‘They’ve Run Out Of People To Scam’

Rumors have begun swirling about the future of ONE Championship.

It was announced last week (Mon., Nov. 20, 2023) that the longstanding major mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, Bellator, was no longer a standalone entity. The promotion was acquired by Professional Fighters League (PFL) and will now continue on as a brand or event type for at least one more year with eight events in 2024, according to the initial announcement.

During that same week, over in Asia, ONE had reportedly sought out a new round of investments for funding in the future. Therefore, many have been left to speculate on the company’s stability moving forward and former Bellator Executive, Mike Kogan, has added fuel to that fire as he awaits his next move between Bellator and PFL.

“I’ve been at this sport for a long time,” Kogan said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t have it in me to start from scratch. There just isn’t anybody else. If you don’t go to PFL, obviously, I’m not getting hired by the UFC, ONE FC pissed away $600 million and is about to go out of business, where do you go?

“They’re gonna go out of business,” he continued. “These people scammed everybody they could scam. They’ve run out of people to scam. It’s the truth. I mean come on. 10 years. You can’t be a start-up for 10 years. Jesus Christ. At some point, you’ve got to start showing something. So, they’re gonna go out, so where’s there to go? There’s nowhere else to go. I’ve always said, this is like the largest small industry in the world. It’s big, it’s on TV, there’s millionaires being made, there’s all these stories, but at the end, it’s a handful of people that run it and a handful of people that have an ability to do anything with it.”

Kogan and the rest of the Bellator staff will all be offered new roles in PFL, according to PFL Founder, Donn Davis. As for his future, Kogan says he’ll have an answer on whether or not he stays in the MMA business this week as he’ll meet with Davis and PFL CEO, Peter Murray, tomorrow (Tues., Nov. 28, 2023).