SAN DIEGO – Bellator president Scott Coker acknowledged Saturday evening that there’s “numerous uncertainty and numerous unknowns” surrounding the corporate.
Rumors have run rampant that Viacom, which owns Bellator and Showtime Boxing, is seeking to get out of the combat enterprise, leaving each fight sports activities promotions in limbo. Particularly with Bellator, Coker first acknowledged this previous June {that a} merger with PFL was being mentioned. Since then, he’s remained principally silent on the subject.
That modified through the Bellator 300 post-event information convention at Pechanga Area, the place Coker fielded a number of questions concerning the standing of the corporate.
“We’ll see the place the longer term goes so far as if a deal is gonna occur or not gonna occur,” Cokersaid. “These items take time, and till the time will get solidified it’s simply hypothesis.”
Coker has been in an analogous state of affairs earlier than with Strikeforce. Again in 2011, the UFC bought the now-defunct promotion from Coker for $40 million. Whereas this present expertise with Bellator is nothing new to Coker, there’s a distinction.
“Be mindful: I don’t personal Bellator,” Coker mentioned. “Bellator is just not my firm to personal or to promote or to maintain or to merge. It’s owned by Viacom, they usually have a course of that they do, they usually’re doing what they should do. It’s not one thing I personal to promote or not promote. …
“It’s exhausting for me to essentially touch upon (the state of affairs) as a result of it’s utterly completely different. Now, there are some emotions that really feel the identical, however on the finish of the day it’s not my firm.”
Coker, who’s been on the helm of Bellator since June 2014, didn’t remark when requested if his contract consists of language that will stop him from persevering with to advertise fights.
He spoke glowingly concerning the firm by touting the inflow of homegrown expertise on the roster, which has sparked respectable debate about whether or not sure Bellator champions and ex-champs –akin to Johnny Eblen, Yaroslav Amosov, A.J. McKee, and extra – might beat the UFC champs within the their division.
Coker additionally identified that no different U.S.-based MMA promotion not named the UFC is drawing hundreds of followers into arenas on the common.
“It’s been an amazing, nice expertise to observe this firm develop,” Coker mentioned. “Give it some thought: When you concentrate on – what different firm proper now in addition to the UFC goes to arenas and mainly promoting what we do right here? Or we offered out in Paris, we’ve offered out in Eire a pair occasions, we’ve offered out in Chicago. I imply, it’s good to see the model develop.”
Be that as it might from Coker’s perspective, the truth is that Bellator’s future is unsure. The subject has even been addressed by UFC president Dana White, who lately questioned why anybody would think about buy Bellator earlier than altering his tune every week later that “it’s a great factor” if the promotion continues to exist.
What White or every other promoter thinks of Bellator isn’t of a lot concern to Coker.
“Now we have an amazing firm,” Coker mentioned. “Whenever you discuss clear No. 2 within the area, no person has the fighters that we’ve got. No person can pack this area like we are able to pack it, apart from the UFC. After I take into consideration adverse feedback coming from different promoters, it simply is what it’s. I’m probably not impacted by that. I actually attempt to give attention to the enterprise at hand and what’s vital to the expansion of this firm and the expansion to attempt to hold this going ahead.”
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