Scott Coker reacts after his Bellator fighters go 5-0 against RIZIN on New Years Eve

Scott Coker is reacting after his Bellator fighters went a perfect 5-0 against Rizin on New Years Eve.

Coker, 60, the current president of Bellator can’t hide the pride he has in his promotion closing out 2022 with a clean sweep this past Saturday, December 31st.

It was Rizin vs Bellator on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The card showed A.J. McKee (20-1 MMA) defeating Rizin FF lightweight champion Roberto de Souza (14-2 MMA) in the main event and Patricio Freire (35-5 MMA) defeating Kleber Koike Erbst (31-6 MMA) in the co-main event.

Other fights included Kyoji Horiguchi (31-5 MMA) defeating Hiromasa Ougikubo (25-7 MMA), Juan Archuleta (27-4 MMA) beating Soo Chul Kim (18-7 MMA), and Gadzhi Rabadanov (19-4 MMA) defeating Koji Takeda (15-4 MMA).

At the post fight press conference, Scott Coker told reporters (h/t MMAJunkie):

“I always said my wish was to go 5-0, and I’m happy that my guys won, but to me, it was very competitive out there. That last fight, de Souza when he was fighting A.J., there were a couple of times I thought he might get tapped.”

“It was very stressful to watch that last fight. It was very back and forth. I’m glad A.J. did what he had to do to win. But anything can happen in a fight in MMA. It was an entertaining night of fights.”

Continuing Coker spoke about the two promotions saying:

“It just shows you how much the Rizin fighters to me have grown in the last five, six years. I see a big growth spur. Keep in mind, when you talk about the Bellator athletes, and I’m not just saying this because you know it’s the company I run, but over the last six, seven years, this is the best roster we’ve ever had in the history of the company.”

Concluding, Scott Coker talked about Bellators’ fighter base:

“If you go all the way down the weight classes, we not just have fighters that can compete in the UFC, but we have fighters at three or four in each weight class that can compete against any company on the planet. We have a very strong, strong fighter base right now.”

Were you watching this past Saturday? What do you think of Bellator going 5-0 against Rizin fighters?

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