AKAThailand.TVOne of the things that is very important in MMA, I feel, is co-promotion. The UFC aren’t really big on co-promoting with other companies. However, recently they made some trades with ONE FC showing a little bit of leniency. Their direct competition, Bellator, is all about trading and swapping fighters and that’s because of their president, Scott Coker.
At one time, the UFC did co-promote with Pride. This was way before they ever sniffed a FOX deal and Dana White was trying to grow the company. He took Chuck Liddell over to Japan with the hopes that he would smash the competition and show how great the UFC was. Ol’ Chuckie ran into Rampage Jackson and got smoked; Dana didn’t look to share his toys ever again.
Scott Coker has always been known to do whatever is best for business. He has no fear of co-promotion. He just tries to bring the best fights to people. He did it in Strikeforce and continues to do so in Bellator. Coker recently said that they have an “Open Door Policy” for anyone who wants to swap or trade Fighters with their promotion.
It’s very beneficial for promotions to do this but some promoters see it as a way of taking money away from their business. However, aside from us fight nerds, most people don’t even know there are promotions. They just know fighters and want to see the best ones go at it. Coker welcome all comers.
"We have an open door policy" – @ScottCoker on trading fighters with other organizations. pic.twitter.com/JCqyuGLvbj
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 6, 2019