10 Ways Scott Coker Can Improve Bellator To Compete With UFC
The former Strikeforce chief is in, but can he take Bellator's growing success to the next level?
It's out with the old, in with the new over at Bellator this Summer, as founder Bjorn Rebney has been cut loose, and Strikeforce founder Scott Coker has been brought in to replace him. Coker has a lot of goodwill in the MMA world with both fans and fighters from his Strikeforce days. Originally a kickboxing promotion, Strikeforce got into the MMA game in 2006 and quickly became the number two promotion in the world, with fights airing live on Showtime. With a solid TV deal behind him, Coker handed out lucrative contracts to the likes of Jake Shields, Dan Henderson, Gilbert Melendez, Nick Diaz, Josh Barnett, Fabricio Werdum, Robbie Lawler, Nate Marquardt, Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem, and most importantly, Fedor Emelianenko. Fans who for years had wanted to see Fedor fight big name heavyweights got their wish, as Strikeforce built the best heavyweight division in MMA (they probably didn't expect to see the Last Emperor lose, but that's another story). On top of that, they developed prospects like Luke Rockhold and Daniel Cormier, guys who are now on the cusp of stardom in the UFC. Speaking of which, the UFC of course took notice and took over Strikeforce in 2011, initially running it as a separate entity, then merging the entire roster in. With all that success, Coker was a popular person with both fans, for giving them great fights, and fighters, for paying them generous contracts given the size of the company. In general, the Strikforce fighters still working under their old contracts are making considerably more money than their UFC counterparts. So what can Scott Coker do to improve Bellator, and make them more competitive with the UFC? Lets take a look.