« K-1 World GP Final 8 (12/5 Yokohama Arena) | Home | Transcript of CBS Executive Kelly Kahl’s interview with Fanhouse »
Transcript of Scott Coker interview with Fanhouse
By Zach Arnold | November 6, 2009
INTERVIEWER: “Scott, now we are just I guess 72 hours away from the biggest event that you’ve ever promoted. Is that correct?”
SCOTT COKER: “Yeah, absolutely, I mean you know to be on CBS, it’s uh you know a lot of eyeballs and you know we’re looking forward to it.”
INTERVIEWER: “Back page of the Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, you’re all over the local news, are you happy with the buzz that this fight has created?”
SCOTT COKER: “Yeah, absolutely, I think that you know if you look at the paper uh today and then I think the USA Today has something in there as well and you know we’re hoping to finish strong for the rest of the week.”
INTERVIEWER: “Now for the casual fan out there, let’s say the Fanhouse viewer who doesn’t know a lot about MMA, what can you tell them about Fedor? Why should they watch this fight on Saturday?”
SCOTT COKER: “He is truly the Last Emperor, he’s appropriately named, and uh you know he is MMA’s um uh I would say MMA royalty in the sense that I’ve watched him fight for the last you know 10 years probably or 8 years when I was working for K-1 in Japan and uh you know to have that undefeated record is very rare and it just doesn’t happen and so he’s uh a special athlete.”
INTERVIEWER: “Now a lot of people are trying to compare this event to the last MMA on CBS event, Kimbo Slice, he loses, Elite XC crumbles. Not exactly related but there were it sort of didn’t really help the cause. Um. What happens if Fedor loses? Is that the worst thing in the world because [onward] you got Brett Rogers, you got your Buster Douglas, you got your homegrown star and now he just shocked the world?”
SCOTT COKER: “Well, you know what, that’s the Buster Douglas story, right? And the only thing is Buster Douglas in this case would have a re-match, right? And so you know I mean to me the better man should win, this is why that’s why they fight and this is that’s why you know MMA is exciting is that you never know in a sport, if Brett Rogers hits Fedor you know that’s all I got to say is you never know. And uh, you know, we have a great heavyweight division, a lot of people underestimate our Heavyweight division but if you look up there with Fabricio (Werdum), Fedor, Brett Rogers, uh Bigfoot Silva and uh with Alistair Overeem in the mix, a couple of other signings that we’re going to announce next week, I think we have a great division.”
INTERVIEWER: “Oh, you just peaked my interest. Any, no one’s listening, right? Any scoops you can give us?”
SCOTT COKER: “I can’t give you anything right now, but I’ll comment next Monday.”
INTERVIEWER: “C’mon, Scott, all right. Well what about the rest of the card? I mean, it’s a great card as well and you’re going to crown a new Middleweight champion, I’m sure you’re happy to finally put that whole saga behind you and crown a new champion, right?”
SCOTT COKER: “Yeah, I mean, you know it’s these guys are very deserving and you know to put Jake and Mayhem together in this fight is you know it’s going to be a great fight, I think that might be the Fight of the Night, you know? I think like we did in uh you know in some of our previous fights you’ll have the Knockout of the Night, I think you’ll have the Submission of the Night, I think you’ll have the Fight of the Night.”
INTERVIEWER: “Now, speaking of champions, there’s some confusion, why isn’t Gegard Mousasi defending his title on Saturday?”
SCOTT COKER: “Well, you know, uh, Sokoudjou as you know is a very dangerous fighter. Um, but you know we looked at all the rankings, he wasn’t a really you know he had uh he had gone through a 3 or 4 fight loss streak and then he won a couple of fights in Japan but he wasn’t ranked at the Top 10 and so we said, you know what, let’s make this a non-title fight and then if he does well, or if he beats Gegard… let’s do it again.”
INTERVIEWER: “Final question on championship belts. We saw the WAMMA title up at the press conference. What’s the deal with that? Is that title on the line?”
