Viacom’s Bellator MMA is looking to start the year off with a bang in a move to continue the promotion’s recent surges in ratings, attendance, and international expansion in 2016. The promotion will be hitting the Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday with Bellator 170: Ortiz vs. Sonnen, offered on SPIKE at 9p, with over 140 countries now among its audience. Cynopsis Sports spoke with Bellator MMA President Scott Coker about the company’s growth, its plans for NYC and his invitation to Meryl Streep.
Coker on 2016: Our goals included going out into the free agency market and trying to sign as many free agents that we wanted. We were very successful at that and probably got 90% of the names that we wanted to bring in. We were going after guys that could move the needle for us. So we had a great year. That other goal was to build from the bottom up, and we went after a lot of the top wrestlers who were world-class athletes. We are now developing a great crop of new fighters from the ground up. We also had a goal to expand internationally, which we accomplished, and we ended up doing fights in Israel, London, Ireland, Italy and more. This year, we will probably do between eight and ten fights internationally.
On adding New York: New York is something that is really important to the company, as we are based in the state. But we couldn’t get in there for such a long time, and now that it’s open, while we aren’t going to rush there, I think it is safe to say that probably around the summer, we will likely have one of the biggest events ever for the company at one of the two venues in New York City.
On the launch of Bellator Kickboxing: It is doing extremely well for us, especially in Europe. There are some countries where kickboxing is more popular than MMA. So by offering those territories a dual-package, they really appreciate having the option. I was talking to a broadcaster in the Netherlands, and they told me that while MMA is growing there, it still isn’t nearly as popular as kickboxing so would we be able to bring the sport there first, before bringing MMA there.
On digital: That’s one of the great things about working with Viacom in that there are so many smart people working on new technology. Every time I go up to the offices, they have something else they want to show me. We are launching a new app here soon that will be state-of-the-art, which I am very excited about.
On his invitation to Meryl Streep: People think that my invitation to her (following the Golden Globes) was some kind of stunt, but it really wasn’t. I get the politics of her speech, but this was something that was very near and dear to my heart. To say that it is not an art-form is incorrect, that’s why they call it martial arts. The community spoke about it, even those that agreed with the rest of her speech. Needless to say, the offer still stands and I will have an empty seat next to me at the fight in case she shows up.
