In what can only be described as a shake up, Viacom and Bellator announced that founder and President Bjorn Rebney is leaving the company and is being replaced by former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. The news comes as a bit of a surprise, however Rebney had become a polarizing and unpopular figure at Bellator and his incredibly poor handling of negotiations with fighters and non-descript in cage product means Bellaotr as an MMA company may benefit from this.
Scott Coker is a known quantity. He led Strikeforce for many years when they were the only competition that the UFC had. The company dealt with less resources than the UFC, but he managed to keep a strong roster. In the end, the product was good enough that the UFC purchased the company, and Coker floated around as an executive in name for Zuffa for a while before being released.
Look for Bellator to immediately start to steer away from the tournament format that Rebney was so fond of. Coker is wise enough to use the tournaments as needed, but he isn’t stupid enough to stick to the format. Look for Bellator to make better fights and improve their overall level of talent quickly.
Do not forget that when Strikeforce was bought out by the UFC, they had a lot of talent. Luke Rockhold, Jacare Souza, Gegard Mousasi. Fedor Emilianenko, AListair OVereem, Josh Barnett, Daniel Cormier. Acquiring talent will be the top priority for Coker and it will take some time. Filling tournaments, which is really all Rebney did, is not about acquiring and developing talent. Coker should bring that to the table.
Another interesting possibility is that the women’s divisions return to Bellator. Rebney, in his ignorance, cancelled the divisions to concentrate on the mens divisions, ignoring the fact that developmentally they were way ahead of the UFC and could have owned the women’s league. Coker was the promoter for the famous Gina Carano versus Cyborg Santos match, and he knows the value of the women’s divisions. And the UFC has done a woeful job of developing talent in the women’s divisions and they can still be had. Could Coker do a Holly Holm versus Cyborg Santos match?
