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Bellator’s Identity Crisis

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It’s no secret that Bjorn Rebney and Viacom (The owners of Bellator MMA) have never really seen eye to eye. Bjorn built the promotion from scratch before being acquired by the media giant, who kept him on as president until this past week when it was announced that Scott Coker would be taking the helm. During a press call, Bellator made it clear that Scott Coker would not be the captain of the ship, rather he would be reporting to a boss while playing the role of figurehead of the promotion. Basically, he’s going to be Bellator’s Dana White with a little bit less pull with the organization. Here’s what Dana White had to say about Scott Coker replacing Bjorn at Bellator…




“Not only do I know Scott Coker, but I know the guys in Spike,” said Dana White. “It’s a much better fit than Bjork was.”

No More Tournaments

What made Bellator unique, and what drew a lot of the more hardcore MMA fans towards the weekly events was the way that Bellator structured their title fights in a tournament bracket. There was no talking your way into a title fight. It appealed to the fans of pure sport, but that’s a smaller audience than the people who just want to see huge fights. Bjorn was at odds with Viacom over switching away from the tournament style, since that’s how Bjorn had always built the brand from day one. Moving forward, Bellator is going to abandon it’s tournament style in favor of being able to put on “huge” fights between “superstars”. Granted, they’re going to have to hire a few of those stars first, but maybe the owners will be more confidant to invest in big name fighters now that they have the free will to match them up as they please.

It’s unclear how this “transitional phase” is going to go, but get ready for a lot more Rampage vs King Mo and Chandler vs Alvarez. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, either.


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