Coker: I’m proud of what my philosophy has led to

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour and expressed satisfaction with how quickly the promotion is moving ahead. A little over a year ago, Kimbo and Dada 5000 nearly killed each other on national television, literally, via lack of conditioning. And that was an improvement over circumstances in 2014, when founder Bjorn Rebney was ousted and replaced with Coker.

Rebney had been insistent that the fundamental problem with MMA was unearned title shots and that the solution was tournaments. Weekly shows were held every week for up to months at a time, with little to show. And an extended legal struggle over Eddie Alvarez tarred Bellator as a place fighters wanted to escape from.

Now a series of excellent fighters have been signed, and each expresses thanks that there is an alternate for top talent. On June 24 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, Bellator MMA will hold a pay per view television event for $49.95.

Look, for us, about two-and-a-half years into the process, we’re about two years ahead of where I thought we would be when I first came on, said Coker, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. Boy, I tell you, a lot of things happened.

I told [Spike TV executives], ‘look, you have a good roster. It’s not a great roster, but you have a good roster, and we have to build the new guys.’ We went and signed Aaron Pico. We got a couple other guys. And now, the train is gone, man. We’re signing guys like crazy, all the new prospects, the Tyrell Fortunes, Ed Ruths, Dillon (Danises) of the world. But at that time, it was really about grabbing a couple guys and let’s build these guys. Let’s go back to the basics, star identification, star building, and let’s create some stars.

And in the meantime, just like Strikeforce, let’s go buy some free agents. Let’s go buy the guys who have recognizable names. And Phil Davis was the first one who came over, then Benson Henderson, and then the floodgates opened. And now we have a very, very good roster and I’m really proud of what we’ve done, because really, I told Spike TV, I said, ‘look, this is going to be a four-to-five-year process to get to this point, because it’s not like it was back then where Pride was gone and guys were just floating around for me to start picking them up. So, we’re going to have to build some, we’re going to have to buy some,’ and that’s really been the philosophy of Strikeforce, and it’s the philosophy I brought here. And it’s worked both times, so I’m pretty proud of that.

Coker attributes some of Bellator’s success to changes at the UFC.

One was the sale of the [UFC], he said. That changed a lot, and it changed a lot for the fighters too. I think there were some bitter athletes out there saying, ‘Hey, you guys got all this money, $4 billion, and we’re still stuck in this contract.’ And I think that changed people’s minds, and it made the phones start ringing.

The Reebok deal was the original one that made the phones start ringing, and then the sale of the company, that was the next. I noticed a difference, because fighters are creatures of comfort or habit. They like to do the same routine. When they go to camp, they’re with the same guys, same family. And when the family changes, then it’s like, ‘well maybe I should go talk to my old boss, or go talk to Bellator.’ But at the end of the day, you know what it comes down to?

I told this to Bader. Look, whether you stay with the UFC or you come to Bellator, it’s good for the industry, because you’re going to ultimately get paid more. You’re going to help elevate your financial situation for you and your family because you have two bidders now. If you only had one bidder, maybe you wouldn’t be getting as much as you are now. So, to me, it’s good for the industry to have somebody else out there that can pay these athletes what they deserve, and I think they’re appreciative of it. I think they see how many [UFC fighters] have come over, so it’s just making people say, ‘oh, well I should go check it out.’

Coker’s comments echoed recent statements made by top-10 welterweight Lorenz Larkin, who expressed disappointment about some fans decrying his recent move from the UFC to Bellator. Larkin said that having one organization — in this case, the UFC — reign as a lone superpower puts fighters in a difficult position without the leverage to negotiate better terms for their services.”

I think that it’s been a great year for Bellator. The ratings, the sponsorships, the international fights that we’re doing, everything has been going fantastic. And I look forward to the rest of ‘17, and then to ’18 and beyond, because we’re doing some fun stuff. It’s been a fun year.