There were so many storylines coming out of Bellator’s show in Belfast on Friday it’s easy to forget some of the smaller nuggets of information dropped by Bellator president Scott Coker during his media scrum at the end of the night. 

Bellator going solo in London

Speaking after the show, Coker talked to reporters on site about the upcoming Bellator show in London on May 19. Unlike the promotions last two shows in the UK and Ireland, Coker confirmed that the London show would be independently promoted and that it would not be a co-promotion with BAMMA.

“No, that’s going to be a Bellator only and It’s going to be one of our ‘tentpoles’,” Coker confirmed. “We only do seven of these a year and it’s going to have all of our biggest guns and it’s going to be a stacked card.”

Bellator respectful of BAMMA and willing to talent share

The Bellator president then went into more detail about Bellator’s current relationship with BAMMA. Whilst doing so, Coker sent a slight jab in the direction of the UFC when he suggested that their upcoming show in London on March 11, was really on a level with a BAMMA fight card. 

“I think, listen, I think if you look at the talent here, I think BAMMA has cultivated the talent,” Coker said. “Even if you look at the next UFC card, it’s more like a BAMMA show really. To me, that’s where we found James [Gallagher] that’s where we found [Sinead] Kavanagh and a lot of the talent we’ve been watching has come from BAMMA. I think they’ve been doing a great job and I hope everyone keeps supporting them because that’s where we can jump in. Like I said to David Green [BAMMA CEO], we’ll share the talent. We’ll book your talent, you can book our talent and the doors are open. 

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“When we go to other territories we always try to respect the local promoter and work with them. There’s a chance that we come alone, but the next big fight, next tentpole fight, will be in London on May 19 and that will be a promotion by Bellator.”

Bellator plans are their own

Asked whether stacking the May 19 London show with talent was a statement made in the direction of the UFC, Coker denied it and said that Bellator MMA’s plans were in place well before the UFC had announced their plans to visit the English capital themselves. 

“You know what, it goes way before they even announced their card,” Coker said. “We had planned our quarter already. We launched with Tito Ortiz fighting Chael Sonnen, Fedor was supposed to fight Matt Mitrione, ‘Rampage’ taking on King Mo, and then we have the fight with Paul [Daley] fighting [Rory] MacDonald. 

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“That’s four just amazing fights, so no there’s no tit-for-tat or anything like that. It’s just that we have great fighters in action and I think that any of our fighters can win against anyone in the world. We are going to come out and we are going to give the fans what they want to see.”

Gallagher versus McKee would be a show opener, not a headliner

One of the big storylines heading out of Bellator 173 on Friday was James Gallagher’s callout of fellow Bellator featherweight, AJ McKee. When Coker was asked if the fight between the pair could feature on the London card in May, or whether he was fearing it could be lost among all the other big bouts announced already, the Bellator President said that factor wouldn’t factor into his decision. 

“It’s a stacked card from top to bottom,” Coker said. “Rory was one of the first guys we wanted to sign last year and we think it’s going to be a very successful signing. The first fight we thought about putting him in against was Paul Daley because styles make fights and we think that will be an amazing fight.

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“To me, that’s the main event and then who’d be the second main event, I think that’s going to be MVP [vs. Derek Anderson] and Linton Vassell and err, Liam McGeary will have a good shot of being right in there, but to me, if you get a fight like that [Gallagher vs. McKee], it’s probably going to be one of the first fights of the night. I don’t think a fight, where it sits can [determine if] it gets lost—I think it’s the performance that dictates whether it gets lost or not.”