Scott Coker has his smile back. In MMA there is one true fact that reigns above all other MMA facts; a Grand Prix solves everything.
Literally any problem in the sport of mixed martial arts can simply be solved by throwing a Grand Prix tournament bracket at it. A Grand Prix is the easiest, yet most volatile, MMA promotional ingredient.
No story line gets the blood boiling like looking at a eight to sixteen person tournament bracket.
In a new interview on The MMA Hour, Bellator President Scott Coker was asked about the company’s heavyweight division and a twinkle sparkled from his eyes.
“I think that we’ll probably crown a new champion first quarter of next year and then we’ll start having a lot more fights in the heavyweight division. We’ve got some great heavyweights now, there’s a lot of matchups that I can’t wait to see and I’m excited about 2018. I think 2018 is going to be a very busy year, a big growth year for Bellator, and the heavyweight division will be a big part of it.”
Sure it was a phone interview with only a still picture of Coker available to view but you could tell Coker, like a red-blooded MMA fan, has a fetish for Grand Prixes. Could Bellator pull-off a heavyweight tournament in 2018?
Would Fedor, King Mo, Mitrione, Big Country, Lashley, Kongo represent Bellator in this hypothetical Grand Prix? Could KSW lend out Mariusz Pudzianowski for the tournament? Can Rizin convince Cro Cop to come out of retirement and enter the Grand Prix?!?!
“It was an amazing tournament, that’s when we had a young Alistair Overeem, a young Fabricio Werdum, Fedor was in his prime. It was just great, great stuff. We always like doing a lot of fun stuff like that, and who knows? But let’s go crown a champion first and then we’ll go from there.”
Coker, you have your assignment from the Fight Gods and you know what you must do.
(/H/T to MMAFighting for the transcript)
