Scott Coker is coming back to mixed martial arts (MMA).
The former Strikeforce and Bellator boss is launching a new promotion in early 2027 with a “robust” roster featuring new and established stars. The tournament format, recently abandoned by Professional Fighters League (PFL), is expected to give athletes an alternative to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Which doesn’t have the best reputation these days.
“We’re looking at a January date,” Coker told NY Post. “And when I say January, it’s not going to be just one event. It’s going to be bang-bang-bang, bang-bang-bang. It’s going to be a gauntlet of events that we produce in the first half of the year. We’re going to identify the next set of stars; but also, we’re going to buy free agents from the top down, just like we built Strikeforce.”
Strikeforce was acquired by UFC in early 2011 and summarily dissolved.
“We’re going to have the tournament format, and the tournament format leads to new-star development,” Coker explained. “And that’s something I think we’re really good at: fighter procurement. I think we’ve done it better than anybody else, but we will bring in free agents to sprinkle from the top down, and that’s going to be a very robust roster, let’s say, in a year or two.”
Coker claims the new platform will provide “a big pot of gold” for participating fighters.
It sounds great on paper, but Coker and Co. may find it challenging to locate value in the free agent market. Whatever talent is not already locked up by UFC and PFL are typically old, expensive, or broken down. It also depends on where Coker can stream his fights now that pay-per-view (PPV) is off the table.
There’s also stiff competition from this new entry into the MMA world.