Bellator vows to fight for every major free agent
Scott Coker on major free agents in mixed martial arts: “There’s not going to be a fighter on the planet we can’t afford and have access to.”
Brock Lesnar’s contract with the WWE expires on March 29 after WrestleMania 31. Dave Meltzer recently reported that the WWE believes Brock will sign with the UFC. However, CEO Scott Coker says Bellator plans to be involved with every single major MMA free agent in 2015, including Brock Lesnar.
“There hasn’t been any serious dialogue,” Coker said to Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting. “But when the time comes to have serious dialogue, we’ll be right there.”
“There’s not going to be a fighter on the planet we can’t afford and have access to,” Coker said.
Coker also expressed interest in Gina Carano.
“Her schedule is getting booked up, but if she was in the market to fight again we would definitely be interested, for sure,” he said.
Bellator 131 with Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar headlining was the most watched MMA event of the year with over two million viewers, and set the tone.
“I think one of the things we were really able to do bring is back the casual fan,” said Coker. “Those casual fans seemed to have jumped away from MMA for a little bit. Names like Ortiz and Bonnar brought them back.”
“If fighters like that are available, you can be sure we’ll make a run at them.”
The great irony of all this is that it may be good for everyone but the fans.
If there is competition between Bellator and the UFC for top talent, purses for the top fighters will go up dramatically. This already happened with for example Gil Melendez. So it is great for fighters.
If there is competition between Bellator and the UFC for top talent, the class-action lawsuit claiming that the UFC is a monopoly will be shown to be false, which would be great for the UFC.
The filing refers to Bellator explicitly as “minor.”
“Bellator athletes lack significant public notoriety, in part because it is a ‘minor league. Bellator’s bout purses, gate revenues, attendance figures, merchandise sales, television licensing fees and ad rates are minimal compared to those obtained by the UFC.”
Coker took issue with that characterization, again in an interview with MMAFighting. Coker also said emphatically that Bellator had nothing what so ever to do with the suit.
“Do I think Bellator is a minor league?” asked Coker. “The answer is no.”
“I would say four years ago, people would say that about Strikeforce. They’d say, ‘Oh, UFC has the best fighters, the best champs.’ That can be debated. Look at Luke Rockhold, what he’s done. Look at Daniel Cormier, what he’s done. Look at Tyron Woodley, OSP. The names go on and on and on of all the great Strikeforce fighters that have done really well over there.”
“In today’s marketplace, it sure is a lot better to have two leagues that can afford you and pay for you,” Coker said. “Now you have a second bidder in the marketplace. Before, I think after Strikeforce was bought out, it kind of became a one-promotion bidding opportunity. Now that there’s two, it’s going to make the fighters much happier and the managers much happier.”
Competition is the bedrock of fighting, and the free market. It is good. However, if the competition ends up meaning the top fighters in the sport are spread across two leagues, ironically, fans may be the one group to lose out.
What if, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones once again ended up in separate promotions? Who wins, who loses? In the mean time, who wins at UFC 182 on Jan 3?