Strikeforce is here to stay; we are definitely going to do our part to grow the sport and be good ambassadors of the sport.
— Scott Coker
Sometimes the fighter or an athlete feels they're valued a certain price, and sometimes we don't feel that way.
It's not every day you are able to sign a top-10 athlete, let alone two in the same week.
I'm excited to see Jake Hager debut for Bellator in 2018. When I heard he was seriously interested in competing in MMA, and when you look at what he did at the collegiate level, I was very interested in having him on our roster.
MMA has evolved. When you look at an MMA fighter's skill set, boxing has to be a big piece of it. All of them have a boxing coach now and strive to have a good stand-up game, knowing that to be a complete fighter, you have to tend to your striking skills.
The welterweight division has really emerged as one of our most exciting weight classes.
When you think about martial arts here in the states, kickboxing was here in the '70s, and it kind of ran its course. But I always felt there was a place in combat sports for kickboxing.
We have a zero tolerance policy here at Bellator when it relates to any form of domestic violence.
I'd like to see Melvin Manhoef fight Robbie Lawler.
It's good to team up with Spike and Viacom. I see a lot of potential.
MMA fans should thank Spike TV for their commitment to the sport.
We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating and untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family.
If the fighter doesn't want to fight, you're not gonna want him to fight. If the fighter doesn't want to fight, the promoter doesn't make him fight. And if he wants to retire, then it's time to walk away.
In my years of doing the K1 fights, one thing I've learned is that the guys who you think will be there in the end - very rarely do you get the match up you were hoping for.
I thought, 'If I can create a business to promote martial arts, that'd sure be a lot of fun.'
You can only control your own destiny.
A lot of fighters want that freedom to have their own sponsorships. When you think about it, how do you make independent contractors wear a uniform? That just seems strange to me.
Our sport has great fighters and great fans. And the fans really get to connect to those fighters.
There are a lot of details you have to work out when you're talking about fighters competing twice in one night.
We want Bellator to be a destination for not only the top-tier fighters in the sport, but the first-choice destination for fans to see the most entertaining fights in the sport.
We're not going to do monthly pay-per-view just to do pay-per-views. We're going to build up to big fights more like the boxing model, and when the time is right, we'll do the big, big fights.
We've always looked for guys and girls who have striking ability... there's a reason my past company was called Strikeforce.
Whereas there's more of a learning curb with MMA, kickboxing is pretty easy to understand and has no geographical boundaries.
When you think about mixed martial arts, you have to think about the entire scope of the athlete.
Marloes Coenen is the real deal.
In Strikeforce, we're committed to putting on the best fights that we can.
If a legend fight comes up, or if a fun fight comes up that makes sense, and the fans want to see it, then we're going to do it. We're not going to be afraid to do those fights.
MMA has a great safety record. I was always confused as to why it was illegal in New York in the first place.
Bellator has the best welterweight fighters in the world.
I think I'm going to be a juggler when I retire from the promotion business one day.
I would say, look, any fighter that's out there or any star athlete - not star athlete in the sense of a baseball player, but like a Brock Lesnar - that really wants to fight, we're going to have a conversation with them. Because if they can move the needle, we're going to want them on Spike TV.
I used to go to fights in Japan, mega shows at soccer stadiums. They would have all kinds of martial arts fights in one night.
I'm not thinking of any other leagues. I'm really not. I'm thinking of what can I do to move Bellator forward. I'm thinking of what we need to fix, what fighters we should sign, where we can expand internationally.
You can't put an age on power.
My background in promoting martial arts started in 1985 when we were doing PK Karate, which was on ESPN. Fast forward to when mixed martial arts became legal in California. I made the jump to MMA and never looked back.
Spike is an entertainment company. So why not have entertaining fights when you can do them?
Mike Goldberg and Mauro Ranallo are two of the best in our business, and I couldn't be happier about them joining the Bellator family.
That's the thing about the fight business is that you don't know what's going to happen.
At the end of the day, it's a business about fighters and a business about people. This is our philosophy.
If you look at Germany and France, a couple other countries, those are really kickboxing markets.
Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen.
As a martial arts promoter and as a fan of martial arts, you go, 'What would happen if this guy fought this guy?'
The experience I've had with Strikeforce kickboxing, K1, Strikeforce MMA, working with ESPN, working with Showtime, working with Japanese television, working with fighter camps from all over the world has given me a unique perspective.
Let's go back to super-fights. Let's put on fights that are great live or on television.
One of the most popular MMA fighters ever, Kimbo was a charismatic, larger-than-life personality that transcended the sport.
Hugh Hefner represented pop culture in a way that no else could.
I buy the UFC pay-per-views that are on OnDemand, DirectTV, and DISH. As far as quality, come on. These are the best heavyweights in the world. I think everybody knows that.
When I was a kid, there were probably 100 schools in the Bay Area that just did martial arts.
I worked for a Japanese company called K1 for a while.
I'm not a union guy in the sense that I know a lot about how they operate. But I know fighters. They are individual athletes. This is not a team sport. I think it's going to be hard to say, 'Hey, do you mind not fighting on Saturday and walking around the arena with a picket sign instead?' I just don't see it.
