Scott Coker Has Absolutely No Regard for the Interests of the Fighters. What’s Going On?
4 min read
Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblin has expressed dissatisfaction with the management regarding the poor promotion of his league. In the wrestler’s opinion, they could have promoted him more forcefully. In an interview, he made it clear that he really resented this order of things. However, he clarified that he was doing all that was required of him, which was to hold fights and put on performances.
Of course Johnny admits that his team is not inactive. But he feels that his promotion and that of his colleague Mousasi could have been made more substantial and successful. At the same time, there was a note of resentment in his words for the apparently more frequent mention in news reports and publicity of his colleague Musashi.
To summarise from his words in the interview we can confidently say that Eblin is concerned about two key grievances:
- the lack of promotion of his persona;
- more promotion of Musashi than him.
Bellator’s PR Failures
Oddly enough, this is not the first failure in PR from Bellator. Although this is really firstly this issue has been brought out in public. By comparison, the UFC are doing their best to evenly promote title battles. Dana White runs numbered meetings that feature titleholders. The periodicity of these fights is monthly, which is great for promotion. And a separate highlight of the UFC is Fight Night with ranked bouts. They are held in the weeks when there are no numbered tournaments.
Bellator used to be more active and held tournaments every fortnight. Unfortunately now Scott Coker has moved to Formula-1, and the frequency of fights has dropped to one a month. And it’s always the same boxers who do the same duels. To be more specific: in half a year 2022 there were 2 title fights in each middleweight and heavyweight division. And there were three divisions left completely unattended.
The most curious case is that of Usman Nurmagomedov and Alexandr Shabliy of the light-heavyweight division. Or for example the bra of Khabib, who is kept on a so-called bagging diet. He is currently ranked in the top 3 of the division, but has yet to receive any opponents from the top 15. That said, it’s no secret that winner Patricky Freire is weaker than the Russian.
Alexander Shabliy, meanwhile, is ranked fifth in the division. And this despite the fact that the day before he defeated Brent Primus, but his opponent still ranked 4th. Do you see the logic?
Mid-Weight Division
Back to the main topic of our article. How do we explain that the main contender for Gerard Mousasi’s belt is almost unknown to the public? After all, Eblin has created an incredible scoop by crushing a live legend of MMA. And that’s despite the fact that he’s quite young – only 30 years old.
In contrast, the utopia of Israel Adesanya’s name is going on in the UFC, from which Alex Pereira is called upon to rid us. And yet matchmakers might have been interested in the Dreamcatcher’s chief offender if there had been sufficient promotion.
Johnny could have been fighting for high royalties a long time ago and grown substantially in recognition and pro level. But unfortunately, he is still forced to work for the same old low fees, and without even the prospect of a booster.
Bellator has a very weighty problem: an extremely low number of their own nurtured stars. The core of the league is made up of average fighters who aren’t even given a chance to prove themselves in public. With one exception, A.J. Mackie. But he lost his belt this year, and became uninterested in the UFC.
Even Michael Chandler wasn’t a flashy speaker in Bellator until he signed with Dana White’s league, where he was able to reveal himself as a charismatic personality.
Bellator’s Main Stars
The most famous fighters of the league are fighters who have created a reputation for themselves in other organisations. They include Cris Cyborg, Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi and Ryan Bader. With the Last Emperor still waiting his turn for the belt. Although he’s already 45 years old, there’s an extremely high chance that the long-awaited fight with Bader will never happen.
Any Perspectives?
Khabib Nurmagomedov is going in the right direction and inviting veteran MMA fighters. Fights between them and prospective fighters are just the right way to go! In addition, he admitted that he is madly looking forward to a fight between Emelianenko and Junior dos Santos.
By the way, Coker didn’t start defending his prized asset, but came to negotiate. And that’s already a wake-up call, especially for Russian fighters. It looks like an admission of the Bellator head’s inability to make big fights, as he is willing to let the legend of the sport go to another organisation.
If this goes on, the league will simply cease to be quoted and possibly cease to exist altogether.
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