Coker: Bellator 2016 increasing the volume, going international

Scott Coker has earned high, wide praise since he took over Bellator MMA in June of 2014.

The tournament-based, weekly seasonal series were replaced by monthly shows, with “Big Tent” events every quarter that have earned beacoup eyeballs. Coker signed a number of fighters with name recognition, including Phil Davis, Josh Koscheck, and Melvin Guillard. Next month will see the debut of a “Dynamite” show, with MMA and kickboxing, plus Tito Ortiz in a title fight, and one-night, four-man light heavyweight #1 contender tournament to fight who ever wins the main event.

And he plans to ramp things up further, and wider – Coker plans expansion beyond North America.

This year, 16 fights. Next year, we’re going to do about 22 to 24 fights. So we’re going to increase the volume, said Coker to Matt Erickson and John Morgan for MMAjunkie. We’ll go from four ‘tent poll’ events to seven, and one of them will be the ‘Dynamite’ show. It’s kind of developing into a brand of its own. … I think people are going to love it. I think it’s going to get great ratings, and I think we’ll do it every year.

When I came into the company, I said, ‘We don’t have the roster right now to be doing 24 fights a year. … We need to step back. Then we can ramp up.’ I feel like we’re in a little bit of a groove (now).”

Next year, we’re also going to do some international fights. I just got back from Tel Aviv in Israel – we have a TV deal there. I was in Italy. I was in London. We have deals in the Middle East. We have a deal in Southeast Asia. There are 140 countries that watch Bellator every time we throw a fight (card). We’re in the process of deciding where we’re going to go, but these international shows are going to be off the hook next year and I’m really excited.