Scott Coker Open to Bringing Logan Paul to Bellator for MMA Fights
Bellator president Scott Coker would be interested in bringing YouTuber and Boxer Logan Paul to Bellator if he wanted to prove himself against MMA fighters in his promotions.
Coker was in attendance for Paul’s eight-round fight with Hall of Fame boxer Floyd Mayweather on Sunday night and came away impressed by Paul’s prowess in the ring. Paul, a former high school wrestler in Ohio, could be a unique addition to Bellator if both sides wanted to make the move.
“I think this kid has shown athletic ability to go in there with Floyd but also we know he’s a high school all-star wrestler from Ohio and I think they’re just getting better and better at combat sports,” Coker told MMA Fighting when asked about the Paul brothers. “If he wanted to get into MMA, we would do it.”
“As far as combat sports, I think Logan just upped his value. Was it a great fight? No, it was a lot of dirty boxing going on in that fight but let’s face it, Floyd usually goes and closes the gap and takes care of business and he didn’t do it this time.”
Paul echoed Coker’s sentiment during his post-fight press conference after going eight rounds with Mayweather and expressed a profound interest in possibly making a run in MMA at some point in the future.
“Yeah I’d do MMA for sure,” Paul said after the fight. “Because I am a good grappler. I’m a wrestler at heart and I think it’d be silly of me to not use it in boxing, to the best of my ability.”
In comparison, UFC president Dana White has all but dismissed the notion that he would ever bring the Paul brothers to his promotion, but Coker seems extremely interested in making the move happen. Bellator has already had an extremely successful first half of the year of fights, which included Sergio Pettis earning the bantamweight title and women’s featherweight titleholder Cris Cyborg dominating Leslie Smith in her first defense of the year.
The Paul brothers’ stock has skyrocketed this year after Jake Paul defeated former UFC welterweight Ben Askren back in April and Logan just went eight rounds with one of the greatest boxers of all time. It’ll be interesting to see if Coker brings on the 24-year-old Logan at some point in the near future.
Do you think Logan Paul could compete against some of the best fighters that Bellator has to offer?
