Dave Mandel-USA TODAY Sports

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker believes the promotion’s 205-pound weight class is ready to take the next step forward, especially following the recent departure of long-time UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to the heavyweight division.

While Jones competes under a completely different promotion, Coker now feels like Bellator’s talent at 205 pounds can shine like it never has before. Luckily, fight fans won’t have to wait long to see the division in motion as current Bellator light heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader, will defend his title tonight (Fri., Aug. 21, 2020) at Bellator 244 against top contender Vadim Nemkov.

Bellator has done its best to add recognizable talent to the light heavyweight roster over the past few years, including the likes of Phil Davis, Gegard Mousasi, Lyoto Machida, and the aforementioned Bader. The company also just signed former UFC light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson, who inked his deal earlier this month.

Needless to say, Bellator is beginning to stockpile some of the best talent at 205 pounds and is ready to test UFC for light heavyweight supremacy.

“Listen, with Jon Jones moving up to heavyweight, I think we have the best 205-pound weight class on the planet with Bader, Gegard wants to move up, we have (Lyoto) Machida, and we have Corey Anderson now,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “We have a bunch of killers in that weight class.

“To me, we have a great roster of fights for him (Corey Anderson) – and even Phil Davis. I mean, we’ll be able to put some great fights together, and I’m excited about that division.”

Bellator is certainly a growing entity and Coker is doing his finest to bring in the best free agents around, but UFC’s light heavyweight division is still as deadly as ever even with the departure of “Bones.” With elite level talent like Dominick Reyes, Thiago Santos, Jan Blachowicz, Anthony Smith, Glover Teixeira, Aleksandar Rakic, Jiri Prochazka, and the returning Anthony Johnson, UFC still possesses an incredibly deep 205-pound class.

The removal of Jones is certainly going to leave the UFC light heavyweight division scrambling for some consistency, but Coker may be jumping the gun in declaring Bellator’s stable a more powerful source of competition.

What say you, fight fans? Now that Jones is no longer part of UFC’s light heavyweight division, which promotion as the better talent at 205 pounds?

Sound off!

MMAmania.com will deliver coverage of Bellator 244: “Bader vs. Nemkov” TONIGHT, with the main card live on DAZN and Paramount Network at 10 p.m. ET.