Bellator fans in the UK missed out on the Bellator 206 main event on Channel 5, getting Peppa Pig instead of Mousasi vs. MacDonald.
Peppa Pig instead of Gegard Mousasi? Heading into Bellator 206, there were big changes afoot for Bellator MMA. The promotion was making its debut on streaming service DAZN, the first time in ages a Bellator show had aired anywhere but on Spike TV/Paramount Network in the U.S. and Canada. Fans waited with bated breath, especially those in Canada, where DAZN had botched the launch of its exclusive NFL package in 2017 so badly that the NFL handed the broadcasting rights back to cable and satellite providers.
In short, DAZN was going to be a gamble. But on Saturday night, with Bellator 206 providing an exciting night of action in San Jose, it wasn’t DAZN who had issues. Instead, it was Bellator’s U.K. broadcaster Channel 5, airing a Bellator show live in a rare move (Bellator normally airs via tape delay for fans across the pond). When fans tuned in to the main event super-fight between welterweight champ Rory MacDonald and middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi, instead, they got Peppa Pig.
Oops. At the Bellator 206 post-fight press conference, Bellator Senior VP of Marketing and Communications Dave Schwartz said that “It’s government regulation that at 6 a.m. that content was not suitable so they had to switch to children’s programming.” Which meant fans got Peppa Pig instead on the main event. Though which content will melt your brain quicker remains debatable. It might just be the pig.
Bellator CEO Scott Coker later promised that they’d avoid running long in future. Bellator 206 featured six main card fights. That’s opposed to the normal four or five that Bellator generally schedules.
Aside from that setback, Bellator 206 turned out to be an otherwise smooth affair for the promotion. The welterweight grand prix got underway with Douglas Lima choking out Andrey Koreshkov, and Rampage Jackson evened the score with Wanderlei Silva when he knocked out ‘The Axe Murderer.’ Mousasi, meanwhile, stopped MacDonald in the second round of the main event.
