Jump to content

Signings, exits, returns etc


wandshogun09

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members
54 minutes ago, David said:

We're likely going to see a lot of this with Ngannou paving the way, aren't we? Thing is, he was lightning in a bottle, so to speak. A one-off.

Depends on what circumstances you mean - I'd have said McG was the one who kicked it all off. He essentially showed MMA fighters that they didn't have to put up with the scraps from Plastic Caesar's table if they could show enough personality, or make connections with the right promoter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Depends on what circumstances you mean - I'd have said McG was the one who kicked it all off. He essentially showed MMA fighters that they didn't have to put up with the scraps from Plastic Caesar's table if they could show enough personality, or make connections with the right promoter.

As crazy as it sounds, that McGregor fight was nearly seven years ago now. Which is mental. Doesn't seem that long.

But, after that, we didn't see a ton of fighters making the jump. I think Francis has led the way in a way that McGregor didn't. There was always the feeling with Conor that it was an attraction fight because the UFC was involved. Dana's big red face was all over the promotion, and so on. 

Ngannou has made the jump to boxing proper, I think. If anything, his MMA fighting will be part-time in comparison.

Plus, we've got the bareknuckle stuff, and Game Bred bareknuckle MMA etc, all of which is giving fighters options. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always liked Coker. I mean, he's still a hard-headed businessman who's involved in the fight game, but he seems like he's not a reprehensible human being, which is a bonus. 

I hope he's successful. The MMA world needs more promoters like him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Yeah I’ve said it before on here but when you look at the range of different personality types he’s had dealings with in MMA, and not all of them were known for being easy to deal with, it’s actually amazing that not one of them seem to have a bad word to say about him. From Diaz to Rousey to Fedor to Semtex to Tito to Kimbo to proper old schoolers like Shamrock and Gracie etc. Then you see this and realise he’s had this long standing relationship with Melendez dating all the way back to the very first Strikeforce show in 2006! I’m sure he has his moments behind the scenes but, by fight promoter standards, the man’s pretty much a saint. For him to be around so long and deal with so many established names and some difficult characters and not really have any bad stories attached to his name tells you how respected he must be. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Posted (edited)
21 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Surprising. I thought Coker would've been part of the new PFL/Bellator merger.

Coker was offered a position but turned it down to do his own thing:

I’ll tell you honestly: I thought about it. The opportunity was there. But how I felt was, it’s time to go. It’s time for me, for myself, to be an entrepreneur. I love that the most. I worked for Viacom and Paramount for nine years (as Bellator president). It was a great experience. I’m glad I did it. Paramount was very good to me. I learned a lot over there. But I’m an entrepreneur at heart. It’s really the first job (working for someone other than myself) I took as an adult.”

Edited by Egg Shen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...