Former UFC fighter and popular MMA analyst Dan Hardy has tweeted his disapproval of the main event of Bellator 170 which took place on Saturday night, stating that he believes the bout between Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen was fixed.
There was a lot of hype around the meeting to two of the more controversial characters in UFC history, and the war of words between the two suggested both men were going to come out swinging when it was time to fight, but that didn't really happen.
Ortiz won by way of rear-naked-choke in the second minute on the very first round, and Hardy believes that Chael didn't exactly give his best efforts.
The #Bellator170 main event was more choreographed than a Brittany Spears music video. Shame really... It might have been a fun fight.
— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) January 22, 2017
I don't know... it looked like he laid down on that first single leg attempt from Tito! ? https://t.co/f9gwFZbSOI
— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) January 22, 2017
I understand Meryl Streep's comment now. The acting was atrocious. ? #Jokes
— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) January 22, 2017
It must be said that it only takes one person to organise a fix when it comes to MMA, as it's very easy to get out of a fight if you don't want to be there, so rather than this being an accusation thrown at Bellator as a whole, it seems as though Hardy believes the two fighters knew what was going to go down before they met in the middle of the Octagon. Or, at least Chael did.
Have a look at the footage and judge for yourself:
Tito Ortiz def Chael Sonnen via RNC #Bellator170 pic.twitter.com/eo96s90MnK
— Fancy Combat (@FancyCombat) January 22, 2017
Tito holding that choke far longer than he should have has also seen criticism cast over the main event.
Accusations of a fix have popped up several times surrounding MMA in recent times, with some less informed folk even believing that the entire sport is similar to the WWE in their scripting of events, with Conor McGregor's wins over Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz coming in for the most 'intense' scrutiny.
But the chance of that happening in the UFC, where a loss or poor performance could mean irreversible damage for your career, is far less likely to happen than when two former stars meet up for a 'grudge match'.
Hardy's accusations are far from wild, and regardless of whether it was fixed or not, the main event of Bellator 170 was certainly underwhelming.
