Top 40 Scott Coker Quotes

We’re not going to do monthly pay-per-view just to do pay-per-views. We’re going to build up to big fights more like the boxing model, and when the time is right, we’ll do the big, big fights.

I love big events. It reminds me of the old days, when I knew everyone on the fight card, and it wasn’t just one fight.

In my years of doing the K1 fights, one thing I’ve learned is that the guys who you think will be there in the end – very rarely do you get the match up you were hoping for.

I think the MMA and boxing are different audiences. I think it’s a different intrigue. There’s no reason you can’t be a fan of both; why does it have to be one or the other?

I grew up as a martial artist, and I’m still a martial artist at heart.

Spike is an entertainment company. So why not have entertaining fights when you can do them?

Hugh Hefner represented pop culture in a way that no else could.

I’d like to see Melvin Manhoef fight Robbie Lawler.

Sport is made to be live. You can’t watch something three hours later already knowing the results; it’s not the same experience.

We’ve always looked for guys and girls who have striking ability… there’s a reason my past company was called Strikeforce.

I’ve taught martial arts to many children, from 5 years old and up – there’s character development, there’s respect, discipline, perseverance.

You can only control your own destiny.

To say martial arts, or the combative form – mixed martial arts – is not an art form is incorrect.

I would say, look, any fighter that’s out there or any star athlete – not star athlete in the sense of a baseball player, but like a Brock Lesnar – that really wants to fight, we’re going to have a conversation with them. Because if they can move the needle, we’re going to want them on Spike TV.

I used to go to fights in Japan, mega shows at soccer stadiums. They would have all kinds of martial arts fights in one night.

All my fighters know I’m a fan of theirs. They know I think of them as the stars and that we will facilitate in the building of their stock.

I’m not thinking of any other leagues. I’m really not. I’m thinking of what can I do to move Bellator forward. I’m thinking of what we need to fix, what fighters we should sign, where we can expand internationally.

You can’t put an age on power.

That’s the thing about the fight business is that you don’t know what’s going to happen.

We want Bellator to be a destination for not only the top-tier fighters in the sport, but the first-choice destination for fans to see the most entertaining fights in the sport.

If a legend fight comes up, or if a fun fight comes up that makes sense, and the fans want to see it, then we’re going to do it. We’re not going to be afraid to do those fights.

Great fights means great TV ratings.

When I first came to Bellator, I wanted to take it back to what we accomplished at Strikeforce and look at the next generation. So we signed the Aaron Picos of the world and put them in our development programme to nurture them.

Mike Goldberg and Mauro Ranallo are two of the best in our business, and I couldn’t be happier about them joining the Bellator family.

We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating and untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family.

When you think about martial arts here in the states, kickboxing was here in the ’70s, and it kind of ran its course. But I always felt there was a place in combat sports for kickboxing.

MMA has evolved. When you look at an MMA fighter’s skill set, boxing has to be a big piece of it. All of them have a boxing coach now and strive to have a good stand-up game, knowing that to be a complete fighter, you have to tend to your striking skills.

There are a lot of details you have to work out when you’re talking about fighters competing twice in one night.

I don’t think that 25-year-olds should be fighting 40-year-olds.

Whereas there’s more of a learning curb with MMA, kickboxing is pretty easy to understand and has no geographical boundaries.

When I was a kid, there were probably 100 schools in the Bay Area that just did martial arts.

I buy the UFC pay-per-views that are on OnDemand, DirectTV, and DISH. As far as quality, come on. These are the best heavyweights in the world. I think everybody knows that.

I think I’m going to be a juggler when I retire from the promotion business one day.

At the end of the day, it’s a business about fighters and a business about people. This is our philosophy.

I’m excited to see Jake Hager debut for Bellator in 2018. When I heard he was seriously interested in competing in MMA, and when you look at what he did at the collegiate level, I was very interested in having him on our roster.

I always love meeting other promoters.

The experience I’ve had with Strikeforce kickboxing, K1, Strikeforce MMA, working with ESPN, working with Showtime, working with Japanese television, working with fighter camps from all over the world has given me a unique perspective.

Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen.

In Strikeforce, we’re committed to putting on the best fights that we can.

MMA has a great safety record. I was always confused as to why it was illegal in New York in the first place.