4. Credit to Coker
For all the criticism Bellator president Scott Coker deserves for his consistently lopsided matchmaking and willingness to undermine the intelligence of educated fight fans, he also deserves praise for going outside the box and makings things a little different.
Bellator has the UFC crushed when it comes to spotlighting fighter individuality with its promo packages, walkouts and fight attire. It also frequently does something the UFC has actively avoided in co-promoting with other organizations.
The fact the card had a number of Bellator vs. Rizin FF matchups provided an additional layer of intrigue. Some of the athletes took representing their brand very seriously, and it creates another level of fun that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
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The talent swap between Bellator and Rizin has been going on for a while now, and aside from Kyoji Horiguchi’s untimely injury that caused him to relinquish the bantamweight title in both organizations, it’s hard to pinpoint a glaring downside.
Like every fight promoter, Coker has his flaws. He has many positive attributes too, though, and one of them is his fearlessness in making moves that stray from the norm.
We’ll see what Coker can come up with as he tries to take the Bellator product to the next level in 2020.
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