Scott Coker News

Christopher Taylor - December 5, 2021

Scott Coker says that Bellator is not currently interested in signing free agent Kevin Lee following his UFC release. The former interim lightweight title challenger, Lee (18-7 MMA), was let go by Dana White and company last week after suffering setbacks in four of his past five Octagon appearances.

Chris Taylor - November 13, 2021

Bellator is planning to have a ‘massive’ retirement fight for MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko in his home country of Russia. Emelianenko (40-6 MMA) recently returned to action at last month’s Bellator 269 event, where he scored a sensational knockout victory over Tim Johnson (see that here). The win marked Fedor’s second first round finish in a row, as he had previously stopped Quinton ‘Rampage‘ Jackson.

Drake Riggs - November 11, 2021

Kayla Harrison is one of the biggest free agents MMA has had perhaps since Michael Chandler. Unsurprisingly, Bellator President Scott Coker has some interest. Bellator’s featherweight division has proven to be unmatched over the years – simply due to them having the vast majority of competitors worldwide that make it up. Harrison, a lightweight throughout her career with the exception of one bout, will likely be on her way back down to 145-pounds if she so chooses not to stick with the PFL as her fighting home.

Adam D Martin - October 24, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker admits that he was blown away by Fedor Emelianenko’s first-round KO win over Tim Johnson at Bellator 269. Emelianenko took on Johnson in the main event of Saturday’s Bellator 269 event in Russia, and he won the fight in the first round by brutal knockout. Considering Emelianenko is now 45 years old, it was incredible to see how fast his hands still are at this point in his career. In fact, Emelianenko’s boss Coker was so blown away by his performance that he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face following the big knockout.

Adam D Martin - October 8, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker says that he would “love” to have the Paul brothers, Jake Paul and Logan Paul, competing in Bellator. Coker was a guest on MMAFighting.com’s The MMA Hour earlier this week, and one of the questions he was asked by host Ariel Helwani was about the Paul brothers. When asked if Bellator has any interest in bringing the brothers aboard the organization, Coker admitted that he is interested in signing them. As far as Coker is concerned, both the Paul brothers are hard workers who are putting in the work and improving. That’s why Coker said he would love to have them come to Bellator should either of them make the move to MMA.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker hinted at potential five-round, non-title main events taking place in his promotion in the near future. For the past 10 years, the UFC has had all of its non-title main events set as five-round fights. While fans have gotten used to this change over the past decade and have even embraced it, Bellator has continued to hold three-round non-title main events. Case in point, Saturday’s headliner at Bellator 266 between Phil Davis and Yoel Romero. The fight was only scheduled for three rounds because it was a non-title fight in the Bellator light heavyweight division. Davis dominated all three rounds of the fight and, following the event, Romero indicated that he was upset the fight was not scheduled for five rounds.

Adam Martin - August 15, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker explained why the promotion’s 145lbs champion AJ McKee is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA right now. McKee recently finished Patricio Pitbull in the main event of Bellator 263 to become the promotion’s new 145lbs champion, as well as the winner of the $1 million dollar grand prize for winning the Bellator World Featherweight Grand Prix. Just 26 years old, McKee is now a perfect 18-0 in MMA. it’s the longest undefeated streak for a fighter in a major MMA promotion, and as far as McKee’s boss Coker goes, it proves that he’s among the best.

Drake Riggs - August 12, 2021

Tim Johnson is the last person the MMA community expected as the next opponent of Fedor Emelianenko in Bellator’s debut in Russia. On Oct. 23 in Moscow, Emelianenko and Johnson will lock horns. The announcement revealed a few weeks back gave fans and the fighters alike time to fantasize about possible matchups with Josh Barnett, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, and even Anderson Silva. So what happened?

Cole Shelton - June 7, 2021

Scott Coker is open to having Logan Paul take an MMA fight in Bellator. Paul, the YouTube star turned pro boxer has mentioned he believes he would be better at MMA due to his wrestling background. After he went the distance with Floyd Mayweather on Showtime pay-per-view, he mentioned he would take an MMA fight.

