Dana White: Scott Coker 'a much better fit' for Bellator than Bjorn Rebney was

Dana White hasn’t been shy with his feelings about Bellator MMA, and in particular its founder, Bjorn Rebney.

With Rebney’s departure earlier this week as Bellator’s CEO, many may have expected one of White’s trademark smiley faces on Twitter, a device he’s been known to use from time to time as a simple comment on developments in the MMA world that might fall into the “I told ya so” category.

White has been mostly silent about the Bellator shakeup, which saw former Strikeforce boss Scott Coker take the helm of the promotion the same day Rebney’s ouster was announced.

But on Friday night, the UFC president went on AXS TV’s “Inside MMA” for a one-on-one interview with former fighter Bas Rutten and talked about Bellator, in brief.

Regarding Bellator, White was diplomatic about Coker taking over for Rebney, whose first name he often took jabs at by calling him “Bjork” instead of “Bjorn” – which apparently will continue.

“Not only do I know Scott very well, I know the guys at Spike (TV) very well,” White said. “I was in business with them for a long time, and I think this is a much better fit for them than ‘Bjork’ was.”

Coker sold Strikeforce to Zuffa, which also owns the UFC, in March 2011. In January 2013, the promotion held its final event and was folded into the UFC. Coker was under contract for three years from the time of the sale.

Check out the video above for White’s full interview with Rutten, which includes White’s latest on his light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones; the potential for welterweight champ Johny Hendricks to fight middleweight champ Chris Weidman; featherweight champ Jose Aldo’s desire to make more money; and Chael Sonnen’s recent failed drug test and subsequent retirement.

http://mmajunkie.com/2014/06/dana-white-scott-coker-a-much-better-fit-for-bellator-than-bjorn-rebney-was

hit the link is an interview of bas rutten with white

lol is there ever a time of day when dane isn't mad about something?

I look forward to the day when Dana is out on his ass and were talking about him gone.

Well that's a good sign, White praising the new president of a rival company.

I hope Coker isn't a Trojan horse by Dane and Zuffia.

this is not good, I see another "feeder" league coming. MMA might be dead.

Coker was a zuffa crony for 3 years....

Hope he's gonna fight the good fight not fold.

Look guys ya'll need to bone up on your corporate business, competition & securities law.

Coker don't own Bellator. PERIOD! 1M++ Viacom shareholders own it through Viacom-owed SPIKE TV. All of these entities are part of a publicly trade corporation that trades on the NYSE. Again, it's shareholder own the corporation.

Coker as president of Bellator is an employee of Bellator. He has a fiduciary duty to Bellator, SPIKE, Viacom, and 1M++ Viacom shareholders

Fiduciary Duty - (A legal obligation of one party to act in the best interest of another. The obligated party is typically a fiduciary, that is, someone entrusted with the care of money or property. Also called fiduciary obligation.) http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/fiduciary-duty.html#ixzz35It3JxfY

An executive in a public company CANNOT do anything that is solely in their own interest. An executive in a public company CANNOT do anything that is solely in their own interest with a 3rd party/independent company and is NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST of the public corporation they work for. Nor can they do anything that is NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST of its shareholders.

It is against the law for Coker to cut backroom deals with Zuffa that would give the UFC any kind of competitive advantage over Bellator and the rest of the MMA marketplace. Coker can be prosecuted personally for anything he does that is not solely in the best interest of VIACOM shareholders. NO backroom Zuffa deals, secret feeder leagues, or whatever.

The only thing that could change any of this is if Zuffa would purchase Bellator, or if Viacom purchased the UFC. Until either of those happens Bellator & the UFC are competitors and no scummy backroom mafia deals with a Fortune 400 publicly traded company.

So cool out on the conspiracy stuff guys. Being a publicly traded company and a privately owned MMA organization are 2 waaaaay different things here.

Dagwood wrote:Look guys ya'll need to bone up on your corporate business, competition & securities law.

Coker don't own Bellator. PERIOD! 1M++ Viacom shareholders own it through Viacom-owed SPIKE TV. All of these entities are part of a publicly trade corporation that trades on the NYSE. Again, it's shareholder own the corporation.

Coker as president of Bellator is an employee of Bellator. He has a fiduciary duty to Bellator, SPIKE, Viacom, and 1M++ Viacom shareholders

Fiduciary Duty - (A legal obligation of one party to act in the best interest of another. The obligated party is typically a fiduciary, that is, someone entrusted with the care of money or property. Also called fiduciary obligation.) http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/fiduciary-duty.html#ixzz35It3JxfY

An executive in a public company CANNOT do anything that is solely in their own interest. An executive in a public company CANNOT do anything that is solely in their own interest with a 3rd party/independent company and is NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST of the public corporation they work for. Nor can they do anything that is NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST of its shareholders.

It is against the law for Coker to cut backroom deals with Zuffa that would give the UFC any kind of competitive advantage over Bellator and the rest of the MMA marketplace. Coker can be prosecuted personally for anything he does that is not solely in the best interest of VIACOM shareholders. NO backroom Zuffa deals, secret feeder leagues, or whatever.

The only thing that could change any of this is if Zuffa would purchase Bellator, or if Viacom purchased the UFC. Until either of those happens Bellator & the UFC are competitors and no scummy backroom mafia deals with a Fortune 400 publicly traded company.

So cool out on the conspiracy stuff guys. Being a publicly traded company and a privately owned MMA organization are 2 waaaaay different things here.

Spot on! People act like Coker bought Bellator when he´s just an employee. I don´t see any reason to why Viacom would want to bend over for Zuffa. Viacom wants to become #1 in the world of mma.

