Bellator Forever! ‘It’s Gonna Be Another Big Year’

Bellator isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, according to its President, Scott Coker.

The promotion announced its historic 300th event yesterday (Weds., Aug. 9, 2023), featuring four title fights that will go down in San Diego, California on Oct. 7, 2023. Titles at Heavyweight, Lightweight, women’s Featherweight, and women’s Flyweight will be on the line as champion, Ryan Bader, Usman Nurmagomedov, Cris “Cyborg” Justino, and Liz Carmouche all look to defend opposite Linton Vassell, Brent Primus, Cat Zingano, and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

Unfortunately for Bellator, a lot of the buzz surrounding it in 2023 has been about potentially selling from parent company, Viacom, or folding entirely. Former Bellator commentator, Jimmy Smith, spoke to Bloody Elbow’s John S. Nash this week and Nash shared he’s hearing that Bellator 300 will be the last event under the current management. Coker has now refuted the claims when speaking with Smith himself.

“We’re gonna keep doing more fights,” Coker told MMA on Sirius XM. “John is incorrect in his projection. Listen, I’ll give him an A for effort and there’s a lot of rumors out there. Let’s see what happens.

“In the meantime, Jimmy, we’re gonna keep promoting fights,” he continued. “We’re already planning 301 right now, we already got 302 kind of planned out. We’re looking forward to next year. I think it’s gonna be another big year for Bellator so tell John I think he’s incorrect and I think we’re gonna keep doing more fights this year.”

Bellator’s last event went down at the end of July, collaborating once again with RIZIN Fighting Federation for Super RIZIN 2. Bellator 298 is headlined by a Welterweight contender bout between Logan Storley and Brennan Ward, taking place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota tomorrow night (Fri., Aug. 11, 2023).