There are multiple moving parts behind a successful co-promoted
event involving two large MMA promotions.
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Perhaps the most important aspect of such a venture is a solid
relationship between the people at the top of said promotions. Such
is the case for the upcoming Rizin
40 card, which features five bouts pitting athletes from the
Japanese organization against five fighters from Bellator MMA on
the main draw. It wouldn’t have happened without the bond that
Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara forged with Bellator president Scott
Coker many years ago.
“We’ve both been in the business for a long time and seen the ups
and downs. The healthy competition we have is why. We’re doing this
because of Scott Coker, and more because of Scott than because of
Bellator. That’s one reason,” Sakakibara said during a recent media
call.
The feeling was mutual, according to Coker.
“This is a relationship that started in 2004, 2005. It’s been many
years of working together,” Coker said. “It’s been a friendship and
a relationship that has led to these fights taking place. It’s not
always easy; there have been bumps along the way to get to this.
I’m extremely happy about what we’ve been able to do with this
event. We’re ready to go.”
For Sakakibara and Rizin, it’s also an opportunity to prove that a
Japanese organization can compete against one of the top MMA
promotions in the world.
“The modern-day industry is from North America; it’s the place for
martial arts right now, and Bellator is one of them,” he said. “As
a promotion from Japan, it’s very exciting for us to take on and
challenge one of the major leagues. For us, it’s very important to
challenge the major league, to challenge North America, to
challenge the global market: that’s what the Japanese fans want to
see.”
Coker initially wasn’t sure which fighters from the Bellator roster
would be suitable for such an event, but Sakakibara’s competitive
spirit helped with that decision.
“When we first started talking about this event, I really was
thinking OK maybe we could send a couple of our top guys, a couple
of our B-level guys, a couple of our C-level guys, and bring a very
mixed team,” Coker said. “Sakakibara was the one who said, ‘No,
bring all your best guys, we want to fight all your top fighters’
and I was surprised.”
The Bellator lineup includes two of its biggest names at the top of
the card —A.J. McKee and
Patricio
Freire — as they take on the Rizin lightweight champ Roberto
Satoshi de Souza and featherweight king Kleber
Koike Erbst, respectively.
“When we first saw Bellator’s lineup, we truly felt how serious
Scott was with this co-promoting event,” Sakakibara said. “Like he
said, he brought the best. He was sincere with our request. When we
saw the lineup, we were excited, but we also knew we needed our
fighters to fully commit to taking the fight. We needed to respond
by giving our best. We’re very excited, but we’re very nervous at
the same time.”
There’s a certain amount of risk involved for sides when it comes
to having a promotion’s best fighters compete against those from
another organization. That’s part of the appeal, according to
Coker, but it only works with a solid foundation in place.
“Working with other promoters there has to be a certain amount of
trust and what are they bringing to the table,” he said. “I think
really the question is what is the relationship going to look like
moving forward and what fighters are they going to want to fight.
You are putting your fighters in harm’s way, you’re putting your
brand in harm’s way and that’s OK because that should be the
martial arts way.”