Tito Ortiz lost to Liam McGeary in a light heavyweight title bout at Bellator Dynamite 1 on Saturday at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA. The event did not do the kind of ratings on Spike TV that Bellator MMA had hoped for. Ortiz blames Bellator MMA’s marketing and public relations team for not doing the kind of business they could have done.
“I think Bellator or Spike or whoever was doing PR for it could have done a little bit better,” said Ortiz. “I did all my own PR. I did more than 50 percent of it. For a fighter to do 50 percent of their own PR for an event? Somebody needs to step their game up. Bellator’s still learning. They’re getting better, but to compete against football … that makes a big difference.
Related: Ortiz Explains Why Lotion Cost Him Fight Against “Slippery” Liam McGeary
“I think [Coker] did an amazing job, all around. I think the gate was the biggest that Bellator’s ever done. They sold over 14,000 tickets which was amazing. That’s the big positive point they got out of it. And the fans were happy with it.”