- It is a good news week for
Bellator MMA . - The Santa Monica-based fight firm holds back-to-back behind-closed-doors shows on September 11 and September 12 in Uncasville, Connecticut.
- It also announced Friday that it will be the first major MMA firm to host an event in Paris, France, in front of a limited amount of fans on October 10.
- The France card will be one of a number of European Series events, the Bellator CEO
Scott Coker recently told Insider. - Coker also told us that some of the company's biggest stars — like Douglas Lima, Cris Cyborg, and AJ McKee — will definitely fight in 2020.
AJ McKee, Cris Cyborg, and Douglas Lima will all compete for Bellator MMA in 2020.
That's according to the company's CEO Scott Coker, who told Insider recently that his international MMA firm has grand plans to navigate the coronavirus era in combat
With three behind-closed-doors live events in the bank, Bellator is used to the new-normal imposed by the pandemic.
There has perhaps been no bigger Bellator story in the COVID-era than the Russian light heavyweight Vadim Nemkov dominating the American two-weight champion Ryan Bader, winning the championship in the 205-pound weight class in style with a second round stoppage, last month.
But Coker plans to unveil more elite offerings in the coming weeks and months.
"You will see [Bellator welterweight champion] Douglas Lima," Coker told us.
"We're trying to put that fight together with [former Bellator middleweight champion] Gegard Mousasi — an amazing fight. That's one of the fights we're really looking forward to."
With Lima being Brazilian and Mousasi hailing from the Netherlands, Coker said that coronavirus-enforced travel restrictions have thwarted some fight announcements, even if the bout agreement is otherwise there.
"The issue has been the travel ban coming into the country, and now Europe has a travel ban going the other way. So it's been tough.
"We're working hard through lawyers and with assistance from The White House to get some of the fighters in. We've been successful on a couple and think it will open up a little bit for us," Coker said.
Coker told us Cris Cyborg will defend her Bellator women's featherweight championship, and the blockbuster Bellator featherweight grand prix will resume this year.
"You will see Douglas Lima fight, you will see Cyborg fight, and you will see AJ McKee fight," Coker said.
"The AJ McKee fight with Darrion Caldwell is the fight we're going to continue on with the featherweight tournament — that will happen this year, for sure."
Bellator is breaking new ground in Paris
Bellator announced Friday that it will head to the Accor Arena in Paris, France for a October 10 event, with fans.
The main event will be contested between hometown hero Cheick Kongo and middleweight rival Timothy Johnson, supported by a welterweight bout involving Michael 'Venom' Page and Ross Houston.
In a statement, Coker called it "a monumental moment in the history of the sport [to] promote the very first MMA event in France by a major promotion."
Most of the competitions on the card will be fought using mixed martial arts rules while three other bouts will be boxing rules.
This is something Coker has often dreamed of.
Insider spoke to the South Korea-born American businessman last month, and asked whether his partnership with Showtime Boxing and the broadcaster's president Stephen Espinoza could yield a multi-discipline event involving mixed martial arts matches and boxing fights.
"That would be beautiful, honestly," Coker told us.
"If you watch some of our fights in Europe, we have a kickboxing show and MMA show on the same night [in Italy]. The ring collapses and we bring the cage down from the rafters.
"It's a 10 or 15 minute transition from having the ring there and then the cage set up. But I would love that, and I've always thought that's a great idea.
"As a fan, I love boxing, kickboxing, MMA … all combat sports. For a fan coming in to see boxing, the sweet science, and MMA, on the same night — that would be amazing.
"Stephen [Espinoza] and I have talked about it. Like you said, Stephen and I go back. And I'll tell you a quick story … I first met Stephen when I was trying to sign Mike Tyson for K-1 [kickboxing] in 2001 to fight Bob Sapp, a big football player who was popular.
"I've known Stephen for 20 years," he said. "Bellator's doing its own thing but together I think we could do some cool fights, fun events, which I love to do, thinking outside the box."
The Paris event is, perhaps, evidence of Coker's thinking outside the box.
But France will be one of many Bellator ventures into Europe
Next month's show in Paris will have added significance because a limited number of fans will be allowed to attend, with tickets going on sale Tuesday.
Coker is planning on overseeing multiple events in major European cities, including London and Dublin.
"I tell you what I love about the European Series most. When we went to London, of course they already have fights there, and in Dublin, people do MMA there.
"There are some places … Italy, nobody knew what MMA was. It's a kickboxing country. We went in there and did half kickboxing, half MMA, and fans are starting to gravitate toward MMA as well.
"And now it has it's own identity. We started it from scratch. There was one fighter Alessio Sakara who was fighting at the time, but to have a country which didn't have any MMA, now we're doing several fights a year in Italy. Fighters are breaking through, gyms are expanding … we've started a movement inside a country, and I'm proud of that.
"We want to help build local MMA scenes. Israel never had an MMA event there but we went in there, and I heard now there's 20 gyms inside Tel-Aviv alone. This is growth of the sport."
On the next steps for its European Series specifically, Coker said: "We're moving into Europe in October to recreate what we had done years."
He said there are approximately 100 contracted fighters from Europe, "Many from London, Dublin, Western Europe, and we'll keep [Conor McGregor's Straight Blast Gym-mate and featherweight hotshot] James Gallagher, and those guys busy.
"If we can't get them over here, we'll have them fight over there."
Bellator MMA has back-to-back events this weekend starting with Bellator 245 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville on September 11, ahead of Bellator 246 in the same venue September 12.
Select bouts include:
- September 11: Phil Davis vs. Lyota Machida — light heavyweight
- September 11: Cat Zingano vs. Gabby Holloway — women's featherweight
- September 12: Juan Archuleta vs. Patchy Mix — bantamweight
- September 12: Jon Fitch vs. Neiman Gracie — welterweight
Bellator Dublin is booked for October 3 ahead of the landmark Paris event the following week.
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