The Bellator schedule will likely commence in February according to Scott Coker.
Like much of the sporting world, Bellator was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with six events getting canceled — with five of them during the March to June period. Although the schedule resumed in July, the Santa Monica-based promotion was well off its expected number of events for the calendar year.
That said, with COVID-19 vaccines currently being rolled out worldwide as well as loosened public guidelines, Bellator is looking to stay busy in the next 12 months.
“We’ll probably still produce our 22 to 26 events,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “That’s what we’re thinking in the ballpark, then some fights in Europe as things open up. That’s kind of the thought process.”
As for fans? In an ideal world, Coker would like to see them in attendance towards the end of 2021. For now, though, the promotion is focused on kicking off 2021 with Coker expecting their first event to take place in February.
“As far as starting, we’re probably thinking sometime in February,” Coker said. “We haven’t locked a date down yet, but that’s probably what we’re thinking in February to launch with our first fight of 2021.”
Perhaps as things loosen up in the future, one of the shows in Europe could be in Moscow for Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell tour as planned.