Scott Coker told Gareth A Davies about the rivalries and upcoming events: “We wanted to come here and announce matchups, but also show off Bellator. Chandler is such a great fighter. And Lima. And Mousasi. How do we help them become bigger brands and add to this divisions? We’ve brought in free agents, created key storylines and built from the bottom up. We’re signing talent who will be stars of the sport in three years.”
On rivalries:
“I want people to feel comfortable here. When you come to Bellator, be yourself. James is just being himself up there, so are the Pitbull brothers. Gegard has got to be himself here. We have to make sure things don’t start flying around. If they want to talk, we usually let them talk. I want people to feel the heat of the fight, but just don’t take that next step because things can change really quickly.”
On the UK growth into the next few years:
“DAZN is going to be there too. We are committed. We are not going anywhere. No one has a better distribution deal than us. We have Channel 5, Sky sports and now DAZN.”
On the next Bellator tournament:
“I don’t want to say anything but women’s flyweight does make a lot of sense. We’re going to wait and see. We’ve got our featherweights going still.”
About the ongoing featherweight tournament:
“That’s the beauty of the tournament. You never know what’s going to happen. People understand tournaments. It’s part of the history of mixed martial arts. Football is tournament format and it makes sense for us.”
On Tyson Fury:
“I am a big fan. Tyson if you’re hearing this then give us a call. I think he’s the best heavyweight out there. I believe he beats Anthony Joshua. He has so much skill in the ring. Outside the ring, when he started singing, this guy gets it. When’s the last time you’ve seen that?”
“I think he got into Wilder’s head. The last fight was close, I think Wilder won that. I became a big Tyson Fury fan. I can’t say I was that a year and a half ago. I think he’s the best heavyweight in the world, hands down. He beats everybody.”
“I love his message and his entertainment outside the ring. With Ali, let’s not get crazy. Ali was Ali. He was the greatest entertainer of all time. Tyson’s entrance, I loved that. I’m not a walk out purist.”
“As far as him as a personality, he can do whatever he wants. He is world wide. He has a big brand name. He’s not 21 years old and he has a lot of great messages. If he wanted to do MMA, even if he just wanted to come and sing in the cage, we’d let him.”
Wilder in trilogy?
“I think his cornerman did the right thing. Why take the risk? The fighter always wants to keep going. There’ll be another day. He saved him, it was going to a bad ending on that night. You know Tyson is going to come at you. To me you’ve got to get there first and keep that head movement. That’s one thing Tyson does very well. He’s slippery. That’s my opinion.”
“I think the third fight doesn’t go past six rounds”