During Bellator’s biggest event to date, the promotion made an intriguing announcement regarding one of the legends present at their event: Fedor Emelianenko.
According to an official press release that was later sent out, Fedor will headline a new co-promotion between Scott Coker and former PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who is set to start a new MMA promotion in Japan.
According to Coker, he was well aware about the negotiations ahead of time, which is why he never attempted to sign Fedor to Bellator exclusively.
“We never discussed anything financial with him or any negotiations,” Coker told MMAFighting.com’s Luke Thomas. “We proved that, right? We knew [Sakikabara] was in dialogue with Fedor, so when the contract got signed, we never said anything but we knew it was going to be on Spike TV.”
Ultimately, the deal was beneficial to all parties involved.
“It is a win-win for Sakikabara to have Fedor and it is a win-win for Spike TV to have Fedor.”
When asked whether this exclusive deal with Sakikabara would mean the end of Fedor’s chances to sign with the UFC, Coker said that may not necessarily be the case.
“I’m not sure. Fedor could fight for the next five or six years.”
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