Across the sector, the popularity of blended martial arts—both as a pastime and leisure—is at an all-time high. Having long conquered America and other parts of the world, the race is now on to bring the sport to Britain.
Leading the charge on this facet of the Atlantic is combat promoter Bellator, which released the first Europe Series event in Newcastle on February 9.
Featuring 9ive names, including Patricky “Pitbull” Freire, Ryan Scope, and Aaron Chalmers, this first occasion aimed particularly at the European marketplace became a massive declaration of the promoter’s rationale for starting up the sport, particularly for the United Kingdom market.
Such is its upward thrust that in February, Bellator, owned by mass media conglomerate Viacom, signed a one-year deal with heavyweight broadcaster Sky Sports to broadcast the Bellator MMA 2019 excursion in the United States, London, and Dublin.
This is in addition to a multi-year broadcast deal with streaming service DAZ, while the first of its Europe Series became live on Channel Five.
Currently, there can be another Europe Series occasion in May, before Wembley in June, with the concept of a complete Europe series by 2020. Moves into the European market have been bolstered by signing up BAMMA CEO David Green as head of Europe and bringing around 40 BAMMA fighters onto their roster.
Long-time promotor and Bellator CEO Scott Coker led that fee to public awareness.
When we decided to amplify, and Viacom said we ought to do fights within the UK, I told you you wouldn’t inquire from me twice.
It has been very seamless. At the quiet of the day, this is a martial arts contest, and there is remarkable martial arts schooling going on inside the UK and Ireland.
The lovers desired to learn more about how to get this product and not see it at 5 a.m. The average sports fan will no longer wait until 5 a.m., and this is fair enough.
Broadcasting the show at 10 p.m. in the UK is a high-quality thing for blended martial arts.
It’s a remarkable opportunity for people to see it if they haven’t had the danger before. This is the first time that its miles have been made in top time for the nearby markets.
Coker, now 56, was born to an American father and a South Korean mother and spent the first nine years of his life in Seoul.
Those formative years were essential in exposing Coker to martial arts. He persevered in studying the disciplines as soon as his circle of relatives settled in San Jose, California, in 1973.
While one brother earned a Fulbright track scholarship and others worked for Apple, Coker took the road less traveled by promoting fights.
His first merchandising came with Strikeforce, then a kickboxing league, in 1985, earlier than in 2006. He turned it toward MMA while the California kingdom board greenlit the sport.
Under Coker’s steering and with the help of external traders, Strikeforce MMA could develop hastily in the following years.
We had a roster that changed into dynamite; you look lower. I didn’t need to promote it then, and I wouldn’t want to sell it now.
We had Tyrone Woodley, Rhonda Rowsey, Frank Shamrock, and Nick Diaz. All these human beings that we advanced and grew into large family names.
At its peak, Strikeforce turned into hosting sixteen fights in 12 months with broadcast deals on CBS and Showtime. Eventually, in 2011, UFC chiefs Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta proposed to shop for Strikeforce and cast off the competition. These days, Coker harbors regrets about the deal.
He said:
The biggest lesson is to be cautious about who your partners are. They had an exceptional timetable. Their agenda changed faster than mine; we wanted to construct a juggernaut.
After 18 months, they cashed out, moved on, and invested in different things.
I became naïve returned then. I was outgrowing this and growing too fast, to the point Lorenzo thought, “I even have were given to take those human beings out.”
It became a bittersweet moment; cashing out your employer must be one of the happiest moments of your life, but it became a bittersweet moment for me because I felt I had extra work to do. I became like forty-eight; I had lots left in advance of me.
Having served a 3-year non-compete as part of the sale, Coker was itching to return to the sport he cherished, and Bellator provided the precise opportunity.
He brought:
I sat down with Viacom, and they were willing to throw greater assets at it and grow it as much as we would. It’s a 2D shot for me.
Financially, you’re okay, but you wake up each day wondering,’ What will I do nowadays?’ Viacom became the right accomplice, and I made the right preference.
I’ve been in martial arts my whole life, and I’ve continually felt like this is a part of giving back and helping martial arts develop, which turned into a part of the adventure.
You have to do three things – put butts on seats, pressure TV scores, and streaming numbers and build the brand. Do those three things, and we’ll be quality.
The selection to host the Europe collection debut event in Newcastle was mainly pushed through one fighter.
While Geordie Shore megastar Chalmers discovered fame in fact TV, he now boasts a 4-1 Bellator document, and Coker is satisfied he can reach the top.
Coker said:
I’ve seen him fight sometimes. The fight he fought for us in Wembley in June showed me plenty about having a whole lot of coronary heart and backbone. He has proven to me he can overcome difficulties. You either have that dog in you, or you don’t. People assume he’s only a Geordie Shore man. However, he can combat it. He becomes the catalyst for drawing us to Newcastle.
With Coker at the helm, Bellator has made huge strides in closing in on fellow promoter UFC, and Coker is convinced that hole will continue to shut.
In recent years, Bellator has effectively placed itself as the primary rival to UFC—domestic to household names Connor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, amongst others—and hopes to nook the marketplace this side of the Atlantic.
Coker knows that having each agency in a healthful country is the best possible outcome for the sport’s future.
He said:
If there is one most effective customer, it isn’t always accurate for the game. When UFC was the simplest competitor, fight handbags went down, then we emerged, and now they’ve gone up and up again.
UFC is an appropriate promoter; we’re accurate promoters. They have exact fighters, and we have true opponents. It is continually true to have wholesome opposition.
That’s how sports activities grow, and that benefits all people.
