Scott Coker is back to stir things up.
Last month, the long-time MMA promoter who once helmed Strikeforce and Bellator announced his return to the MMA promotion game, which is expected to launch next year. In the weeks since he first announced his return, Coker has added an executive team to his yet-to-be-named promotion, and now that that’s in place, Coker says the real work of building out this new promotion can begin.
“Exact launch date, not yet. But we’re going to launch in January of ‘27,” Coker told Yahoo Sports.
“… Since we’ve announced it, we’ve had inquiries with everybody. Keep in mind, when you talk about combat sports, there’s going to be revenue streams from all over the world for this product, not just here, because we’re going to travel and do fight all over the world. So, we’ve already had inquiries from some of my past partners in Bellator that were probably our biggest paying license holders, have reached out and said, ‘Hey, we want to have a conversation.’
“So, we’re talking to everybody, and now the ball begins. Because now we have our infrastructure — at least our top six, seven employees, executives on board, so now the growth begins.”
Coker is one of the most successful promoters in MMA history, founding Strikeforce and growing it into a significant brand before selling the promotion to the UFC in 2011. He then took over Bellator in 2014 and helmed that promotion for a decade before it ultimately sold to PFL in 2024. And Coker said he intends to use similar principles of how he ran those promotions in the leadership of this new one.
“Who are the next stars of the sport?” Coker said. “When I was promoting Strikeforce, I knew who the next stars were going to be. Bellator even. Because we always built from the ground up, and then we bought from the top down. I’ve used that formula for my whole fight career. So, we’re going to apply that same philosophy here. We’re going to build. We’re going to go mining for the next stars.”
While finer details about the new promotion are still lacking, Coker did reveal they intend to hold 12 events in 2027, with each event featuring a mix of tournaments and superfights.
“We’re going to have something for everyone,” Coker said. “Just keep an open mind. … We’re not going to be a tournament only. We’re going to put on great superfights.”
Mostly, though, what Coker is focused on is bringing some new energy to an MMA landscape that he believes has gone a bit stale.
“About a year and a half ago, I hired a business development guy to start writing out the plan,” Coker said. “And the plan really was, let’s just see if I want to do this? Can we get to a point where I think that this is something the community would like, that the community needs it? …
“I feel like there’s a little bit of a funk in the MMA space right now, and I don’t know what it is. It’s not like I can say, ‘This is what it is.’ But I just feel it’s got a funk to it right now. So, let’s go stir it up. The thing with MVP, their show, hey, they’re stirring the pot. It gets people excited, it gets people to root for somebody. We’re going to do the same, and people are going to root for us, too. We’re gonna go stir it up. So, to me, I think the sport needs a little bit of shaking the cage. And it’s something we’re really good at.”
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