Bellator's Rich Chou: MMA 'needs something different

[Edge Guerrero]

and that’s what Scott Coker is’

By Steven Marrocco September 23, 2015 11:15 am

Bellator matchmaker Rich Chou thinks MMA needs to be shaken up, and Scott Coker is the guy to do it.

“I feel like the sport has stalled a little bit, and just overall, I don’t think we’re seeing the growth that we all anticipated,” Chou recently told MMAjunkie. “I feel like this sport needs something different, and that’s what Scott is.”

A 10-year veteran of the MMA industry, Chou, who got his start working for B.J. Penn’s now-defunct Rumble on the Rock promotion, has had a front seat for MMA’s boom and worked for several shows that made a big splash before imploding, most notably EliteXC and Strikeforce.

Chou was surfing after the death of EliteXC and working at an apparel company when Coker called about Bellator.

“‘Just hear me out,'” Chou remembers of Coker’s introduction. “‘You’re really not going to believe this, but I’m going to take over Bellator.'”

Fifteen months after Coker took the helm of the Viacom-owned promotion, their work is far from over. As a TV product, Bellator has experienced new peaks only to sink back to the levels seen under the previous regime.

But in a market now overwhelmingly weighted toward the UFC’s product, Chou believes that Bellator’s new strategy of big and bold events – however much their headliners flirt with sideshow attractions – will revitalize the sport.

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