Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Tito Ortiz were at ESPN HQ yesterday to help promote their upcoming fight on Bellator’s first ever pay-per-view event in November.
Below you’ll find a collection of interviews from the two fighters on shows like ‘Sportscenter’ and ‘ESPN First Take’.
This is definitely good PR for Bellator, and getting access to the leading sports broadcaster is something they’d normally struggle to do so it’s a definitely plus point to having these two well known stars on-board.
Having said that, ESPN actually made a blunder at one point, claiming on-screen that ‘UFC Stars’ were going to be on one of their shows, apparently unaware that they are actually under Bellator’s wing now!
For the most part though, ‘Rampage’ and Ortiz were keen to sing Bellator’s praises throughout the day, while taking pot shots at the UFC, so they got the message across that the UFC isn’t the only show in town.
One thing I did notice is that there doesn’t seem to be much heat at all between the former training partners who still clearly have a friendly relationship. That’s not exactly ideal from Bellator’s point of view.
Major rivalries and plenty of trash-talking have been hallmarks of both men’s career and helped them both to superstar status, and they could do with more of that leading up to this fight rather than them both sitting side-by-side chatting about being businessmen looking to provide for their families and compete injury-free.
We’re still a few months away from fight night on November 2nd though, so it’ll be interesting to see if the narrative changes as time goes on.
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