Bellator MMA lightweight champ Will Brooks might be the Bellator promotion’s best fighter these days.
So when tweets come from his official account expressing dissatisfaction with the organization, they are bound to attract attention.
It reached a point where Bellator MMA President Scott Coker offered some remarks on Brooks’ comments, responding to the champ’s claims he is not marketed with the same fervor as other fighters.
“This is how it works,” Coker said in an interview published Sunday by Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting. “Fighters are happy until they’re not happy. Right now, he’s not happy. That could change. I don’t take it personally. It’s just part of the business. If he’s gonna yap, he’s gonna yap. That’s just how it is.”
The problem appeared to reach a crescendo recently when former UFC contender Josh Thomson moved to Bellator and called out Michael Chandler—a star lightweight Brooks has beaten twice.
Brooks took issue with the call-out. In response to that, Chandler called Brooks “a bad employee” for Bellator, among other things, in an episode of The MMA Hour last Monday with broadcaster Ariel Helwani (h/t Chuck Mindenhall of MMA Fighting):
How many eyeballs are going to tune in to see Will Brooks fight? … And then you couple that with the fact that guy is…I mean, we just got done talking about being a great employee, whether you’re a fighter, or whether you’re working for whatever company you are. But he’s the epitome of a bad employee, just constantly trashing the promotion, constantly questioning the decisions people make in it and constantly, quite frankly, whining.
Brooks then responded on Twitter, which may ultimately have prompted Coker’s comments:
Where in any of what I said did I criticize Bellator?https://t.co/R3omQJQjvL via MMAFighting
— Will Brooks (@illwillbrooks86) February 14, 2016
OMFG this bum can’t get enough of me, I never talk about him, but I’m always on his mind hahaha #ihaunthismemories https://t.co/eNsN664qwF
— Will Brooks (@illwillbrooks86) February 11, 2016
When he tells his kids about his career he’ll skip the part about me or he’ll tell them about the man he just couldn’t beat. #illliveforever
— Will Brooks (@illwillbrooks86) February 10, 2016
You can say what you need to but you still can’t beat me. You got your fingers crossed hoping I leave so you won’t have to fight me again.
— Will Brooks (@illwillbrooks86) February 9, 2016
There is no immediate indication from Bellator how it might handle Brooks, Chandler and Thomson from a matchmaking perspective.
The 29-year-old Brooks (17-1) is on an eight-fight winning streak. The 14-3 Chandler, who is also 29, lost three in a row—two to Brooks—before embarking on his current two-fight win streak.
Thomson (22-8-1) is 37 years old but still potent as a fighter and certainly recognizable from his days as a champ in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion and then as a UFC contender.
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