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As Bellator closes the doors on its 300th event, its future remains in limbo.
Following the conclusion of Bellator 300, promotion president Scott Coker addressed rumors of a potential sale of the company — rumors which began as whispers earlier this year but grew to be an unavoidable cacophony in the lead-up to Bellator’s tricentennial event on Saturday in San Diego. Speaking at his post-fight press conference, Coker admitted “there’s a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unknowns right now” in regards to Bellator’s future, but he — like many within the company — hopes to get some clarity soon.
“Listen, two weeks ago it was like, ‘Oh, this thing’s going down in a week.’ A month ago, it was [the same],” Coker said. “This thing’s been going back and forth for how long? For the last six months? And so, to me, I don’t want to really engage in any speculation or see where the future goes, as far as, ‘Is a deal going to happen? Is it not going to happen?’
“These things take time, and until the time gets solidified, to me it’s just speculation. So I can’t engage with that because it’s really unfair, I think, to the promotion, the 300th event. We had some great fights tonight. We’ve been doing some great fights over the last, let’s say, eight, nine years. And this company has grown so much. Tonight’s a celebration.
“So hopefully there’s some clarity soon and we’ll find out what’s going on.”
Reports have circulated for months that Bellator could be up for sale as parent company Paramount seeks to cut costs and shift its various business interests. The main suitor often connected to a potential purchase of Bellator is rival promotion PFL. PFL president Ray Sefo confirmed conversations of a potential merger between the two organizations back in June.
Coker, 61, has been through this before. He famously founded Strikeforce and grew it from a regional show into a national powerhouse before the UFC acquired the brand in 2011. Strikeforce continued holding events until January 2013, however the UFC stripped its roster of many of its biggest names well before the company ultimately went defunct.
When Coker joined Bellator’s executive team in 2014 as a replacement for original founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney following the expiration of his non-complete clause, Bellator was already 121 events deep into its lifespan. So while there may be some similarities between Coker’s present dilemma and what he faced in the past, there’s plenty of differences as well.
“Keep in mind, guys, I don’t own Bellator,” Coker said. “Bellator is not my company to own or to sell, to keep, to merge. It’s owned by Viacom, and they have a process that they do, and they’re doing what they need to do. But it’s not something that I own, to sell or not sell.”
“The difference is I owned Strikeforce, right?” he added. “This is something that I don’t own, so it’s hard for me to really comment on that because it’s completely different. Now, there are some feelings that feel the same, but at the end of the day it’s not my company.”
Bellator 300 took place Oct. 7 at San Diego’s Pechanga Arena. The event was headlined by a trio of title fights, with Usman Nurmagomedov, Cris Cyborg, and Liz Carmouche all successfully defending their respective belts against veteran challengers.
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