SCOTT COKER: “You know, uh, it’s something that I’ll have a conversation with WAMMA about, but I believe that Fedor wanted WAMMA to uh be represented because Fedor is their champion and uh I believe that they will present the belt to whoever wins the fight. Uh, win or lose, whether it’s 3 rounds or 5 rounds and uh that’s what they’ve decided to do.”
INTERVIEWER: “And as the Strikeforce CEO and founder, uh, you know it’s not do or die for MMA on CBS clearly but are you nervous? Like how do you feel just a couple of days before about what’s going to transpire?”
SCOTT COKER: “I woke up yesterday on my way over here going, this is getting exciting you know, you know it’s you get the I get the butterflies not like the fighter you know not like the competitor but I get butterflies and you know I did at the Carano fight, I did at the Frank’s fights, at Cung’s fights, I mean you know this is uh this is uh these guys are very special athletes and they’re very important to me and uh this you know is a big event and it’s like you said, it’s the biggest event with the most eyeballs ever in the history of Strikeforce and it’s uh you know you feel like a proud parent.”
INTERVIEWER: “And by the way I heard a rumor, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I heard that Brett Rogers is pregnant. Can you confirm or deny this?”
SCOTT COKER: “You got to talk to Brett about that, he’s right over there.”
INTERVIEWER: “That’s a joke about the whole Cyborg situation that happened to you, the prank, you didn’t get that, c’mon Scott, you’re very…”
SCOTT COKER: “You know what, yeah, don’t do that to me because…”
INTERVIEWER: “Don’t even go there.”
SCOTT COKER: “Because that was uh my heart just dropped when they told me she’s pregnant, I was going, I gotta find Marloes Coenen because I got to get in the cage against you know Gina, right, and then they go, oh, we’re just joking, I was like, I’m going to get you back! You wait, I’m going to get my staff back some day.”
INTERVIEWER: “All right, final question. I’m sure your main competitor, the UFC, is going to be watching on Saturday night. Any message to your good friend Dana White about the show on Saturday?”
SCOTT COKER: “You know what, I don’t want to get into that, I mean you know they’re doing a great job over there and honestly I say with sincerity and you know we’re just going to do our job and I think we’re doing a great job over here and you know if you think about the relationship uh with us purchasing Elite XC assets, getting the Showtime/CBS contracts, starting April 11th or 10th I think it was April 11th of this year uh you know we’ve only been in the national TV business for six months so I think we’ve accomplished a lot in six months and I think you know give me another year or so, I think you’ll see some real big big moves.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Scott Coker says: “Well, you know, uh, Sokoudjou as you know is a very dangerous fighter. Um, but you know we looked at all the rankings, he wasn’t a really you know he had uh he had gone through a 3 or 4 fight loss streak and then he won a couple of fights in Japan but he wasn’t ranked at the Top 10 and so we said, you know what, let’s make this a non-title fight and then if he does well, or if he beats Gegard… let’s do it again.”
That doesn’t sound like “we did that for scheduling reasons” to me. That sounds like they don’t have a lot of faith in the fight.
I am looking forward to see some of the “big moves” he’s referring to. Hopefully we’ll see more MMA on CBS.
That’s a stupid reason to give. If Soko is not a worthy challenger, why put on the fight in the first place.
It’s funny how Coker almost slipped and said that Soko wasn’t even Top 10… And then just moved his words around to try and avoid that.
Let him go down that route… Which is that the UFC has the other 9 Light Heavyweight Top 10 guys… And like 14 of the Top 15… And about 17 or 18 of the Top 20….
How many top 10 lightweights did the UFC have when they decided to bring back the division? Things take time to build and shake out.
How is Strikeforce supposed to create top 10 light heavyweights without having almost a single one under contract? Don’t be ridiculous.
