Bellator ‘really pleased’ with Norman show
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
It’s been a couple of days since the Bellator event. Enough time to reflect back and kinda judge the event as a whole and not on impulse reactions.
The same can be said for the Bellator group on trying to evaluate how things went in Norman and the Lloyd Noble Center.
Had a chance for a follow-up interview with CEO Bjorn Rebney about the event, and if you’re an Oklahoman who likes MMA, it’s good news.
Rebney said he was really pleased with the way the event went down. He said it looked great on TV, and it was a terrific set-up.
At each of Bellator’s show, there have been interns polling the audience of what they thought. The No. 1 complaint: the length of show.
Rebney said he tries to have nine bouts on a card, and this one had 11 and ran more than four hours. Rebney is an MMA purist, so it didn’t bother him. And all things considered, there were more people in the arena at 12:30 a.m. than I thought there would be.
On whether or not Bellator would make its way to Oklahoma again:
Absolutely, especially if Jared Hess (former Central Oklahoma product) can reach the final. That’s a big if, but he was impressive in his first performance.
With someone like Jared, we would have a legit local star. The Oklahoma City area is such a neat area. There are so many little things to see. I don’t know if we would necessarily go back to OU, but if there’s a chance, I have no problems coming back.
Bellator taped two shows in Norman last weekend. The first show was on Saturday on ESPN Deportes. The English version will be shown Wednesday on the Web.
Hess fights Yosmany Cabezas in the semifinals of the 185-pound (middleweight) tournament. Damien Stelly takes on Hector Lombard in the other semifinal. Lombard and Hess were the show-stealers last Friday.
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