After Rizin Sweep, Scott Coker Says Bellator Roster is Best in Company History

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker was riding high following his promotion’s 5-0 victory in its head-to-head matchup against Rizin Fighting Federation on New Year’s Eve.

“I always said my wish was to go 5-0, and I’m happy that my guys won, but to me, it was very competitive out there,” Coker said at the Rizin 40 post-fight press conference. “That last fight, [Roberto] de Souza when he was fighting A.J. [McKee], there were a couple of times I thought he might get tapped.

“It was very stressful to watch that last fight. It was very back and forth. I’m glad A.J. did what he had to do to win. But anything can happen in a fight in MMA. It was an entertaining night of fights.”

A.J. McKee closed the show for Bellator with a unanimous decision against de Souza, Rizin’s lightweight champion, in the evening’s main event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Patricio Freire, Kyoji Horiguchi, Juan Archuleta and Gadzhi Rabadanov also earned victories for the California-based promotion on New Year’s Eve.

“For our fighters to come here to compete in a different apparatus, different rules, different environment, different timeframe, I’m proud of them because it’s not an easy thing to do,” Coker said. “These guys got here 10 days ago, before Christmastime, and they said, ‘We’re going to give up our Christmas, we’re going to come to Japan early,’ and they’ve been training here the last 10 days. They did it properly.

“I told them, ‘Look, don’t take these fighters lightly because they’re very good.’ I think they took that to heart and they did what they had to do.”

While Coker was impressed with the performance of the Rizin athletes in defeat — every bout went the distance — he was even more proud of the talent that has been assembled under the Bellator banner.

“It just shows you how much the Rizin fighters to me have grown in the last five, six years,” Coker said. “I see a big growth spur. Keep in mind, when you talk about the Bellator athletes, and I’m not just saying this because you know it’s the company I run, but over the last six, seven years, this is the best roster we’ve ever had in the history of the company. …

“If you go all the way down the weight classes, we not just have fighters that can compete in the UFC, but we have fighters at three or four in each weight class that can compete against any company on the planet. We have a very strong, strong fighter base right now.”