Zack is just another example in a long line of them of people who think that guys can magically appear in the Top 10 without beating the talent to back up the ranking. Unless the UFC starts to lose talent to Strikeforce, I can’t see the Top 10 landscape changing much in terms of what company controls it. You have to beat the man to be the man sort of stuff….
On other related Strikeforce news…. Jake Shields signed on with the EA MMA Game. Stupid choice for him, and I will use Jay Hieron as an example. I remember somebody saying that Hieron got like $5,000 for the EA Game. The UFC negotiated with him, but because of the game, they did not sign him. Now he is stuck in Strikeforce with little talent to fight and it killed most of his bargaining power in the future. If Strikeforce knows the UFC won’t go after him, he loses all leverage. So hieron’s “easy” $5,000 payday ended up turning into a huge mistake as it killed a potential company that could pay him.
Bring in Jake Shields now. Why sign? Why not keep your options open? Let your Strikeforce contract run out and see who the highest bidder is. The $5,000 is NOT worth what you are losing out on. The UFC Welterweight Division is stacked, but is still slim on legit title contenders.
Heck, Shields might still end up signing with Strikeforce after all is said and done…. But as of right now, if Zuffa sticks to their word, Shields just lost all of his leverage at the negotiation table. That is beyond stupid for only $5,000.
Not to mention that if he wants to fight the best in the division, that is GSP. That is Fitch. That is Alves. And if he ends up signing back up with Strikeforce for let’s say another 2 years… He will be 33 by the time the contract ends. For a Welterweight, that is getting up there in age. Hughes went down hill around 34/35. Trigg showed signed up slowing down at around 35. The smaller the weight class, the more it is a young fighters game. By not signing with the UFC, he completely wastes his prime years fighting talent that is obviously inferior to him.
As a fight fan, I do not like that news.
According to those standards, Strikeforce will never have a title fight in the LHW division. Might as well disband it now.
I have to ask though, if Soko isn’t getting a title shot because he’s not in the top 10 and had some losses in the past, why is Mayhem getting a title shot? He’s not top 10 (fightmatrix has him at #43) and he’s 1-1-1 in his last 3. Soko is 2-1.
I honestly don’t care if Strikeforce ever has a light heavyweight title. I mean that seriously. However, if they’re going to be something more than a second rate promotion, they’re gonna need fighters that aren’t second rate too. That means getting meaningful fighters from the UFC to leave.
The people who blather about “building properly” are idiots in denial of how MMA promotion actually works and generally can’t even give a solid definition of what it is they think works. You can’t make big time fighters until they win big time fights. If someone beats a bunch of nobodies, they end up being Jon Fitch or Yushin Okami.
It’s a combination of both. You need to build talent within, as well as get the established talent from the UFC. One without the other is failure.
I’m not going to go into the same thing I have said countless times… But Strikeforce dropped the ball on who they are trying to use in order to get their company to the next level.
What is happening right now with Dan Henderson is another example of this. He is not even worth entertaining the thought of for Strikeforce at the amounts they would have to pay him….
It’s a combination of both. You need to build talent within, as well as get the established talent from the UFC. One without the other is failure.
No one’s going to argue that. Henderson then represents a solid option; He’s old, probably going to lose soon, and wants to make his retirement money. If he’s in the UFC, he’s getting a murderers row. If he’s in Strikeforce, he will too. Send him to fight Mousasi, and if he loses? Well, then his value decreases or cut him. Meanwhile, you actually have a guy with a win over someone fans recognize.
Can Strikeforce pay him his retirement fund? That is the question. It feels an awful lot like White is throwing Henderson out there as bait to see if Coker will bite….
UFC 104 is trending towards 475,000 buys. Zach Arnold had his over/under at 325,000. My prediction on the event was: “I think it does at least 400,000. Probably closer to 500,000. There hasn’t been any boxing or MMA PPV for over a month. That will help drive up sales.”
I think I’ve predicted the last two pretty well. That’s unlike me… I’m usually way off the mark. That’s a good buyrate for that show.
