In Capable Hands

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Coker is also a risk taker. When he was 20, he got wind from a student with whom he was working about the Professional Karate Association coming to San Jose and how ESPN was looking for a local promoter to put together the show. ESPN in the early 1980s was not the sports monolith it is currently. Content was filled with Australian Rules football and mid-level college football reruns and sprinkled with some pro wrestling and PKA. It offered opportunities to young, creative go-getters. A sophomore at West Valley Junior College in Saratoga, Calif., Coker bit at the chance.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Coker said with a laugh. “I didn’t know the first thing about being a promoter. We had 2,300 people there, and I think I made about $8,000. I’m 20 and just made $8,000. You think I was going to give that up?”

Coker wound up running four promotions a year for PKA, though by the late 1980s, the organization lost its contract with ESPN. In 1992, Coker received a return call from ESPN, telling him it was going to launch a new network, ESPN2. It was going to be filled with combat sports content, because it received good ratings. From 1992 to 2001, Coker ran 26 shows a year on ESPN2 around the world, and he caught the attention of kickboxing giant K-1. Founded in Japan and looking for someone through which to get a foothold in the United States, K-1 sought out Coker based on the success of his ESPN and local shows.

“We had some popular stars who were doing well when K-1 started coming after me, but I said no at first before I decided I could do both, doing shows for K-1 in Vegas and promoting kickboxing for ESPN,” Coker said. “At that time, when I was going through that promotional escapade, I opened a martial arts school at night. All the segments through my promotional career, I look at the early years as getting my high school diploma. With PKA, that was like getting a two-year college degree. The work with K-1 was like getting a four-year degree. When I began Strikeforce, that was like getting a Master’s degree. This stage with Bellator is like getting a PhD. If I didn’t have the PKA karate back in the 1980s, if I didn’t work with international fighters in K-1 and create Strikeforce, if I didn’t learn the stadium and casino business, if all those pieces didn’t come together, I wouldn’t be in this position doing what I’m doing today.”

Coker admits he did not know what he was getting into when he took over Bellator on June 18, 2014, replacing founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. He had to find out more about the ownership group and what resources he would have at his disposal. The further Coker delved into Bellator, with its network connection to Spike TV and the commitment from Viacom ownership to open the coffers and attract better talent, the more comfortable he became with accepting the reins. In 2015, Coker plans on creating championships and on growing the younger portion of the Bellator roster. He may be looking at some of the free agents to build Bellator to a point where, in two years, it can rival the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the best roster in MMA.

“We’ve already made some great strides,” Coker said. “I think I’ve learned a great deal, and that goes back to my early days and PKA. We weren’t getting any TV money at first, and then we made our own TV deal. In the 1990s, I learned more about TV networks and ESPN2, and it taught me what networks were looking for. K-1 really got me to the point where I could call any major fighter in the world on the phone. Strikeforce was another life, because it was a different product than K-1. When I let Strikeforce go [in a sale to the UFC], that was very difficult for me. That taught me when you have partners that are financially vested in you, you have to make concessions. The UFC was very professional and did everything they had to, but if I didn’t have a partner that wanted to sell Strikeforce to the UFC, I’d probably still have the name today. That was at a point where you get divorced -- and again, that taught me a lot. It’s going to help me run Bellator and make it what it should be.

“I really believe in times of desperation and despair, I always felt through martial arts teaching that perseverance would win in the end and we’d always be OK,” he added. “Maybe not in the early days, back in the 1980s, when I was probably yelling and screaming my head off when I didn’t know what I was doing, but once I learned what I doing, I always felt like we’re going to be fine; we’re going to be OK. It’s a lifelong journey and it’s always been my duty to give back. With Spike TV and Viacom backing us, we can build Bellator to become a power.”

From a distance, Reyes beams when he watches his once-young pupil.

“Scott will be successful in anything he does,” he said. “I say I learn from him. He’s my teacher. The things he’s showing me is beyond what I thought I taught him. The things I once said to him he’s taken to the next level and [he is] living it.”