs. an opponent with very little name recognition)
Fight Night 59 (co-main vs Donald Cerrone) – 2,751,000 viewers on FS 1 (record number obviously powered by Conor McGregor, but this was a strong co-main)
Fight Night 49 (main event vs Rafael Dos Anjos) – 689,000 viewers on FS 1 (below average,, but this was a very weak undercard and during a very down period for UFC)
Fight Night 42 (main event vs Rustam Khabilov) – 1,217,000 viewers on FS 1 (2nd highest FS 1 number at the time against an opponent with no name recognition)
UFC on FOX 10 (main event vs Josh Thomson) – 3.2 million viewers on FOX (above average)
UFC 164 (main event vs Anthony Pettis) – 270,000 PPV buys (the second highest number for a show headlined by a lightweight title defence that didn’t involve BJ Penn up to that point)
UFC on FOX 7 (Main event vs Gilbert Melendez) – 3.7 million viewers on FOX (well above average)
UFC on FOX 5 (main event vs Nate Diaz) – 4.4 million viewers on FOX (3rd highest number ever for UFC on that station)
UFC 150 (main event vs Frankie Edgar) – 190,000 PPV buys (very weak number for the period. Probably too soon after their first fight, which did very well
UFC 144 (main Event vs Frankie Edgar) – 375,000 PPV buys (still the highest number for a show headlined by a Lightweight title defence that didn’t involve BJ Penn)
UFC on Versus 5 (co-main vs Jim Miller) – 766,000 viewers on Versus (second highest number of the year on the station for a show with a weak main event of Dan Hardy vs Chris Lytle)
*His other two UFC fights were on the undercards of the first UFC on FOX show and UFC 129, both of which did monster numbers that had next to nothing to do with him.
Clearly, he’s made a difference for a number of years and should continue to do so as his skills haven’t diminished and as recently as this year, he was still doing very strong numbers for UFC. He’d be valuable for Bellator as they hope to bring bigger TV ratings to Spike TV, and would likely be favored in a fight against either their welterweight champion Andrei Koreshkov or lightweight champion Will Brooks. A win by either of those champions would legitimize those divisions in the eyes of fans and a win by Henderson would give them greater exposure and provide marketability that no fighter still in his prime has had for the company.
Asian MMA company ONE Championships would be another viable option. They run shows that draw big crowds in southeast Asia on more or less a monthly basis but have yet to make any real kind of dent in the North American market despite their shows being available on iPPV. A star the level of Henderson could help them get that foothold there while also helping ticket sales in that region, where he is very popular due to his maternal family being from the area.
Henderson is in a rare position where the UFC needs him as much as the outside companies do, maybe even more. Many cards that the UFC runs are somewhat skippable these days but having someone of his caliber on the marquee makes his fight almost a must-see. He almost always has the best fight on the show, and is one of the more skilled fighters in the world in two different weight classes.
Fighters like this do not become available all the time and Henderson should be in a position to almost name his price.
This past weekend saw televised shows from the big three MMA organizations in North America with differering results.
UFC —
UFC Fight Night 78 from Mexico featuring Kelvin Gastelum vs. Neil Magny in the main event did a below average 750,000 viewers for Fox Sports One for the main card, but a well above average 732,000 viewers for the four fight prelims show that was also on FS1.
The show wouldn’t have been expected to do a great rating with the main event, especially with Magny replacing the popular Matt Brown who was injured in the lead-in to the event. Additionally, the TUF Latin American 2 final matches were on the main card featuring 4 completely unknown fighters to the US audience since that series only aired on UFC Fight Pass in the US.
The year to date average for UFC Fight Nights on FS 1 now stands at just under 908,000 viewers, so Saturday’s show was 17% below that average. However, that number is still 9.5% higher than the 2014 average of just under 829,000 viewers.
