Ahead of the highly-anticipated Bellator 288 card on Friday night, Bellator MMA president Scott Coker took a moment to speak with ‘The Schmo’ on YouTube.
During the conversation, ‘The Schmo’ asked Scott Coker about the altercation that occurred between Dillon Danis and Nate Diaz outside of Madison Square Garden on Saturday following UFC 281.
“You know, I really don’t know. To me, it’s like if fighters want to fight for free, please give me a call. Because these are professional athletes, they should be fighting for the money they deserve. We’ll see about Dillon Danis. I really have no update right now.”
The last time Dillon Danis was inside the Bellator cage was more than three years ago at Bellator 222. After earning back-to-back first-round submissions, Danis’ momentum has seemingly evaporated. Now the quote-unquote fighter is seemingly content with talking trash on social media and instigating altercations with fighters only when he’s surrounded by an entourage of friends and security guards. Anymore, the question isn’t whether or not Dillon Danis will fight again. The question is, does anyone really care?
Nate Diaz slaps Dillon danis teammate at Madison Square Garden #UFC281@NateDiaz209 @dillondanis pic.twitter.com/Vb7DKW3pWQ
— GIX MMA (@gixMMA) November 13, 2022
Scott Coker is Interested in Getting into the Nate Diaz Business
If you were presented with an opportunity to bet on which would happen first, Dillon Danis returns to Bellator, or Nate Diaz signs with Bellator, one would be inclined to bet the latter. Following his win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279, the younger Diaz brother walked away from the UFC after 15 years with the promotion. Now a free agent, it appears that everyone wants to get into the Nate Diaz business including Bellator president Scott Coker.
In September shortly after Diaz’s main event swan song with the Las Vegas-based organization, Coker claimed that Bellator had already reached out to the ‘Stockton Samurai’ about working together.
“Well, we are definitely talking to him,” Coker said. “We’ve reached out and I know he’s probably talking to everybody. He’s, I think, in a pretty good situation. I know he wants to fight Jake Paul. Jake Paul’s fighting, you know, against Anderson Silva on Showtime pay-per-view, which is our home network, so there’s some synergies here.”
However, Coker quickly walked back those comments when it was revealed that Nate Diaz was under a 90-day no-compete clause preventing him from negotiating with any organization until it expires in December.
“Well, here’s the thing, is that my guys reached out to the management and the management came back and said, ‘Look, he still has an exclusive negotiation period,’” Coker told reporters at the Bellator 285 post-fight press conference. “So, let’s see how that plays out.”
Would you like to see Nate Diaz sign with Bellator or should the man from 209 seek other opportunities outside of MMA?
