Tag: Scott Coker

Scott Coker Plans To Woo Kayla Harrison At Bellator 271

Bellator President Scott Coker is looking to add Kayla Harrison to the Bellator roster.

Since making the move over to mixed martial arts from Judo, Kayla Harrison has been turning heads. Since joining the PFL and making a run straight to the one m…

Kayla Harrison

Bellator President Scott Coker is looking to add Kayla Harrison to the Bellator roster.

Since making the move over to mixed martial arts from Judo, Kayla Harrison has been turning heads. Since joining the PFL and making a run straight to the one million dollars this year, all eyes have been on Harrison and where she might sign next. Harrison has shown interest in the UFC, but Scott Coker wants Harrison in Bellator. He has a plan to begin the conversation at an upcoming event.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Coker told Yahoo Sports. “I think that we would love to have, you know, a bigger conversation and see if we can come to some type of arrangement. I mean, listen, it’s not just Kayla, but it’s really any free agent that’s out there that’s at that world-class level, you know, that we feel could add value to the company. We want to go sign them.”

Harrison has spent her PFL career so far fighting at 155 pounds. She has made the cut on occasion to featherweight and if she were to join Bellator, that is the division in which she would compete. Many fans are interested in the idea of Harrison facing off against champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino.

“I think she just became a free agent recently. So I think that I think she’s coming to the fight tomorrow with Dan Lambert and (Bellator fighter) (Kyoji) Horiguchi is going to be here, so that’ll be fun. So I think they’re all going to sit together and then, you know, we’ll say hello and start having a dialogue.”

The fight that Harrison will be attending will be headlined by Justino as she looks to defend her title against Sinead Kavanagh. Since leaving the UFC, Justino has dominated in Bellator, winning the belt and defending it twice. The addition of Harrison to the mix of featherweights on the Bellator roster would make for very exciting fights, not just against the champ.

Do you want to see Kayla Harrison join Bellator?

Continue Reading Scott Coker Plans To Woo Kayla Harrison At Bellator 271 at MMA News.

Coker “Never More Confident” Bellator Has Best LHW After UFC 267

Bellator president Scott Coker reacted to Glover Teixeira’s UFC 267 victory by immediately sharing which promotion he thinks has the world’s best light heavyweight.

As the head man of Bellator MMA, Coker hasn’t shied away from touting his talent w…

Scott Coker, Glover Teixeira

Bellator president Scott Coker reacted to Glover Teixeira’s UFC 267 victory by immediately sharing which promotion he thinks has the world’s best light heavyweight.

As the head man of Bellator MMA, Coker hasn’t shied away from touting his talent when discussing the best fighters in the world. To him, Nemkov and his light heavyweight division is no exception.

In a Twitter reply to an MMA Junkie editorial, Coker was blunt about who he thinks has the best light heavyweight right now mere minutes following Glover Teixeira’s UFC 267 victory.

“I’ve never felt more confident in this,” Coker tweeted in response to the question ‘Does Bellator have the best light heavyweight in the world?’.

Current Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Vadim Nemkov will face former UFC standout Corey Anderson in the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix Final at a later date, after defeating Anglickas in the semifinals.

Nemkov, who has been known for his knockout power on the feet combined with a relentless grappling attack, hasn’t slowed down since earning the belt. Especially with the parody in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, Bellator may have the more sure-thing when it comes to comparing 205-pound MMA champions.

Nemkov, along with featherweight champion AJ McKee, has the opportunity to assert himself as the face of Bellator. While he’ll face a tough test in Anderson, he hasn’t shown many weaknesses against the best in the division.

Do you agree with Scott Coker that Bellator has the best light heavyweight division?

Continue Reading Coker “Never More Confident” Bellator Has Best LHW After UFC 267 at MMA News.

Scott Coker Has One More Fight Planned For Fedor Emelianenko Early Next Year

It may not be long until we see Fedor Emelianenko in action again.

“”The Last Emperor” enjoyed

Fedor Emelianenko

It may not be long until we see Fedor Emelianenko in action again.

“”The Last Emperor” enjoyed bellator-269/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>an emphatic knockout victory over Tim Johnson in the Bellator 269 headliner last night in Moscow, Russia.

It was Emelianenko’s first fight in nearly two years as well as his first fight in front of his home fans in Russia in five years. And Bellator MMA president Scott Coker was certainly delighted with what he saw.

“Being a promoter for so long, there’s a few times that just capture that moment in time,” Coker said (via MMA Junkie). “This is that night. It was like, ‘Wow.’ At 45, he can still bring it. He threw combinations at Tim that I haven’t seen for a little while honestly. I think that the pressure of him being at home really helped him. When I saw him yesterday, he seemed so focused, and I think a lot was riding on the line for him.

“He’s here, and he’s proud to be here. All of his people were here. It was just an amazing night. It was like, ‘Wow.’”

Given the nature of the win, it would seem the ideal time for Emelianenko to walk off into the sunset and retire as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

However, Coker has scheduled one more fight for Emelianenko and expects it to take place early next year. For now, he is simply letting the Russian enjoy his victory.

“We have scheduled one more fight for him,” Coker added. “I know him. He’s looked really good and beat (a top) contender, but let him enjoy the victory. Let him really savor this thing, and we’ll revisit with him maybe in a month. I think the next event we’ll have, we’ll probably schedule it early next year or maybe Spring of next year. That’s when you’ll see Fedor fight again.”

Emelianenko, meanwhile, was coy on the topic of fighting again.

“I will answer this question tomorrow,” Emelianenko said, with a smile.

Who do you want to see Emelianenko fight next?