Better news for UFC was the continued trend of the FS 1 prelims doing well above average. The 732,000 viewers for that show were 23% higher than the year-to-date average of 595,000 viewers. That number is also up 9.3% from the 2014 average of 544,000. The prelims bouts had an unofficial “Mexico vs the World” theme with the biggest name on that portion of the show being longtime UFC/WEC fighter Scott Jorgensen, a loser to Alejandro Perez.
This week’s numbers was down significantly from the 903,000 viewers for UFC Fight Night 57 one year ago this weekend. That show had a much bigger main event with Frankie Edgar vs Cub Swanson. The prelims for that show were also slightly higher at 777,000 viewers with veteran Yves Edwards being the biggest name.
Bellator —
Bellator 146 on Spike TV was right at its year to date average for regular Friday night shows with 650,000 viewers. Headlined by Melvin Manhoef vs Hisako Kato, the show was virtually identical to the year to date average of 656,000 viewers. It was also up 19% from the most recent non-“tentpole” show in October which did 555,000 viewers. The year to date average is down 3.5% from last year’s 676,000 viewers. There is no similar show from last year to compare to as Bellator took an extended break after the Bellator 131 show with Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar.
WSOF —
WSOF on NBC Sports Network did a disappointing 148,000 viewers for an event featuring a one night lightweight tournament for a title shot in 2016. The 25th show in company history had its lowest viewership total since 96,000 viewers watched WSOF Canada on Feb 21, 2014. It was their third lowest total in their run on NBC Sports Network.
Although the show was advertised around the lightweight tourney, there was only one fight actually announced ahead of time featuring former Strikeforce fighter Jason High vs Estevan Payan. The 148,000 viewers for the show is 23% lower than the year-to-date average of 192,000. The 2015 average is down 11% from the 2014 average of 216,000 viewers.
Despite the steady numbers for Bellator and the gradually rising UFC numbers, there has been a steady decline for World Series of Fighting that traces back to their high water point when almost a million viewers tuned in to their one and only live card on the main NBC network in July of 2014.
****This is a free edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out. Please share with your MMA friends and the world in general!****
We are living in a post-Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm world, and while the fight itself has been analyzed to death, there’s plenty to discuss with the business aspects of what happens next. That’s why Josh brought in former Bellator VP of Talent Relations and co-host of The MMA Insiders podcastSam Caplan to help talk about that and tons more! If you’re into MMA business talk, this podcast is for you!
Here’s some other topics Josh and Sam talked about:
– What Sam has been up to, including some other non-MMA endeavors
– His thoughts on where we’re at with Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm several days after the fight
– When he would make a Rousey-Holm rematch and it’s an answer you might not expect
– What he would do with Holly Holm from a media perspective
– The decision making that goes into making a big rematch
– His current thoughts on the Bellator product, and what they need to do to succeed
– His thoughts on OneFC and Ben Askren’s next move when his contract is up
– His thoughts on the Reebok deal, Cain Velasquez signing with CAA, and tons more!
*****
Listen to the show by clicking below or right-clicking/save:
There’s never a good time for a champion to go down, but the knee injury to WWE champion Seth Rollins (Colby Lopez, 29) on the first night of the company’s European tour exposed just how little depth the company has on top.
With Daniel Bryan out due to concussion issues, Randy Orton out due to shoulder surgery and John Cena on sabbatical, believed to be hosting a network reality television show, the company, on one of its biggest house show tours of the year, was left with one star babyface–Roman Reigns, and with Kevin Owens as the closest thing to a main star heel.
Rollins was wrestling Kane for the WWE title in the main event on 11/4 in Dublin. Rollins did a spot where he came off the top rope with a sunset flip that was to continue into power bombing Kane off the top rope through a table. However, on landing, Rollins’s right knee gave out and he collapsed. He did get up and followed by power bombing Kane through the table, and finished the match, winning with a pedigree.
He was diagnosed with a torn ACL, a torn MCL and a torn medial meniscus. He underwent reconstructive knee surgery on 11/10, performed by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas of the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center, in Birmingham, AL. He’s expected out of action for six to nine months, putting him out of WrestleMania and making SummerSlam 2016 as a likely return period.
