Bellator probably had a debacle on their hands next weekend for their foray into PPV MMA. Now they have one of the best cards in Spike TV history. Why?
Because Tito Ortiz is out and the fights have been moved to Spike TV in its wake.
Ortiz is claiming a neck injury will force him out of the fight; when he hurt it is still up for debate, of course. Considering he fought Forrest Griffin the second time with a “fractured skull” it must be serious for him to withdraw from the event.
Quinton Jackson is off the card, as well, with a fight to be rescheduled in the near future. The main event for the evening will officially be the rematch between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler. Bjorn Rebney has stated on his Twitter feed that the PPV portion of the evening will be officially moved onto Spike TV, thus delaying Bellator’s venture into PPV for the foreseeable future.
Per Zach Arnold of Fight Opinion the consequences for Bellator are substantial:
For Andy Foster and the California State Athletic Commission, they just lost an automatic $25,000 PPV tax check. CSAC will get a TV tax check but it may be smaller than expected.
Arnold also had a great piece of analysis on it as well, which you can read right here.
