Bellator releases Brooks, strips Minakov of title
Scott Coker: “Will is a great kid. At the end of the day, he’s had some good fights for Bellator, but I just don’t think it’s a fit, and he should move on to the next part of his life.”
Bellator MMA just released their lightweight champion Will Brooks, and stripped their heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov. Minakov, who has not fought since April 2014, was stripped for inactivity, but remains under contract. Brooks is now a free agent.
It was very simple, Coker to John Morganfor MMAjunkie. Will Brooks’ contract is ending, and we made a decision not to renew it. We’re going to give him a full release, so we’re not going to be in the Will Brooks business any longer.
Will is a great kid. At the end of the day, he’s had some good fights for Bellator, but I just don’t think it’s a fit, and he should move on to the next part of his life. I think we’re actually doing him a favor by taking this position. Now he can just move on, and we can move on, as well.
I just think it would be a waste of time to continue this relationship and try to go through the dance of an option period and a matching period. I just think it wouldn’t have worked out anyway, so we decided today to let it go.
Benson Henderson failed to take the Bellator welterweight title in his league debut, but Coker said he would be dropping to l55 for his next fight. It would be natural for it to be for the Bellator lightweight championship.
Coker also discussed the stripping of Minakov, whose last three fights were in Russia’s Eurasia Fight Nights.?
We’re going to retain Minakov’s rights with the company, but we are going to strip him of the title for lack of participation, basically. We hope we can work it out, but we’re going to be moving on from Minakov.
There have been a lot of things that we were told he was going to do, and so far none of them has happened yet, so we’re going to be moving forward and start looking for the next heavyweight champ. We’re going to build a series of fights that will lead to a fight to determine the next heavyweight champion for Bellator. But as far as waiting for Minakov to come back, I think we’ll be happy if he comes back, but if he doesn’t, we’re already moving on with the title.
As for Brooks, he offered thanks to the fans.
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