At the end of the day, it's a business about fighters and a business about people. This is our philosophy.
Scott Coker
I'd like to see Melvin Manhoef fight Robbie Lawler.
In Strikeforce, we're committed to putting on the best fights that we can.
You get a world-class athlete like Hershel Walker, who was a Heisman trophy winner and did some amazing things, but he had a martial arts background. He did kickboxing. He had a combat sports background. It was just rekindling that training and that martial arts workout ethic. He got back into it and did quite well.
When I first came to Bellator, I wanted to take it back to what we accomplished at Strikeforce and look at the next generation. So we signed the Aaron Picos of the world and put them in our development programme to nurture them.
When I was a kid, there were probably 100 schools in the Bay Area that just did martial arts.
Hugh Hefner represented pop culture in a way that no else could.
My background in promoting martial arts started in 1985 when we were doing PK Karate, which was on ESPN. Fast forward to when mixed martial arts became legal in California. I made the jump to MMA and never looked back.
I used to go to fights in Japan, mega shows at soccer stadiums. They would have all kinds of martial arts fights in one night.
Let's go back to super-fights. Let's put on fights that are great live or on television.
Marloes Coenen is the real deal.
Bellator has the best welterweight fighters in the world.
We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating and untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family.
We've always looked for guys and girls who have striking ability... there's a reason my past company was called Strikeforce.
I've taught martial arts to many children, from 5 years old and up - there's character development, there's respect, discipline, perseverance.
I always love meeting other promoters.
I grew up as a martial artist, and I'm still a martial artist at heart.
The welterweight division has really emerged as one of our most exciting weight classes.
I think boxing is on the rise because of what Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor did. I think they captured the time and made boxing cool again.
It's good to team up with Spike and Viacom. I see a lot of potential.
Mike Goldberg and Mauro Ranallo are two of the best in our business, and I couldn't be happier about them joining the Bellator family.
MMA fans should thank Spike TV for their commitment to the sport.
I love big events. It reminds me of the old days, when I knew everyone on the fight card, and it wasn't just one fight.
Martial arts is self-growth. It's artistic impression. It's self-defense... it doesn't have any place in politics.
When you think about martial arts here in the states, kickboxing was here in the '70s, and it kind of ran its course. But I always felt there was a place in combat sports for kickboxing.
Strikeforce is here to stay; we are definitely going to do our part to grow the sport and be good ambassadors of the sport.
Martial arts is something I studied since I was 6 years old.
Spike is an entertainment company. So why not have entertaining fights when you can do them?
If a legend fight comes up, or if a fun fight comes up that makes sense, and the fans want to see it, then we're going to do it. We're not going to be afraid to do those fights.
I'm excited to see Jake Hager debut for Bellator in 2018. When I heard he was seriously interested in competing in MMA, and when you look at what he did at the collegiate level, I was very interested in having him on our roster.
I buy the UFC pay-per-views that are on OnDemand, DirectTV, and DISH. As far as quality, come on. These are the best heavyweights in the world. I think everybody knows that.
You can't put an age on power.
Great fights means great TV ratings.
You can only control your own destiny.
I thought, 'If I can create a business to promote martial arts, that'd sure be a lot of fun.'
We're not going to do monthly pay-per-view just to do pay-per-views. We're going to build up to big fights more like the boxing model, and when the time is right, we'll do the big, big fights.
MMA has evolved. When you look at an MMA fighter's skill set, boxing has to be a big piece of it. All of them have a boxing coach now and strive to have a good stand-up game, knowing that to be a complete fighter, you have to tend to your striking skills.
All my fighters know I'm a fan of theirs. They know I think of them as the stars and that we will facilitate in the building of their stock.
I'm not a union guy in the sense that I know a lot about how they operate. But I know fighters. They are individual athletes. This is not a team sport. I think it's going to be hard to say, 'Hey, do you mind not fighting on Saturday and walking around the arena with a picket sign instead?' I just don't see it.
The experience I've had with Strikeforce kickboxing, K1, Strikeforce MMA, working with ESPN, working with Showtime, working with Japanese television, working with fighter camps from all over the world has given me a unique perspective.
When I think about the skill level of Andrey Koreshkov, he is at the top of his game and at an elite level.
Sport is made to be live. You can't watch something three hours later already knowing the results; it's not the same experience.
I think the MMA and boxing are different audiences. I think it's a different intrigue. There's no reason you can't be a fan of both; why does it have to be one or the other?
To say martial arts, or the combative form - mixed martial arts - is not an art form is incorrect.
I don't think that 25-year-olds should be fighting 40-year-olds.
A lot of fighters want that freedom to have their own sponsorships. When you think about it, how do you make independent contractors wear a uniform? That just seems strange to me.
I'm not thinking of any other leagues. I'm really not. I'm thinking of what can I do to move Bellator forward. I'm thinking of what we need to fix, what fighters we should sign, where we can expand internationally.
I worked for a Japanese company called K1 for a while.
I would say, look, any fighter that's out there or any star athlete - not star athlete in the sense of a baseball player, but like a Brock Lesnar - that really wants to fight, we're going to have a conversation with them. Because if they can move the needle, we're going to want them on Spike TV.
In my years of doing the K1 fights, one thing I've learned is that the guys who you think will be there in the end - very rarely do you get the match up you were hoping for.