Adam D Martin - May 11, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker confirmed that Bellator is considering the bantamweight division for the organization’s next Grand Prix. Coker is currently holding Bellator’s light heavyweight Grand Prix and featherweight Grand Prix, and two years ago held the welterweight Grand Prix. Coker is a big fan of the tournament format going back to his Strikeforce days and so he is already thinking about what the next tournament in Bellator would be, and it could very well be bantamweight.

Adam D Martin - May 10, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker confirmed that welterweight star Michael Page could be next in line to get a title shot at 170lbs. Page knocked out Derek Anderson in highlight-reel fashion at Bellator 258 this past Friday night, and overall he has won his last five fights in a row, with four of those wins coming by way of knockout. Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima is currently set to fight No. 1 contender Yaroslav Amosov, but Page has been vocal about wanting to fight the winner.

Adam D Martin - May 6, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker confirmed that his promotion does not have any interest in signing free agent UFC veteran Diego Sanchez. Sanchez was released by the UFC last week following a disagreement over the release of medical information. UFC president Dana White let him go and he is now a free agent. While Speaking to Mick Heck ahead of Bellator 258, Coker was asked if Bellator has any interest in signing “The Nightmare,” which the organization’s leader said no to.

Cole Shelton - April 2, 2021

Mike Goldberg will no longer be the play-by-play voice of Bellator. With Bellator set to move to Showtime, Scott Coker revealed they decided to undergo some changes and Goldberg will not be with the promotion anymore. The longtime UFC commentator joined Bellator in 2017 after parting ways with the UFC.

Adam D Martin - April 2, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker says that his promotion is currently in talks with former UFC featherweight title challenger Megan Anderson. Anderson was recently released by the UFC following the expiration of her contract in the wake of a first-round submission loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 259. Despite losing that fight and becoming a free agent, Anderson is still a big name in the world of the women’s featherweight division. With Bellator having Cris Cyborg as the champion and a slew of other 145lbs women fighters including Julia Budd and Cat Zingano, it makes sense that the promotion would reach out to Anderson about the possibility of joining Bellator.

Cole Shelton - April 1, 2021

Scott Coker likes the idea of signing Alistair Overeem or Junior dos Santos to fight Fedor Emelianenko. After Emelinaneko beat Rampage Jackson in December of 2019, the plan was to have his farewell tour be in 2020. However, due to the pandemic, the Russian didn’t get a chance to fight, but according to Scott Coker, he says the MMA legend will fight sometime in the next couple of months,

Adam D Martin - February 10, 2021

Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader will not be stripped of his title, according to Bellator president Scott Coker at Tuesday’s presser. The promotion officially announced the eight-man, Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament. In one of the quarterfinal matchups, Bader takes on Lyoto Machida in a rematch. On paper, that’s a fun fight and having Bader included in the tournament is a good thing. However, while he competes to win back his old light heavyweight title in the bracket, Bader is temporarily holding up heavyweight. He’s still the champion and has no plans to give up his belt.

Drake Riggs - January 4, 2021

The tail-end of 2020 saw the UFC make some surprising releases from their roster. In turn, that led to Bellator President Scott Coker picking them up. To the surprise of many, several names within the larger weight classes parted ways with the UFC this past year. All of which have since joined their counterpart in Bellator MMA. Most notably these names include perennial top light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson, and former UFC title challengers, Yoel Romero, and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

Adam Martin - January 4, 2021

Former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren trolled his former promotion for not having any events booked for its 2021 schedule yet. The calendar just turned to 2021 and Bellator is looking to keep up its momentum after a strong end to 2020 following a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once Bellator returned to action in the summer, the promotion ran events from a bubble at the Mohegan and finished strong with a number of the promotion’s biggest stars fighting. Ahead of the 2021 season, Bellator has created more excitement by signing several big-name free agents.