Issue 153

April 2017

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker says his promotion is no longer simply the UFC’s domestic TV rival, it has the ambition and resources to compete with it on a global scale.

Following Bellator MMA’s most high-profile event since its buyout by Viacom – featuring the main event of Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen – I sat down with CEO Scott Coker at the company headquarters in Hollywood, California.

The promotion had big plans for 2017 and beyond: looking to rival the UFC, aiming to broaden its roster and global development, with the mercurial Coker in the mood to go deep and outline the drive behind the company’s expansion plans.

He gives his most comprehensive interview yet on the Bellator’s burgeoning ambition and plans...

Was Sonnen vs. Ortiz a coming-of-age event for Bellator after more than two years of hard toil?

We’ve been waiting to come to LA. Viacom is based out of LA and New York. We had to wait until we had the right fight. And when we signed Chael and put this fight together, I said this is the fight. LA is like New York.

It’s a major media and entertainment market. I think we have great fights and great celebrity appearances. What you’re going to see is this has become an event, not just a fight. That’s really what I love about the tentpole events. When you get to this magnitude it becomes more than just a big fight.

What’s Bellator’s mandate for 2017?

In 2016, the mandate was to go after every free agent we could, which we did. We signed five of the top names available.

Tito was already signed, but we got Chael Sonnen, Matt Mitrione, Wanderlei Silva, Benson Henderson and Fedor (Emelianenko). That’s a pretty good line-up. Fedor, come on. This time it was just between Fedor and I. We sat down in a room and cut a deal.

Did you meet and get the deal done quickly?

No, it was not done quickly (laughs).

It started in a small meeting room and then went to translations back and forth and lawyers. It took three or four months to get it done. I’m really happy. Believe me, he had options.

I’m sure every league was going after him and I’m glad we got him. What makes me feel good about it is Fedor put trust in our relationship.

When we got the lawyers activated, it went south. When we jumped back on the phone together we finished the deal. I think he trusts me, I trust him and we’re going to have a great working relationship into the future.

Tell us about Bellator’s goals for this year?

The same thing continues in 2017, in that we’ll be going after every free agent right now.

There are a couple we’re talking to and negotiating with. We’ll see what happens. Some we’ll get, some we won’t. Then there’s international expansion.

The UK and Ireland are going to be big destinations again this year. London and Dublin – maybe Belfast too.

Can you create the big show to go toe-to-toe with the UFC with Viacom – a media conglomeration?

We’re going toe-to-toe already, especially in the US. You have to remember that we’re not in the PPV business. We’re in the Spike TV business and we’re here to drive the ratings.

There’s no doubt they do shows at the same time in Vegas to take some heat away from what we’re doing, it’s very obvious, but we’re going to keep focusing on our goal and our path. This is about Bellator’s journey and nobody else’s.

We’re focused on the plan we mapped out. We knew there’s be interferences or little hiccups here and there, but I think we’re really right on track where we need to be in terms of where we need to be launching into 2017.

We had Chael vs. Tito, Mitrione vs. Fedor, is Rampage vs. Mo Lawal. We have three big fights – three big tentpoles – coming right out of the block.

What advantages do you have over the UFC?

Viacom has networks around the world. So it’s great to go to a foreign country and not have to go looking for a TV deal. A TV deal is your partner already.

Here’s a good example; Spike Hungary just launched two or three months previously. We had a phone call and they said we’re putting Bellator on Thursday nights and Saturday nights from 10 to midnight. We’re going to pump it.

I said, ‘OK, let’s go there and do a fight, let’s keep it pumping.’ Then there’s Spike Netherlands, which we had not committed to doing a fight there, but it makes so much sense to go there soon.

But we don’t have to go looking for the TV deal, which is the hard part. This company is the only company out there who will never have to look for a TV deal. Even in America.

So you feel the position you have is stronger?

What happens if they lose their TV deal? Bellator will never be in that position.

Will there come a time soon when people use Bellator and UFC in the same breath?

You have to separate from the hard-core fan. The hard-core fan knows both sides. But then you have the general fan. I get stopped on the road by people who say, ‘Hey man, Bellator is doing great, keep it up. It’s growing, man.’

But you need those major names you’ve signed to draw more viewers...

I always felt you build a roster from the ground up. We have some of the best young fighters in the world. Aaron Pico, Tyrell Fortune. We have some of the best jiu-jitsu fighters in the world signed up.

What we’re doing is cultivating them and letting them grow and simmer, get them fights and keep them growing. But they’re not ready to step up into the big show yet. We’re growing. We’re laying the foundation right now. Let’s find these young guys and young girls fighting and get them into training camps and teach them how to use MMA as a whole.