White said this because he saw Bjorn as a threat and sees Coker as a bumbling idiot.

iforgotmypassword wrote:White said this because he saw Bjorn as a threat and sees Coker as a bumbling idiot.

If physical shape is an indicator of intelligence Dane is right.

of course fucking dana would love scott coker in bellator. he see's coker as nothing.

Bjorn was his own man and had a vision!

iforgotmypassword wrote:this is not good, I see another "feeder" league coming. MMA might be dead.

im not joking but im terrified at bellator going to COMPLETE shit under scott coker and those viacom exec's

seriously I am! They're gonna weaken the tournaments and hire a bunch of bums like Kimbo for ratings.

I am to the point where I wanna turn my back on MMA...seriously

Yeah, I know he is an employee of Viacom. But, I don't see any reason that Viacom would not think that doing business with Zuffa would be profitable. That could be just as much of a reason for letting Rebney go as anything else.

iforgotmypassword wrote:White said this because he saw Bjorn as a threat and sees Coker as a bumbling idiot.

I think that Dana White is just doing what he thinks is diplomacy.

stu3ufc wrote:of course fucking dana would love scott coker in bellator. he see's coker as nothing.

Bjorn was his own man and had a vision!

Coker is a different kind of promoter than Bjorn, but Coker has shown plenty of vision. What he was doing with Strikeforce was great. He took a gamble by recruiting some questionable investors in order to achieve the liquidity and solvency to put his plans into action, and they sold him down the river. Coker did at least get paid, but the buyout of Strikeforce was tragic.

Bjorn was more of a venture capitalist type. Coker is more of an old school, steady as she goes type. I think Coker is potentially the best man for the job, given the direction the owners of Bellator are seeking to go in. His experience and track record are probably among his biggest attributes in the respect.

stu3ufc wrote:

iforgotmypassword wrote:this is not good, I see another "feeder" league coming. MMA might be dead.

im not joking but im terrified at bellator going to COMPLETE shit under scott coker and those viacom exec's

seriously I am! They're gonna weaken the tournaments and hire a bunch of bums like Kimbo for ratings.

I am to the point where I wanna turn my back on MMA...seriously

No one knows what's going to happen.

But I basically turned my back on MMA with the buyout of Strikeforce.

I've just been a casual observer ever since, and that includes of Bellator.

Coker is an empty man, Bjorn had a soul at least. Coker would promote for a sandwich if the job was right.


Stop acting like this fool was some fucking visionary, Coker was lucky with the landscape of MMA at the time, having DREAM, M-1, yadda for SF. THE AGE IS DIFFERENT. Who the fuck is Coker going to work with in today's age of feeder league bullshit and shadow orgs? This isn't the same landscape it was during Strikeforce's time I wish you'd all understand! M-1 and Bellator  DO NOT GET ALONG. Slava Slava Slava.

AudaxSmoke wrote:Coker is an empty man, Bjorn had a soul at least. Coker would promote for a sandwich if the job was right.


Stop acting like this fool was some fucking visionary, Coker was lucky with the landscape of MMA at the time, having DREAM, M-1, yadda for SF. THE AGE IS DIFFERENT. Who the fuck is Coker going to work with in today's age of feeder league bullshit and shadow orgs? This isn't the same landscape it was during Strikeforce's time I wish you'd all understand! M-1 and Bellator  DO NOT GET ALONG. Slava Slava Slava.

I can just as well come back and say Bjorn was a one trick pony. He was able to come up with something that succeeded in getting his promotion off the ground with the tournament format, but again, prize fighting is not really suitable for a league format. In fact, this was seen in IFL, World Combat League, various cases from boxing, etc.

Sure tournaments can be fun and they provide a chance to see fighters progress over the course of a tournament, but they are not appropriate as the centerpiece of elite level prize fighting. Once Bellator started to reach a certain level, this became apparent in their case, as well. Remember the non-title fights with champions, involving careful match making to try to avoid the champion's taking a loss? Remember when some champions still did lose?

The 4-man tournament format was probably in part a response to that. Even then, you have champions sitting on the shelf, while the challenger has to fight 3 times over a short span. This is unfair, potentially unsafe, and not conducive to championship fights in which both fighters are fully prepared.

There is obviously a split here between those who were substantial fans of the Bellator format, and those who prefer the more 'traditional' format. That's natural I guess, but count me in the latter camp. As such, I am quite optimistic. I think Coker will be successful, and if he is I think I will appreciate the results more than I appreciate the old Bellator format.

AudaxSmoke wrote:Coker is an empty man, Bjorn had a soul at least. Coker would promote for a sandwich if the job was right.


Stop acting like this fool was some fucking visionary, Coker was lucky with the landscape of MMA at the time, having DREAM, M-1, yadda for SF. THE AGE IS DIFFERENT. Who the fuck is Coker going to work with in today's age of feeder league bullshit and shadow orgs? This isn't the same landscape it was during Strikeforce's time I wish you'd all understand! M-1 and Bellator  DO NOT GET ALONG. Slava Slava Slava.

True it is not as good of a landscape but they can immediately start working with Glory.  After that, fighter sharing with promotions like KSW (Shlemenko/Khalidov), and/or ONE FC, M-1, and maybe the big cross-promotion with WSOF could have some really good fights made. It would also be cool if IGF could start building up a following in Japan and build on their roster for a future partnership with Bellator.

I will be disgusted if WSOF and Bellator co-promote.

Bellator should not co-promote with UFC feeder leagues.

I'm rooting for Coker but I'm worried he's going to help screw Bellator up.