45 went into another longwinded tirade without answering my simple question. Big surprise.
Because your question was a garbage one. Just to show you I can answer a question, here it goes… You said:
“How many top 10 lightweights did the UFC have when they decided to bring back the division? Things take time to build and shake out.”
The UFC has BJ Penn. End of story. Penn had already dominated Takanori Gomi. So when he returned to the division (after fighting bigger guys), he went back into the #1 slot in most people’s eyes.
That gave the division instant credibility. Not to mention, the UFC caught a break with the fracturing of the division.
There is no fracturing of the Light Heavyweight Division. The UFC basically owns that division. Unless they make some huge misteps, that division basically belongs to them, making it impossible for another organization to penetrate it. Not to mention there is no BJ Penn of the Light Heavyweight division for SF to sign.
I agree: Zack’s question was stupid.
So they had one guy who was the top guy and he beat everyone. So how did any guy below him gain their top 10 ranking? Also, BJ wasn’t fighting at LW when they brought it back so how does him losing fights at welterweight give their LW division credibility?
Look…. The Light Heavyweight and Lightweight Divisions are two completely different things.
After the collapse of Pride, the Lightweight Division went in 3 directions…. UFC, DREAM, & Sengoku. UFC had Penn (eventually)… DREAM had a lot of solid talent like Aoki, Kawajiri, Alvarez, Hansen, etc… And Sengoku got Gomi. And while Gomi was considered #1, his ranking meant nothing because he got dominated by Diaz and when Penn returned, he was previously dominated by him. Gomi losing to obviously lesser competition made it even worse. So what happens at that point? It leaves an opening for the Top 10. This is where the UFC talent came into the ranks.
I have stated multiple times that any universal rankings are pointless for this division because it is literally impossible to make one that has any sense to it. There is no “standard” in which to compare fighters to.
That is completely different then the LHW Division where no matter how much SF tries to build it up, it will still be compared to the “standard” which is the UFC. There is no fractured division. There is the UFC and then a few spare pieces everywhere else….
So they had one guy who was the top guy and he beat everyone. So how did any guy below him gain their top 10 ranking?
For one, the UFC signed almost mevery prospect imaginable in the US. Then they fought each other while guys in Japan either went inactive, left the division, or lost fights. Strikeforce hasn’t signed every prospect at 205 that’s out there. In fact, they barely have any. Like, 2-3 at most. They don’t have a marquee light heavyweight anywhere on the roster. Hell, the comparison between Penn and Henderson is especially apt. Henderson’s last big win was at 185, and fighting Mousasi would be at 205. Yet, Henderson (who has competed on and off as a serious light heavyweight) would certainly be a top ten guy if he announced he was dedicating himself to that weight class today.
Thank You Scott Coker….
He allowed WAMMA in the building for this fight…. Despite it only being 3 rounds, Fedor/Rogers is for the WAMMA Belt… They even posed with a new belt at the press conference….
Why oh why can’t promoters have a clue?
45 Huddle – “Bring in Jake Shields now. Why sign? Why not keep your options open? Let your Strikeforce contract run out and see who the highest bidder is. The $5,000 is NOT worth what you are losing out on. The UFC Welterweight Division is stacked, but is still slim on legit title contenders.”
Strikeforce/CBS has an even stricter champions clause than UFC. If Shields wins the title tonight he’ll be locked up at Strikeforce for a while. By the time he’s able to fulfil his contract and sign for UFC the UFC will have signed with EA anyways (there’s 0% chsnce UFC will re-sign with THQ when EA are bidding for the license next year at renewal time). So earning the $5000 for the game now is in his best interests.
If Shields really wanted to go to the UFC anytime soon he shouldn’t have taken this title fight. This is the type of decision you make when you don’t have a real manager…
The LW division had been going on a really hit-n-miss year before Penn committed to it. Who was the UFC pushing as their top lightweights in 2006 while BJ Penn was planning on fighting at Welterweight? Sean Sherk and Kenny Florian fought for the title and Jens Pulver was going to return to be their ace with Joe Stevenson as the gatekeeper. None of those names were highly respected with the exception of Pulver, and he got KOed his first fight in to begin his total decline. But you know what happened? A bunch of then-unknown fighters had a bunch of exciting fights and became stars. Then people cared about the division because most of the fights stole shows and BJ Penn coming in was just the icing on the cake since everybody hated the Steroid Shark as champion.
And here’s a shocker for you: building a division that way isn’t just exclusive to the UFC: it is possible for anybody to do it. If you get a group of exciting fighters who have show stealing performances, word of mouth will eventually spread to make them respected in their weight classes and stars will be born. You can say the UFC will just immediately lure them away when their contracts go up, but you cannot say it is impossible.
Another thing about Strikeforce vs. UFC’s LHW divisions is that the UFC’s LHW division has been strong at the expense of their HW division. Most of their LHW’s could fight at HW if they wanted to, but they cutdown to 205 to be more effective. Thus far it looks like Strikeforce with Fedor and Overeem are going to go for more of a smaller HW talent pool than UFC’s current giants era for the most part. PRIDE worked that way too but you never noticed it because they had a hodgepodge of 200-180 weights all under the Middleweight banner until towards the end so you might as well not cut weight at fight at HW there. UFC could have easily split up their LHW division a little and put Liddell and others fighting at 215-220, which is why when Sylvia was champion lots of people jokingly referred to the 205 title as the real heavyweight title.
I didn’t realize Strikeforce had a champion’s clause. Fighters continue to amaze me with the stupid things they do. Champion clauses make sense if you are signing on with the UFC/WEC or K-1/DREAM because they are both established big time promotions. It makes no sense for people who sign on with Strikeforce or Bellator.
And I do hope the UFC game eventually gets moved over to EA. Of course their game could flop in terms of gameplan, but it is unlikely. Better gameplan and the UFC license makes all the sense in the world for both companies.
Mark… Please no Cruiserweight Division. It continued to be the worst idea in MMA. The Heavyweight Division has constantly been ruled by 230 to 235 pound athletes. The big guys are typically more of a liability. Lesnar is the exception to the rule….
The assumption from you guys is that Shields hasn’t been in contact with the UFC at any point. Newsflash: He isn’t worth anything to them.
He has some worth. As Jake Shields, the fighter, he isn’t worth much.
As Jake Shields, the guy who has been taken away from Strikeforce, he does have some value. Add that value to also getting Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, and perhaps 1 or 2 other solid fighters…. And very the sum of those parts do give them some worthy….
He doesn’t “have to be taken away”, particularly if you’ve convinced yourselves that Strikeforce is going to wind up killing themselves. For the UFC, he doesn’t bring anything to the table in terms of drawing power, he can’t sell a PPV, etc. etc. etc. Signing guys like him to big contracts to get them away from Strikeforce brings them the same problem that Dan Henderson does.
They don’t have to hurt their pay structure at all, and they could potentially still sign them on. With Akiyama (and I think other fighters), they can dangle the big paydays in front of their faces. Sign Shields on for slightly less then Fitch. If he gets a title shot, he gets more money in that bout. If he become champion, it bumps up again. Those dollars amounts, Strikeforce would not be able to compete with.
Doesn’t mean all those guys would sign up, but surely some of them would.
Jon Fitch is probably on for 50K guaranteed in his next fight. Shields made that to fight a less dangerous fighter than he’d likely have to be matched with in the UFC in his last EXC bout. He’d likely be making significantly more than that tonight and in the future should he win tonight. If he loses, he’d probably still be making more than he would in the UFC were he to sign tomorrow.
Again: Guaranteed money trumps virtual “potential money” every time unless you’re the kind of moron who quits a full time job to sell stuff in multi-level marketing.