UNCASVILLE, Conn. – With his promotion in good health and seemingly increasing in stature month to month, Bellator president Scott Coker is a busy man. But he was happy to feed the assembled media a few tidbits of information about some of his big stars and upcoming plans during the post-fight press conference at Bellator 232.
Coker fielded an array of questions about a host of his promotion’s stars, plus one notable name not currently on the Bellator roster, as he revealed his plans for a number of his big-name athletes in the coming months.
Let’s take a run through the key takeaways from Coker’s press conference comments:
‘The Gooch’ is coming back to the U.S.
Two-promotion bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi is all set for action for Rizin FF on New Year’s Eve, but Coker said he hopes to get the Japanese star – and current Bellator 135-pound champion – into the Bellator cage early in 2020.
“When he defends his belt, it’s going to be here,” he said. “And probably some time in the second quarter, or actually the first quarter, of next year, because I found out the Rizin schedule. They’re not going to do a promotion until April. He’s going to fight on New Year’s Eve and maybe in February we’ll get him to fight for us, here in the U.S.”
Sergio Pettis will fight at bantamweight
Coker said that Bellator’s newest signing, former UFC flyweight contender Sergio Pettis, will compete at 135 pounds, though he hasn’t locked in an opponent for the Milwaukee fighter just yet.
“We have a 135-pound weight class, and I think that’s what we agreed upon,” he said. “I’ll have to confirm that with Rich (Chou, Bellator matchmaker) and the guys, but that’s what I believe.”
And when Leandro Higo was floated by one media member as someone who has already offered to face Pettis first, Coker looked intrigued.
“That’s something that I’m not going to commit to, that fight,” he said. “It’s definitely something that could be on the table, but there’s a lot of good fights in that weight class now. We’re beefing up that 135-pound weight class, and we’re going to mix it up and pick the right fights when it’s time.”
Josh Barnett won’t be fighting in Japan, but plans are afoot for ‘The Warmaster’
Heavyweight veteran Josh Barnett has made no secret of his desire to be a part of Bellator’s Dec. 29 card at the Saitama Super Arena, but it’s not going to happen, according to Coker.
“Josh is not going to fight in Japan,” Coker said. “We know that for sure, only because of the timing, and right now they don’t have any heavyweights for Josh to fight. Our fight card with Fedor and ‘Rampage,’ and Chandler and Benson Henderson, and then the three fights with Rizin versus Bellator – that’s already a five-fight card.”
Coker did say that there were plans in the works to get Barnett back into the cage soon, however, with an announcement seemingly not too far away.
“We’ll have something soon to announce, because I know we’re almost finalizing something soon for Josh,” he said.
Bellator on CBS may not be too far away
Scott Coker was trying to keep a lid on it, but there was a twinkle in his eye when he was asked about the potential for Bellator events being broadcast on CBS. In his usual style, Coker played down the possibility, then admitted that a deal could be in place by as soon as the end of the year.
“It’s great to see Bob (Bakish) in the building,” Coker said. “Bob is our CEO of Viacom-CBS, and it’s a very important role, and takes care of a very big company. For him to come out and watch the fights, he really had a great time and enjoyed himself.
“As far as integration of how long and when and where (and) what the possibilities are, that’s all premature. Until this thing is closed, it’s basically business as usual. They’re probably going to wrap it up, as far as I can understand, in December or sometime in January. And then we can start having conversations with our partners – or our brothers at that point – and see where we can maybe increase the position here of this brand.”
Coker is happy to be in the Nick Newell business, despite his defeat
Nick Newell found himself on the wrong end of a split-decision at Bellator 232, as he lost out to Manny Muro, but Coker said that he’s already looking forward to seeing how “Notorious” fares in his next outing inside the Bellator cage.
“I was just sitting talking to ‘MVP,’ watching that fight, and I said, ‘You know what? This guy is a special person and a special martial artist,'” Coker said. “He’s someone that I really had a great time working with, and I look forward to seeing his next fight. I thought the fight was close. It didn’t work out, but that’s just how this business is. But he’ll learn from it, he’ll grow from it, and we’ll get him back as soon as he can because he’s a special martial artist and I’m going to support him.”
The ‘Battle of the Brits’ could get a re-run … when the time is right
Paul Daley wowed the crowd again with yet another big finish inside the Bellator cage, and Coker said that the possible rematch between Daley and Michael Page is always one he can pull out of his back pocket. But he said that he won’t book the fight until the stakes for both men are high enough to warrant it.
“At some point (we’ll book it),” he said. “I’m not sure that they need to fight each other right away. But at some point, when it makes sense, and when we put something on the line, then I think we’ll put that fight together.”
Saad Awad gets a pass, but needs a win
Saad Awad stepped in on short notice to face British banger Paul Daley in the night’s co-main event, but his reward was a second-round TKO defeat that sent him to his fourth successive loss inside the Bellator cage.
Awad hasn’t had his hand raised in victory since June 2018, and while Coker said he was happy to give the game welterweight a pass for stepping in and saving the fight, he did issue a word of warning to the 36-year-old, who desperately needs a win in his next outing.
“Don’t look at him as a guy that just got knocked out by Paul Daley, because Paul is a killer,” Coker said. “Paul is a dangerous fighter; you guys have seen what Paul Daley can do. I’ve watched it for so many years, and he’s one of my favorite fighters of all time.”
“Saad took a very tough challenge here today. He could go back on a three or four-fight win streak. He did the best he could. Paul did what he does, and that’s it. Don’t judge Saad just on today’s performance. I would say look at his overall body of work, but he’s got to turn it around pretty soon. But we’re not gonna count this one as a strike – he gets a pass on this one.”
‘Mr. Wonderful’ steals the show
The weekend saw Bellator hold back-to-back events at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday night and Saturday night and, when asked if he believed one fighter in particular stole the weekend with their performance, Coker didn’t hesitate.
“I do,” he said. “I think Phil Davis looked unbelievable yesterday. The guy he fought was a killer, and Phil outclassed him, and I think that he did what he had to do to beat this guy. And when that first bell rang and that guy came running across and started throwing heavy bombs, I said, ‘Oh, this might be a long night for Phil.’ Young kid, coming in from Sweden, has great experience and intention to hurt. And then Phil just picked him apart and started dismantling this kid systematically. I thought he had the best performance of the weekend.”