What lessons did you learn when you ran and owned Strikeforce and is there less pressure at Bellator?

Any time you’re an owner it’s like rice to riches. What I mean is, one day you sell the arena out. In 2006 we sold our first arena out. This is a million-dollar gate. This never happened in kickboxing.

Then you do a fight and you lose a few hundred thousand dollars. You’re taking the risk every time you roll the dice. But this is all I’ve ever done. I’ve never worked for another company or taken a job doing something.

I’ve been in the martial arts business, owning my own businesses and one of those businesses was a fight company. We always take the risk and roll the dice. But you are accountable when that happens and you will work your butt off. There’s nobody else to help you. Here, we have an army of people.

Is it easier having a budget from a conglomerate?

I believe I’m working harder now. Strikeforce was really meant to be a USA product. This is meant to be an international product and I’m on the road all year long.

It’s something I love to do. I’m learning a lot. They had departments in this company I didn’t even know existed until we were starting to interact with them. We already have offices – globally.

We’ll just piggyback off the resources. Their digital can do our digital, their PR can run our PR internationally and their marketing can help us market fights in those particular markets.

So, let’s talk about these young stars...

We have a kid, Tyrell Fortune, who is a heavyweight. Aaron Pico, a featherweight, will have wrestling and boxing. Ed Ruth, a middleweight, I found through Bob Cook. He said, ‘You’ve got to sign this guy, he’s amazing’.

I went to watch Ruth wrestle at the world championships. He’s like one of these elite guys from Penn State. He broke every record. Ask Phil Davis. The one thing they all have is this calmness when they fight.

There are no nerves. These guys are just calm like it’s another day at the park.

That’s the advantage. They’ve had so much international competition when it comes time to compete they are able to turn it on. It’s like Daniel Cormier and all those Olympic-level wrestling guys: Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Matt Lindland – they all had that background.

Like T-Wood (Tyron Woodley). He’s a guy we found in Missouri. When (Strikeforce) signed him he had no fights. He was just a wrestler.

You created quite a few UFC champions. How do you look back on that?

Amanda Nunes used to fight for Strikeforce and we had Miesha Tate, Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz. Ronda (Rousey) was with us at the very beginning. The ones we grew from the very bottom that I’m proud of are Luke Rockhold, Woodley, (Daniel) Cormier.

That’s that group that grew up in Strikeforce Challengers. I have a poster on my laptop here and it’s Woodley, Cormier and Tarec Saffiedine in a Strikeforce Challengers. These guys had a few fights at the time.

We saw something in each of those guys that made us say, ‘These guys are going to be amazing. This is the future of this company.’

So it’s two years now with modern Bellator, what’s been the toughest thing?

All the international travel to attend all the press conferences. That’s been tough. But it’s necessary and I have a duty to go. You have to be everywhere at one time. The traveling and volume of fights was more than what we were used to in Strikeforce. We’ve had to ramp up to make that happen.

How many did you start with on the roster?

They probably had about 150. But to me it’s not the volume of fighters, it’s the right fighters. That’s what I’m looking for.

They do fights in small venues and I get it, but I told Kevin Kay when I first came on board, ‘This has to become an arena show. This has to become the big show where people want to come. This model won’t work in the long run.’

How important is it to have Kevin Kay, who put TUF on cable TV, as president of Spike?

I don’t think people realize how important he is because he’s so low-key and in the background. But if he didn’t green-light (TUF) what would have happened? The UFC could have died right there.

He loves it, which makes me love it more. He’s passionate about Bellator, so I am. He’s been a really good leader and mentor and I’ve learned a lot from him. He’s the guy who will send me articles at 2am and say, ‘Did you see this article’? I’ll say, ‘Of course I did.’ I quickly go and find the article. He’s on top of it. He’s on it.

So Spike TV gets the bigger picture for MMA?

It’s great programming for Spike TV.

But it’s another company out there that creates an opportunity for a fighter to say, ‘Well, what if I go over there? How much will I make over there?’ If there’s only one buyer it’s not good. We need a proper market. The fighters get paid more money, there’s more opportunity.

Is MMA a sport or is it two big sports franchises competing?

This is definitely a sport. This is a sport of martial art combat. What you’re seeing in the cage is real. Once that cage door shuts, all the lights don’t matter, you’d better defend yourself and be able to fight. Somebody will try and knock you out. Is there more sports entertainment in it than before? I think yes.

Do we try to do that because of all the fireworks and the screens and building characters? We’re doing what I got from K-1 when I was there. We run our company like a sports entertainment property. Viacom is an entertainment conglomerate. That’s what I see us as a part of. Simple as that. And we are here to stay.