Less than 12 hours after Bjorn Rebney’s exit from the organization he founded and ran for seven years, former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was officially named President of Bellator MMA.
Viacom made the announcement official Wednesday afternoon, indicating that Bellator will likely distance itself from its trademark tournament format moving forward.
“We are excited to have Scott Coker lead us in a new direction as we evolve the league format from a tournament-based organization to a more traditional model with big fights,” Spike TV President Kevin Kay said in a statement.
Coker, who founded Strikeforce as a kickboxing promotion in 1985 and eventually grew it to become the number-two mixed martial arts organization in the world before being bought out by Zuffa in 2011, is expected “oversee the day-to-day management of the emerging mixed martial arts franchise” in his new role, according to a press release.
A media conference call introducing Coker to the position is scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on Wednesday. MMAFighting.com will continue to follow this story as it develops.