After Bjorn Rebney’s departure yesterday, Bellator held a press conference in which they confirmed that former Strikeforce boss Scott Coker will now be taking the reigns as the company’s president.
Read our keynotes from the presser below and scroll down to listen to it in full for yourselves.
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– Scott Coker will become the new Bellator president, effective immediately.
– Coker wants to take Bellator away from it’s tournament format and move to a more ‘traditional’ model which will see the promotion put on the fights the fans wany to see, and more superfights.
– He believes there still could be room for tournaments from time to time, but only if the timing and fighters were right.
– He hints that he’d prefer to move Bellator away from it’s existing weekly format, but it sounds as if that’s something that he needs to discuss with Spike TV, and as things stand the 11th season will continue in it’s usual weekly format in September.
– He’d also like to host Bellator events throughout the year rather than in it’s current ‘seasons’ format.
– Coker plans to bolster Bellator’s roster of fighters over the course of the next six months.
– He doesn’t rule out the possibility of co-promoting if the right opportunity emerges.
– Spike TV’s President Kevin Kay confirms talk that Bellator’s first PPV event did over 100,000 buys despite Dana White claiming that it didn’t.
– It’s also likely that they will hold another PPV event in the future, though nothing’s concrete at this stage.
– Regarding talk that Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson may retire, Coker indicates that he’d like to speak with him and find a way to keep him on the roster.
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