BY JAMES BRYDON
sportsnet.ca
TORONTO -- Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney said Thursday he prides himself on the fact that in his promotion, “title shots are earned, not given.”
It was a not-so-subtle slight at the UFC, the biggest mixed martial arts organization, where a notable win coupled with some popularity can put you on the fast track to a championship chance.
Well, perhaps it wasn’t a slight. But it’s worth noting that the young Bellator promotion, in just its third year of existence, is perhaps the most successful tournament-based show going right now.
Rebney began developing the business model in 2005 for a televised MMA series where fighters control their own destiny. Four years later, Bellator debuted with its Season 1 Lightweight Tournament in April 2009.
While it wasn't exactly breaking new ground -- the UFC employed a similar model in the beginning and Japan's Dream promotion still has its Grand Prix tournaments -- this one was on a regular schedule. Bellator's first “winners-advance” fight series was eventually won two months later by Eddie Alvarez, who became the inaugural 155-pound champion by submitting Toby Imada. Alvarez remains the title-holder after one successful defence and is still the organization’s biggest star.
Two years and four “seasons” later, the organization makes its Canadian -- and international -- debut Saturday at Casino Rama outside Orillia, Ont., with Bellator 47. The event, which was being promoted in Canada for the first time at the Real Sports Bar in Toronto, features two featherweight semi-final bouts among its four main card fights.
American Pat Curran -- just three-months removed from a surprise run in Season 4’s lightweight tournament, which he captured with a split-decision upset victory over Imada in the final -- faces England’s Ronnie Mann. In the second semi, Marlon Sandro meets Nazareno Malegarie in an all-Brazilian battle.
The winners will move on to the final at the next show, Aug. 20 in Connecticut, to meet for the tournament crown and earn the shot at the title, currently owned by Joe Warren.
Many of the fighters agreed the tournament-style is the best way to determine who gets to ultimately go for gold.
“Everyone’s got a fair chance,” Mann said. “You really do find out who’s the top contender if you win it.”
Meanwhile Curran, who after his last victory took lightweight belt-holder Alvarez the distance in a unanimous decision loss before deciding to drop down to 145 pounds, also said that the setup -- with a fight every month while you’re still alive in the tournament -- has some added bonuses in terms of training cycles.
“You get three fights in three months, they keep you real busy, and afterwards you can relax for a bit,” Curran said. “And you’re staying in shape. You’re right back in the gym (after each fight) and you keep going, there’s not time to get out of shape.”
Not only is it a first time on Canadian soil for Bellator, it is as well for many of the fighters, including Curran, Mann, Sandro and Malegarie.
The event got another boost for Canada last week with the addition of London, Ont.’s Chris (The Polish Hammer) Horodecki, who signed a two-fight deal with the organization and takes on Chris Saunders in in a lightweight, non-tournament contest on the televised portion of the card.
Horodecki was set to fight at an event this past Saturday in Windsor, Ont. -- PFC 1: Border Wars, the premiere event for Professional Fighting Championship -- but his fight got pulled just five days out. Horodecki, who was still training in Las Vegas when he got the word, was pretty disappointed.
But it turned out to be quite fortunate. An injury on the Bellator card, which already featured two of his teammates under longtime coach Shawn Tompkins (Mann and fellow Londonite Jesse Gross) led promoters to give the young Canadian a call.
“I’m a firm believer that when one door closes, another one opens,” said Horodecki, who knows full well had he fought in Windsor he wouldn’t have been able to fight a week later.
In addition to Horodecki and Gross, who faces Philadelphia’s Alexandre Bezerra in a preliminary bout, Saturday’s undercard also features six other Canadians.
Stoney Creek, Ont.’s Will Romero takes on Daniel Langbeen in a featherweight bout and Romero’s teammate Denis Puric faces Stratford, Ont.’s Syd Barnier in a bantamweight duel. Kicking off the night will be a lightweight matchup between Woodbridge, Ont.’s Alex Ricci and Alka Matewa, who fights out of Toronto.
Meanwhile the organization signed popular Edmonton welterweight Ryan (The Real Deal) Ford on Tuesday and he will make his Bellator debut in October.
