Bellator + big names = hit or miss

As quickly as the outrage over Jon Fitch being cut by the UFC spread across the Internet and social media last week, so too did calls for the former welterweight title contender to join Bellator or the World Series of Fighting

Even Dana White, the president of the UFC and the guy who cut Fitch, said as much.

"I'm glad that so many people are behind him," White said in the media scrum after the UFC 157 pre-fight news conference."That's not a bad thing. Good for him. But I can tell you this, Jon Fitch isn't cheap, so good. Viacom MMA has some money. He can go out there right now on the free market and find out exactly what he's worth."

Fitch to Bellator makes sense for Fitch. There's far better exposure now that it moved from MTV 2 to Spike at the start of 2013. Fitch to the WSOF makes sense as well as he'd be the biggest attraction for the upstart promotion.

But is it a good move for Bellator? Yes and no, maybe. (Not enough of a sample size to compare WSOF.)

Fitch (27-5-1) would be the prohibitive favorite to win the next welterweight tournament in Bellator and give champion Ben Askren his toughest test. But as we've seen in past Bellator tournaments, the bigger veteran names from UFC and Strikeforce doesn't always pan out the way you expect they would. A few had some success, and a few didn't. Have a look below.