Bellator President Scott Coker has confirmed that the MMA promotion is not interested in the services of Diego Sanchez. Although Sanchez is a new free agent, he’ll have to look elsewhere if he still wants to fight as a mixed martial artist.
After Diego was cut, hours later, he took to social media to post that he was free from the UFC. He tagged promotions such as Bellator, One Championship, and Bare Knuckle FC to let them know that he was available for hire. However, it looks like Bellator isn’t interested in Diego.
Bellator Not Interested in Diego Sanchez
Speaking with MMA Fighting, Scott Coker told the media that he would not be interested in signing Diego Sanchez, which doesn’t surprise ever since Coker told MMA fans that Bellator is heading in a new direction.
Scott Coker just told me that Bellator will not be looking to add Diego Sanchez to the roster now that he is a free agent.
— Mike Heck (@MikeHeck_JR) May 6, 2021
“Scott Coker just told me that Bellator will not be looking to add Diego Sanchez to the roster now that he is a free agent,” said Mike Heck of MMA Fighting.
Bellator’s New Direction
Previously, Scott mentioned that the brand of Bellator is moving away from its old model of signing legends. At one point, Bellator was known viewed as a company that absorbed UFC-level talent past their prime to generate revenue off of their names. Now, the company plans on building its stars from scratch.
“If you look at our roster and how many fighters we have on this roster and how many fights we’re going to do, there are only so many TV slots. We have kind of gotten away from signing the OGs we used to sign back in the day. That’s because guys like A.J. (McKee) are coming up. Ilima-Lei (Macfarlane) is developing into a main event fighter.”
“We’ve basically built from the bottom up. We have a lot of great fighters that are on the roster that we’ve built over the last four to five years. We were kind of headed in a different direction. I was happy with the way the roster is right now not adding anybody.”
Nonetheless, the promotion also stated that they wouldn’t sign Yoel Romero in the past. Only to him and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson a few months later for their light heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
While the answer is no, for now, it doesn’t mean that Bellator won’t change their mind later. Especially with a name as big as Diego Sanchez.