Scott Coker Refuses To Give Out Post-Fight Bonuses In Bellator

Scott Coker has a budget, and he has no plans to budge from it. The UFC is known for their post-fight bonuses, given to fighters after each event for impressive performances or insane fights, which often leads to fighters begging for the $50k bonus after fights. However, Coker has no interest in bringing something like […]

Continue Reading Scott Coker Refuses To Give Out Post-Fight Bonuses In Bellator at MMA News.

Scott Coker has a budget, and he has no plans to budge from it.

The UFC is known for their post-fight bonuses, given to fighters after each event for impressive performances or insane fights, which often leads to fighters begging for the $50k bonus after fights. However, Coker has no interest in bringing something like that over to Bellator any time soon.

Speaking to the press after Bellator 268, the promotional president made it clear that, while they have given thought to introducing post-fight bonuses in Bellator, they do not have any interest in doing so. He says that the promotion has a budget for fighter pay, and he does not want to lessen what he pays fighters upfront, simply to give some fighters bonuses on the backend.

“It’s something that we’ve obviously talked about internally for years, but we have a certain budget that we pay fighters, and it’s a big, big budget, it’s the biggest budget in the company. We pay our fighters top dollar to perform, and so we take the bonuses out of it because we’re paying like top, top, top dollar,” Coker said.

“So we’re not skimming back and saying ‘Okay, why don’t we hold this to see if they perform as a bonus?’ We pay them as much as we can, we pay them well, and I’m sure if you talk to some of the fighters, you’ll hear the same thing. We pay extremely well here, and if they perform, (their pay) is going to go up. It’s really up to them at that point… Every single penny that we had budgeted for the year for fighters, we always paid out max. So we just do it a different way.”

It is certainly interesting to see the different schools of thought, with how Bellator runs their promotion juxtaposed to the UFC. While both Scott Coker and Dana White may believe that they are doing the right thing, it could simply be a matter of what is best for their individual promotion, rather than trying to set a sport-wide norm.

Check out the full post-fight scrum below:

Continue Reading Scott Coker Refuses To Give Out Post-Fight Bonuses In Bellator at MMA News.

Coker After Bellator 268: “I Didn’t Even Know UFC Had A Card Tonight”

Scott Coker likes to stay in his own lane, and not focus on his competition. This weekend saw the UFC go head to head with Bellator, with Aspen Ladd vs Norma Dumont headlining the former’s card at the Apex Center, and Phoenix, Arizona playing host to Vadim Nemkov vs Julius Anglickas. However Coker apparently had […]

Continue Reading Coker After Bellator 268: “I Didn’t Even Know UFC Had A Card Tonight” at MMA News.

Scott Coker likes to stay in his own lane, and not focus on his competition.

This weekend saw the UFC go head to head with Bellator, with Aspen Ladd vs Norma Dumont headlining the former’s card at the Apex Center, and Phoenix, Arizona playing host to Vadim Nemkov vs Julius Anglickas. However Coker apparently had no idea that he was stepping on Dana White’s toes.

While speaking to media after Bellator 268, Coker was asked about the fact that Bellator and the UFC had fights going at the same time. Here he explained that he had no idea UFC Vegas 40 was happening that night, because he was focused on running his own promotion.

“You know, honestly I didn’t even know they had a card tonight. That’s the truth. I focus on my business, I focus on what we’re doing. I think we’re doing some great things… I think we’re back doing what we do best, we’re back on the road, and putting on great fights, and I think that’s what we did tonight,” Coker said.

Scott Coker seems to be proving at every step of the way that he is focused on what his crew is doing, instead of what his competitors are up to. That is why it seems to be a reasonable suggestion that he had no idea that the UFC had a card on the same day as his, especially considering the quality of the Fight Night in question and it’s much earlier start time.

The initial reaction to Coker saying that would be to doubt him, as the UFC can be hard to miss when they are making a show of things, promotionally. That said, whether he knew that he was putting on a show as the same time as his rival promotion or not, the time difference alone would mean that they do not have an effect on each other.

Check out the full post-fight interview below:

Continue Reading Coker After Bellator 268: “I Didn’t Even Know UFC Had A Card Tonight” at MMA News.

Scott Coker: Bellator Grand Prix Winner Is Best Light Heavyweight In The World

CokerAs far as Scott Coker is concerned, the winner of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix is the best 205-pounder in the world. The finals were decided last night at Bellator 268 as Vadim Nemkov defended his title with a submission win over Julius Anglickas in the main event. In the co-main event, Corey Anderson […]

Coker

As far as Scott Coker is concerned, the winner of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix is the best 205-pounder in the world.

The finals were decided last night at Bellator 268 as Vadim Nemkov defended his title with a submission win over Julius Anglickas in the main event.

In the co-main event, Corey Anderson made quick work of former champion Ryan Bader with a first-round knockout win much to the surprise of almost everyone.

With Nemkov now set to defend his title against Anderson, Coker — who has long hailed his light heavyweight division as the best in mixed martial arts — believes the winner cements their place as the best 205er on the planet.

“This was a gauntlet of 205ers and whoever wins this tournament, to me, is the best 205er on the planet, period. That’s how I feel,” Coker said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference (via Sherdog).

As for when the final will take place? Coker is hoping for early next year.

“The finals that we have now really is a fight that I thought,’This could be the finals.’ I’m gonna let them heal up for a month or so,” Coker added. “I think we’re gonna start having a conversation in the next 30 days about when we’ll have the finals.

“I personally would love to have the finals in late January, early February…I think Nemkov needs a little bit of rest time and we’ll get it on.”

Who do you have winning the final?