4 talking points from Bellator 226: Bader vs. Kongo

#3 Will the Featherweight Grand Prix work out?

Adam Borics made his mark in Bellator's Featherweight Grand Prix last night

Okay, so I’ll freely admit that unlike Scott Coker, I’m not a big fan of tournaments in MMA in the current era. Sure, they were cool in the Wild West days of PRIDE when fighters – most likely pumped up with PEDs – were able to fight every couple of months, but these days, largely due to injuries and layoffs, they often prove to be near impossible to run smoothly.

Fighters end up dropping out and being replaced by alternates, fights get delayed and the whole thing can take months, even years before it’s resolved. But last night’s show sold the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix pretty well, so Coker’s promotion deserves a lot of credit.

Last night saw the first four fights of the planned 16-man tournament – the other four will take place at Bellator 228 in three weeks’ time – and outside of a somewhat slow fight between Derek Campos and Daniel Straus, they all delivered in terms of action, with Emmanuel Sanchez and Pedro Carvalho submitting Tywan Claxton and Sam Sicilia respectively, and hot prospect Adam Borics knocking out veteran Pat Curran.

Even more impressive was the job done in selling the whole thing by Bellator’s broadcasting team. By the time all was said and done, not only was I excited to see Borics, Sanchez and Carvalho again, but Josh Thomson and ‘Big’ John McCarthy also had me dying to see AJ McKee, Darrion Caldwell and Saul Rogers in action – and that’s not even mentioning current Bellator Featherweight champ Patricio Freire.

I’m not sure that any of the entrants would be considered a title contender in the UFC – Sam Sicilia, who washed out of the UFC with 3 losses in a row was Carvalho’s opponent last night – but if the tournament runs smoothly then it’ll be an excellent boon for Bellator. Kudos to Scott Coker for putting it together.