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Scott Coker wants to see Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture.
Yes, it’s 2014 and whispers about this “dream fight” from ages past are still happening.
“That’s a fight I would personally love to see,” Coker said after Bellator 123. “But I just don’t know if it’s going to happen.”
When pressed as to why he was pessimistic, Coker cited Couture’s appearance on Dancing with the Stars. However, Coker did not that he was currently talking with M-1 and was going to be speaking with Couture next.
“All I can say is that we’re in dialogue with M-1, but that’s all I have to say at this time about that,” he said about bringing the retired Fedor Emelianenko into Bellator.
And regarding Couture, Coker was equally mum.
“We’ll see him next. We’ll talk to him and see what he has to say.”
For the record, Couture is 51 years old and Emelianenko is 37. The UFC attempted to book this fight in 2007 and failed. Affliction tried to book this fight as well but ended up going out of business.
It seems that this fight is just one of MMA’s great “what-ifs.” And now that it’s 2014, it should stay that way.
Bellator seems to be obsessed with recreating MMA from 2007. While that seems like a smart goal–MMA in 2007 was great–you can’t recreate 2007 in MMA with 2007′s fighters. They’re all too old now. Recreating the MMA boom won’t come from recycling faded stars until they’re in their late 40s (or older in Couture’s case). While names are certainly important for Bellator, new talent is even more important. They obviously need to hire some names to draw attention to the product, but this attention should then be used to highlight younger prospects in the company, not some pipe dream from seven years ago or a some ridiculous, pro wrestling-like stunt.