In Capable Hands

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Scott Coker did not know the improbability he was about to confront. The future creator of Strikeforce was bouncing around that day, a perpetual smile glued to his face. There was almost a glib glide by the way he walked that morning as he entered the revered Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996. The spring in Coker’s step suggested, “I have this,” or so he thought. The innovative young promoter was taking a major risk bringing ESPN’s martial arts commitment to Thailand.

He sold ESPN executives on mixed martial arts when the sport was still in its neophyte stage. Mostly, he sold the sports cable giant on Scott Coker.

Coker’s gamble marked the first time a United States production crew televised martial arts from the esteemed Lumpinee arena. There was a hefty six-figure sum attached to the promotion; and Coker did nearly everything for it, from lining up the advertisers and securing the fighters to selling tickets and locking up the prestigious Lumpinee -- the Yankee Stadium of Thailand’s martial arts community. Anytime a major fight promotion takes place, whether on ESPN, HBO, Showtime or NBC, it is usually accompanied by a small fleet of tractor trailers and satellite dishes, along with a crew of around 30 technicians and cameramen.

Coker and his production team showed up the morning before the fight was going to be bounced back across the world to the budding American MMA fanbase. Only there was one glaring problem.

“We get to the stadium and they tell us the truck is out back, so we go through the dock area and sitting there was literally a Volkswagen van from the 1960s -- no trailers, no anything,” Coker told Sherdog.com. “My ESPN producer is freaking out. I’m thinking this is it, my ESPN contract is gone, my name is forever ruined. The color feed wasn’t calibrated. The hundreds of thousands we invested in the promotion was shot. It wasn’t even a truck; it was a freakin’ Volkswagen van. I’m dead; we wasted all this money.”

However, Coker did what Coker has always had a knack of doing -- he made it work. Patience prevailed, after Coker took a few deep breaths and exhaled. Then he began to delegate. Coker sought out his producer and together they brainstormed on the bare essentials needed to get the job done. Overnight, Coker and his team managed to squeeze piles of equipment into the tiny truck. They somehow crammed six technicians into the van in sweltering heat that exceeded the century mark.

The feed reached the United States. Coker kept his job. If that had not happened, who knows where the current Bellator MMA President would be today. The now 52-year-old Coker has blossomed into one of the most respected, innovative MMA promoters in the world.

Coker on Friday will sit proudly at ringside for Bellator 132, which features a featherweight title fight between champion Patricio Freire and challenger Daniel Straus on Spike TV, from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif. In the process of building another fine promotion machine with Bellator, as he did with K-1 and Strikeforce, Coker may even lean back and laugh at those times when catastrophe seemed an inch away. He has not forgotten those roots that enabled him to reach this point. He has not bypassed the memories of those possible pratfalls and near disasters. Without them, he would not be who he is -- or where he is.

“That show in Thailand really comes to mind when I think back, because it could have been a disaster on so many different levels, and we found a way to make it work. If that didn’t happen, yes, who knows where I would be,” Coker said. “It was a magic moment, because the pressure was on and we delivered. My producer then, who I call Jerry Maguire because he was able to fix anything and I’m indebted to him, wound up putting on a great show. I see shows from all the ones I have on my computer, and that one show stands out, because it was the first U.S. production from Thailand’s Lumpinee. It’s something that I’m proud of.

“I think that attitude goes back to an appreciation of mixed martial arts,” he added. “MMA is something that I truly love and I see it as a life-long journey. I feel that my drive is based on giving back to martial arts and really trying to get people to understand what it is and make a contribution, because it’s meant so much and done so much for me and my family. That’s really my personal mission statement, and it’s why I want to continue in the martial arts world.”

From where does the passion for MMA stem?

Coker’s father was a member of the 8th Army that fought during the Korean War, and he met and married his mother during the conflict. The middle son of three boys, Coker was initially raised in Seoul, South Korea, before the family moved to the United States in the early 1970s, spending the first two years in San Francisco before the family relocated to San Jose, Calif. There, Coker encountered something new. He was 11, sitting in class, when a girl motioned to him and pulled at the corner of her eyes.

“Kids can be very brutal; it was nothing over the top that I experienced, but when I was young, I probably got into three or four fights,” Coker said. “I will say this, when I got here in the U.S., it’s the first time I dealt with racism at a young age. Again, it was nothing over the top, but some things you don’t forget. I remember the first time I was in school and this girl was doing the slanted eyes to me and laughing. I turned around, because I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I realized, this was aimed at me, and I was 11. It was stuff like that made me realize things would be different in the United States than when I lived in Korea.

“I understand the Asian culture and I understand the American culture, and that’s made me a better fight promoter,” he added. “When you put that all together, the Eastern culture, Western culture and martial arts, it helped me assimilate to everything. If I didn’t understand both roads, there’s no way I would have succeeded.”

The one place where Coker felt welcome and comfortable was in martial arts school. He gravitated towards it, and it led him to the legendary Ernie Reyes Sr. at the West Coast World Martial Arts Association.

“I’ve had the pleasure to know Scott for around 40 years, and he was around 12 when we first met,” Reyes said. “Scott was one of my first black belts. He had an ability to adapt to any style of martial arts. Back in the day, he was a high flyer who mastered all of the kicks. Scott has been a part of the evolution of how the disciplines have developed. Around 1983, Scott began getting involved in the Professional Karate Association. Scott took that to a whole other level, and what he has done since is remarkable; but back when Scott was really young ... he was around 16 then, and martial arts wasn’t very mainstream.

“We were doing a martial arts demo at the Oakland Arena,” he added. “It fits around 17,000, and that night it was about a quarter full. It’s when Scott came up to me and said, ‘One of these days, we’re going to promote a martial arts event and sell it out.’ I was said to myself, ‘OK, keep your dreams alive kid.’ But dreams do come true and eventually the student can become the teacher, and Scott has taught me so much. What’s really great about Scott is that he hasn’t forgotten his roots and where he came from. Today, Scott is known internationally as an MMA promoter, but he truly holds martial arts in his heart and his spirit.”

Finish Reading » 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.