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Bellator president Scott Coker is going to do everything in his power to sign former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, and it starts with reaching out to Lesnar’s team to initiate talks.
Lesnar, who failed to re-sign his contract with WWE late last month, has been a hot topic in MMA over the past few weeks. The former UFC heavyweight champion is one of the biggest draws in the history of the sport so if he’s free to sign anywhere then promoters will begin to line up out the door.
Obviously, the favorite to land Lesnar’s services is UFC. With a potential superfight opposite Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic on the table, UFC president Dana White is willing to make a deal with the former WWE superstar and plan his massive return to the Octagon. However, UFC and Lesnar failed to come to an agreement the last time the two sides spoke about a deal so maybe the window of opportunity is opening up for Bellator.
Coker, who announced a bunch of Bellator news Friday night, also had the chance to discuss the possibility of working out a deal with Lesnar. While Coker revealed that he has reached out to Lesnar’s team to initiate talks the former Strikeforce promoter acknowledged that there remains a ton of uncertainty regarding Lesnar’s availability and willingness to fight.
“The situation with Brock Lesnar is I don’t even know if he’s a free agent,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “I don’t even know if he wants to fight. I don’t know what his situation is. I reached out and talked to them and said, ‘Hey, if Brock wants to fight Fedor, we have the guy who could be the fight that never happened.’ We’ll see if that happens. We’ll see if that’s something he’s serious about. Only Brock knows.”
While Lesnar’s MMA future remains up in the air the one thing that Coker and company have going for them in the “Brock Sweepstakes” is their ongoing relationship with MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. That may seem like nothing since UFC has more relevant options like Jones or Miocic, but you need to remember that Lesnar vs. Fedor is a matchup that has alluded the masses for years. Even UFC couldn’t get the massive heavyweight fight done nearly one decade ago. If Coker is able to leverage that superfight when meeting with Lesnar it may actually do the trick.
“If he was available, I’m sure we could make a deal,” Coker said. “I’d go right to our CEO, Bob Bakish, and talk to him about it. I’d say, ‘This is a great opportunity.’ I would bring Stephen Espinoza (and) David Nevins in the mix because it’d probably be a big commitment, but that’s a big piece of business, as well.”
All of that said, UFC and company are tremendous negotiators and surely have the bigger selling points compared to Bellator. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially if WWE sticks its nose back into things with a bigger and better offer for Lesnar.
Let the games begin.