Coker: Bellator’s phone has been ringing
“I will tell you this, the phone’s been ringing. I just tell people ‘We’re not going to engage in any kind of dialogue with you on any level unless you’re a free agent.”
Bellator MMA president Scott Coker recently spoke with Luke Thomas for MMAFighting.com, about the new UFC-Reebok sponsorship program.
When the Reebok sponsorship was first detailed, it was based on ranking, and there was major push back. The plan was redone with tiers based on tenure, which went over reasonably well, asdid the initial figures for sponsorship that surfaced. However, when the official numbers were released, response was not positive by the majority of fighters who have discussed it publicly.
Although Bellator has about 150 fighters under contract and the UFC has about 600, they are increasingly in competition for free agents in the MMA space. Thus, anything like the Reebok deal that involves fighter satisfaction with the UFC involves Bellator to some extent as well.
Luke Thomas: Now that the details are public, what are your thoughts about the UFC-Reebok sponsorship program?
Scott Coker: I think that people really have to take a step back and understand that this is a business that everybody here’s trying to run. The UFC is a business. Bellator is a business. Both of these are businesses and just like the fighters – they’re a business of their own, a brand business. I think the UFC felt that was the number that made it work for everybody.
I think for the fighters, from what I’m reading, it’s a hard pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, I think UFC had to do what they had to do.
I think there’s been some situations that have been explained to me where fighters were making $50-60,000 a fight from all their sponsors [are] now making $10,000 or $15,000 or $20,000. You’d have to talk to UFC to see how they’re going to handle that situation, but I’m sure they’re going to do something. The fighters are not going to be happy if it’s taking out $150-$200,000 a year in sponsorships from their pocket.
I think they’re going to have a situation on their hands that they’re going to have to deal with.
I will tell you this, the phone’s been ringing. I just tell people, ‘Listen. We’re not going to engage in any kind of dialogue with you on any level unless you’re a free agent. When you’re free, give me a call.’
Managers and fighters. A lot of questions are, ‘What’s your policy on sponsorships?’ I say, ‘Look, I can’t engage in any kind of conversation with you guys. When you’re free, give me a call.’ But the phone’s definitely been ringing.
LT: Stated plainly, then, is what the UFC’s doing good for Bellator or not?
SC: I think time will tell. I think it depends on a couple of things and one is how the UFC will take care of the fighters that are losing money on the deal. It’ll depend, but all I can say is, I can’t speak for their business because that’s their business. I can only speak to, ‘Hey, we’re open for business. If you’re a free agent, give us a call.’ If there’s a fit, there’s a fit, but trying to analyze their business or think about their corporate strategy, I’m just thinking about our strategy. My philosophy is there’s going to be more room than for just one player. I think that in the 11 months I’ve been here, I think we’ve done some great work. We’ve done some fun stuff. I’m excited about the next three years or four years that we’re going to build this brand and put on great fights and drive TV ratings and put butts in seats. That’s the business we’re in. That’s my comment on that.
