Coker explains Big Top strategy
Scott Coker: “The undercard fights will resonate with hardcore fans, and hopefully those eyeballs will become fans of the fighters we’ll put underneath the main event.”
Some members of the hardcore fan base scoffed at Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock. However, there is no denying its popularity with the general public, and no denying that it, as did the Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar fight before it, draws fans to more conventional MMA fighters.
Kimbo vs Shamrock made the front page of CNN.com, and was covered by the New York Times, which only rarely acknowledges that the sport exists. Twitter searches were at 500k, about the same as the UFC’s two biggest events this year, UFC 182 and 183.
Bellator MMA 138 drew 1.58 million viewers on Spike, the largest average viewership in the league’s history. Further, it was significantly larger than Bellator 131, with a 1.20 million viewers. 138 peaked at 2.1 million during the Kimbo vs. Ken main event, breaking the previous record if 1.8 million set at for Tito vs. Stephan.
The remarkable success is due to Scott Coker, who replaced ousted Bellator MMA founder Bjorn Rebney. Rebney went down with the now also discarded tournament format; there were few complaints.
When I used to watch Bellator before, it just seemed like they would hold tournaments to hold tournaments, said Coker to MMAFighting,com, as transcribed by Dave Doyle for Yahoo Sports. So to me, it was, like, you want to throw a tournament? It should be a big tournament. … We got off the tournament wagon and went into superfight mode. I don’t think you should throw fighters into a tournament just so you can fill a tournament..
Guys that maybe would have got cut after a couple losses, [the UFC is] holding on to. Hey, that’s fine. Do your thing. How I feel is, Tito vs. Bonnar is like a painting. The canvas is empty. It’s how we paint the picture, that’s what it comes down to. Are we able to paint the picture and make you as the fan tune in? The answer is yes.
If we have Kimbo vs. Ken, it’s going to cast a bigger net than ‘this guy vs. this guy’ that only the hardcore fans know. That’s what it is. I don’t mind doing these big fights. The undercard fights will resonate with hardcore fans, and hopefully those eyeballs will become fans of the fighters we’ll put underneath the main event.
That is no empty hope. Ortiz vs. Bonnar brought countless fans to also see Joe Schilling KO Melvin Manhoef and Will Brooks establish himself as a legitimate force in MMA with a second, definitive win over Michael Chandler. And Saturday’s Kimbo vs. Shamrock brought countless fans to also see Patricio Freire thrilling comeback from Bolivian win over Daniel Weichel, as well as exciting fights from Daniel Straus and Michael Chandler.
What Bellator is doing looks a little like what Elite XC did with Kimbo vs. Shamrock, but it is fundamentally different. Elite XC bet the farm on Kimbo. Bellator MMA is betting Kimbo can bring fans to fights that every hardcore fan loves, like Patricio Freire vs. Daniel Weichel.
Every quarter Bellator MMA is going to hold a big top event. The main or co-main may make some hardcores roll their eyes, but it will bring attention to great MMA fights and fighters that would otherwise be ignored. That’s not a bad deal.
With that in mind, what do you think about Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock?