Scott Coker named Bellator MMA President

[keithlewis]

Former Strikeforce head Scott Coker named Bellator MMA President


Veteran combat sports promoter Scott Coker has been named President, Bellator MMA, effective immediately. The announcement was made today by Kevin Kay, Spike TV President, to whom he will report. In his new position, Coker, will oversee the day-to-day management of the emerging mixed martial arts franchise. Coker was Founder and former CEO of Strikeforce, which began in 1985 as a kickboxing league and developed into an MMA league in 2006.

“We are excited to have Scott Coker lead us in a new direction as we evolve the league format from a tournament-based organization to a more traditional model with big fights,” said Kay

Coker will be introduced on a conference call on Wednesday, June 18 at 6pm ET/3pm PT

Spike TV was first network in North America to broadcast regularly-scheduled MMA events in 2005. Bellator MMA launched on Spike TV in January 2013 and has averaged 781,000 viewers per event over the last 18 months, peaking with 1.2 million for Chandler-Alvarez II in November 2013. Bellator held its first pay-per-view event this past May.

Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks. A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.