Opinion: Time for the UFC to Look Over its Shoulder

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.* * * The Ultimate Fighting Championship should probably start looking over its shoulder right about now because Bellator MMA is coming — not today or tomorrow, not next month or next year, but the Scott Coker-led promotion is coming.It starts quietly and slowly ramps up, and before you know it, you’re looking over your shoulder when it’s too late. You can shrug off Bellator as a non-threat, but sooner or later, it will be nipping at your heels if you aren’t careful, and the UFC better start paying attention because Bellator isn’t here to compete; it’s here to win. Right now, it all sounds a little ridiculous to think that Bellator can actively compete with the UFC. The same was said in the mid-1990s when World Championship Wrestling sought to compete with the World Wrestling Federation. However, steps were slowly taken to snare away the recognizable talent from Vince McMahon’s clutches while welcoming some of the other talent that didn’t get its just due. It took a little bit of talent, a lot of ingenuity and a whole lot of money for the Ted Turner-Eric Bischoff plan to truly take off. When it did, it was almost too late for the House that Vince McMahon Built to recover. Fortunately for the UFC, professional wrestling’s outcomes are scripted. The emergence of the New World Order in WCW was a well-executed plan that required scripting that bordered on reality. Mixed martial arts doesn’t have that kind of luck. The outcomes are random, no matter how lopsided the matchups appear to be. Surely, Coker would like to see his expensive signees flourish under the Bellator banner so the audience attaches itself to the fighters and automatically picks a side in a battle that truly hasn’t started yet. Yet the …

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