It’s not that Scott Coker doesn’t seem to understand that Will Brooks isn’t happy. He’s just not making a bigger public deal out of it than his lightweight champion. Brooks made his feelings about his current contract situation and Bellator’s treatment of him in a recent series of Tweets, saying that Bellator may have “decided not to use any resources” on promoting him after he made the decision to fight out his contract rather than signing an extension.
Brooks added that, as such, he would “do what’s best for [himself] and accomplish [his] next goal,” going on to make clear that he had already accomplished what he had set out for upon singing to Bellator. Whether this means his “next goal” could be possibly accomplished with a bigger Bellator contract, or if it’s something that can only be reached by fighting somewhere else isn’t entirely clear as of yet. But, signs seem to be pointing toward the latter.
And in Scott Coker’s world, that seems to be all fine and dandy. Coker recently spoke to MMAFighting about Brooks’ recent outpouring and he sounded pretty diplomatic about the whole thing:
“This is how it works,” Coker said. “Fighters are happy until they’re not happy. Right now, he’s not happy. That could change. I don’t take it personally. It’s just part of the business. If he’s gonna yap, he’s gonna yap. That’s just how it is.”
…
“I think he’s a good fighter,” Coker said. “I think we’ll offer him some more fights and we’ll fight him out. Then, we’ll see. Free agency is gonna work both ways. Is he a fighter that we would go way out of our way to re-sign? I can’t answer that.”
It’s not exactly the high drama MMA fans are used to when it comes to unhappiness between fighters and promoters, but it’s a bit refreshing to hear two sides that seem to be keeping things as open ended and realistic as possible, rather than resorting to tearing one another down.
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