bellator's ''the fighting five''

Matchmaking’s like casting a movie. You pick who you think will sell tickets and you put them in the starring role. Since I created Bellator in 2008, I’ve focused on strengthening our position as MMA’s real sports competition; void of the self-serving, money motivated politics of that guide other MMA and Boxing organizations. And, it’s crucial for us to stay true to our brand history and philosophy.

At the same time, it’s critical to have a system in place that ensures our Champions defend their titles as frequently as possible. If, we just picked who fights who, this would be a simple process. If a title challenger gets injured we could just give the fight to whoever else we thought would sell Pay-Per-View’s or generate ratings. But, because we’re a real sports format, we don’t do that. There is nothing wrong with adapting and changing when it stays true to who you are and betters the company for fighters and fans.

We’re constantly moving forward, changing and adapting to put on the best MMA events on earth. We started with 8-man tournaments. Then we added 4-man tournaments and our World Title rematch clause. Each new addition was created to maintain our true sports format while ensuring our Champions defend their belts as frequently as possible.

Now, we’re making another addition to deal with a “worst case scenario situation” the highly unusual situation where injuries prevent a tournament champion from challenging for the world title and where there isn’t a 2nd tournament champion prepared to step in and take his shot at the title. I don’t expect this situation to occur. And, I hope that it never happens. But……in those unexpected (“worst case scenario”) circumstances, we owe it to our Champions to have a fair format in place to ensure that our Champion doesn’t have to wait for his world title defense when that occurs.

So….when/if lightning strikes, we’ve created an objective points system with a vote structure to solve the problem of who fights for the title when no opponent exists:

Step #1: Bellator will refer to the most recent completed tournament (in the instance of a 4-man tournament being the most recent tournament, we would expand this to be the most recent two tournaments), and tabulate tournament points based on the following criteria with fighters that are still under contract with Bellator:

- For every decision victory, fighter will record one (1) point

- For every KO/TKO/submission win in the third round, fighter will record two (2) points

- For every KO/TKO/submission win in the second round, fighter will record three (3) points

- For every KO/TKO/submission in the first round, fighter will record four (4) points

- From the above list, the top four (4) point earners in the applicable weight class in which a replacement title challenger must be determined will be chosen. Bellator MMA executives may also include a fifth fighter on the ballot as well. This list of top 5 will be referred to as “The Fighting Five.”

In this highly unusual event where a title challenger is injured and no other tournament champion is “waiting for their world title shot” and a non-tournament winner must be chosen, Bellator MMA will furnish a ballot containing the Fighting Five list to three (3) different groups:

1) Former and existing Bellator MMA World Champions (including the Champion in the division under consideration);

2) Former Bellator MMA tournament winners; and

3) Bellator MMA fans (via the Bellator MMA app, Bellator.com, and social media platforms).

Each voting group will comprise 33% of the vote. After the voting takes place, a final challenger will be determined and revealed in an order of one through five. Bellator MMA officials will go down the line of the final standings for “The Fighting Five” and offer the title fight until one contender has accepted. That fighter will replace the injured tournament winner and receive an “at large” title shot.

By employing this new format adjustment to our existing tournament structure, Bellator will be able to determine new title challengers in the event of a catastrophic injury situation while still remaining true to its core belief that politics should not play a role in determining who fights for a world title. This formula will also allow for fan interactivity in addition to taking input from some of the most credible pundits around – the fighters themselves.

http://www.bellator.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=592058&SPID=73496&ATCLID=208579760&DB_OEM_ID=23600

what do you guys think of this???

^I like it.  These things will probably happen and it is good to have a plan in place when they do.  They should really try to always have 2 fighters in line for the belt but for times they don't this voting system makes sense.  They need to keep their champs active.  That should be high priority.