Bellator 183: Pitbull vs Henderson Discussion Thread

After a fun night of fights from Japan, we go back stateside today to the old home of Strikeforce in San Jose, California for Bellator 183.  And the main card for this event is pretty stacked, which is a pleasant surprise from Bellator that they can hopefully continue as they bring in more and more new talent.

All the fighters weighed in and everyone made weight with no problems.

Prelims start at 7:00 PM on Spike.com, with the main card for Bellator starting at 8:00 PM on Spike TV.

Let's do this ****. 

* Edited at 09.23.2017, 1:15 PM ET *

Bendo's style and history of keeping it really close, then getting the better end of questionable decisions has finally caught up with him. I thought he lost to Edgar (both times), Melendez, Thompson and Masvidal. 

@mbach4307 "I think at the very least it shows that there are fighters in bellator who can go with the elite in the ufc."

I don't think anyone can disagree with that.

@Kuma

The problem I find with Bellator is that, with the removal of tournaments, it is harder to build names for people to care about for fighters.  Like they have some impressive looking prospects, but who are they fighting?  Some random guy on the local scene that has a total 4 fights?  I mean seriously, there have been times Coker has shoved out people with sub 500 records to fight prospects he signed to make them look good.  I expect that from a regional promotion, but not the supposed #2 organization in the world. Having your big name prospects beating random regional guys or perennial jobbers like Fernando Gonzalez isn't something to write home about.

The reason why guys like Pat Curran, Michael Chandler, Patricio Friere, Ben Askren, and Douglas Lima became household names is because they beat three guys in a tourney that proved they are worth something; just like how Pride would do back in the days of old.  People don't think about it much now, but without those Pride tournaments would guys like Shogun, Wanderlei, Rampage, Gomi, Fedor, and so on would even register on our radars?  I'm not dismissive completely on Coker, because I think he has done some things right.  But the removal of tournaments have hurt Bellator badly, and they need to come back fast.  It's why I really hope Coker is considering a HW Grand Prix again to crown the new Bellator HW champ.

Edit: And keep in mind that I am saying this not because I hate Bellator.  I am saying this because I want them to succeed and not have to lower my expectations as a fan for their cards.

* Edited at 09.24.2017, 3:22 PM ET *

Daley is right about how it is insane for almost anyone to strikes with him. Any good grappled could beat Daley.