By Jonathan King The Clinch Report
Once again Bellator live on Spike TV delivered solid numbers, with regard to viewership. Eduardo Dantas made his return to the Bellator cage to defend his bantamweight title against his friend and mentor Marcos Galvao. The event peaked once again at over 1 million viewers.
Since debuting on Spike TV, many critics of the promotion thought the initial success was due to the stacked first card. Many thought after the Chandler and Curran title fights, that viewership would fall sharply. They thought the promotion would not be able to keep the fight cards as exciting or interesting to a TV audience.
Once again, after the fighters took control the doubters were silenced. Fireworks and emotion highlighted a very underestimated fight card, and the viewership backed that sentiment up. Former WEC champion Doug Marshall had arguably the best highlight of the evening, when he knocked the taste out of Andreas Spang with a vicious right hand. The KO puts Marshall in excellent position for a title shot as the middleweight tournament rolls on!
Of course the highlight of the night was the emotional title fight that saw life long friends square off for the bantamweight championship. Marcos Galvao won the opportunity to fight for the belt, but knew it would be difficult fighting his friend. Dantas, also was emotional both before and after the scrap, refereeing to Galvao as a mentor, and teacher.
The fight was very exciting and seemed to be pretty evenly matched until a second round uppercut that scrapped the mat, dropped the charging Galvao. Taking advantage of his prey, Dantas swarmed with hammer fists forcing the stoppage! The impressive win will do much to erase his out of promotion loss to Tyson Nam in his last fight.
Now with three division champions that possess dominate wins over tournament challengers, the Bellator product seems secure. The top fighters are starting to create large fan bases based on their longevity as champions! The partnerships with Spike TV, and TNA seem to be not only working, but seem to exceed expectations from both critics and allies the like. By creating their own path, they have secured a niche in MMA, one that continues to offer a bevy of exciting fights, for free.
THE CLINCH REPORT 