Bellator leader, Scott Coker has confirmed his interest in signing former UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar – with the veteran wrestling ace reportedly a free-agent after opting against new terms on a deal with professional wrestling outfit, WWE.
Lesnar, 43 – has been linked with a move back to the UFC recently as well, with promotional president, Dana White explaining how he’d make a fight between the former heavyweight gold holder, and division mover, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones if both were interested.
White may face some competition, however. Speaking with MMA Junkie following Bellator’s latest event last weekend – the aforenoted, Coker expressed his interest in signing Lesnar. The former Strikeforce head honcho confirmed he had reached out to Lesnar’s management team regarding a deal – suggesting a superfight of days gone by, between Lesnar and PRIDE FC great, Fedor Emelianenko.
“Listen, you know, the situation with Brock Lesnar is I don’t even know if he’s a free agent,” Coker said. “I don’t even know if he really wants to fight. I don’t know what his situation is. But I reached out and talked to them and said, ‘Hey, if Brock wants to fight Fedor (Emelianenko), we have the guy.’ It could be the fight that never happened, right? So we’ll see what happens and we’ll see if it’s something he’s really serious about. But only Brock knows.“
“But if he was available, I’m sure we could make a deal,” Coker told. “I mean, I’d go right to our CEO Bob Baskish and I would talk to him about it and say, ‘This is a great opportunity.’ I would bring Stephen Espinoza and David Nevens in the mix because it would probably be a big commitment. But that’s a fight that would be a big piece of business as well.” (H/T BJPENN.com)
A potential superfight between Lesnar and Emelianenko was originally floated back in 2009, with the bout ultimately failing to come to fruition.
In his most recent professional mixed martial arts appearance, Lesnar returned to the UFC after another stint with WWE – featuring at UFC 200 in July 2016 opposite kickboxing ace, Mark Hunt. Scoring a unanimous decision originally, the result was overturned to a ‘No Contest’ after Lesnar had tested positive for the banned substance, clomiphene, and was subsequently slapped with a one-year retroactive suspension by USADA and the Nevada State Athletic Commission.