Bellator Has ‘Contingency Plan’ If Sonnen-Silva Falls Through

Bellator has made great progress over the last few years under the leadership of Scott Coker, who has made tremendous improvements to the promotion. Now, Bellator is gearing up for its biggest show to date, as Bellator: NYC is set to take place live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the world famous Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The show is set to be headlined by a grudge match years in the making between veterans Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. The two have been scheduled to meet multiple times before, but the bout has never come to fruition, and some are questioning whether or not it’ll happen on June 24 after Silva missed two pre-fight press conferences in recent weeks.

Speaking on the topic, Coker admitted that Bellator has a ‘contingency plan’ in place if something goes wrong, although he fully expects the fight to happen:

“We have a contingency plan, but I’m really just focused on this fight,” Coker told MMAjunkie. “I know it’s going to happen. We talked to Chael in the last couple days. We talked to Wanderlei. He’s ready to come over. This Sunday he’ll be flying to New York, he’ll show up in New York, and they’re going to get it on.”

Silva has claimed that he missed the press conferences because he simply didn’t know if he was going to be able to control himself around Sonnen, as the two have a history of bad blood between them. Coker is well aware of this, and he said that Bellator has brought in extra security to be present when the two rivals come face to face:

“We are going to have security everywhere when those two guys are together,” Coker said. “There is a genuine dislike, and it goes back to three years ago when Wanderlei felt disrespected. He attacked Chael, and they had a big skirmish. It wasn’t just for the cameras. This is something that’s really personal to both of them. … It’s going to be electric when that cage door shuts.”

Do you expect the fight to take place, and if so, how do you see it playing out?