Bellator returns to action tonight with Bellator 242 and according to Bellator president Scott Coker, the fighters competing at the event, which takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena, are ready to get back to action.
“The fighters are ready to go,” Coker said during a fight day phone interview. “They’re pumped, they haven’t fought in a long time and they’re ready to get back to work. So, (their excitement level) is it a pretty, pretty high level.”
It’s taken the promotion a fair amount of time to return to live events, but Coker said the absence of Bellator fight cards hasn’t been as long as it seems.
“I don’t feel that the getting back to action really was that long,” Coker said. “I think the first three months of this, let’s say March, April, May and going into June, I really feel like it was an unknown. We were just kind of hunkered down with family.”
“As soon as I landed from the last Mohegan Sun show that we cancelled (Bellator 241, which was scheduled for March 13), because of the (COVID-19) pandemic, I flew home (to California) to a shelter in place order. And so we kind of hunkered down for the first 60 to 90 days, and basically didn’t have a lot of movement. Nothing was open. It was a very unique time, I’ve never experienced anything like that and I don’t think anybody else has either.”
Once Coker realized that things would not open up anytime soon, the promotion got to work on planning what its events would look like in a world where COVID-19 would continue to be a concern.
Those protocols, which MMA Junkie detailed in the lead up to fight week, include COVID-19 testing upon arrival, limited staffing, quarantining, daily temperature checks, disinfecting, sanitizing, individual locker rooms and the establishment of what Bellator is calling the “Fightsphere.”
“It’s been quite a process, but I think we did it the right way,” Coker said. “I think that (the safety protocols) really make the fighters, the staff, the production crew, everybody feel comfortable and the parent company obviously had to feel comfortable…and here we are.”
One thing that made Coker comfortable with the amount of thought and work that went into the safety process for tonight’s fight card is that it wasn’t just a Coker or Bellator decision, ViacomCBS also had a hand in crafting the COVID-19 safety plan for the upcoming events.
“You have a bunch of smart people, a bunch of doctors, a bunch of people that are creating all the approvals for all the Viacom productions that are going to relaunch. So, they’re taking a look at what we’re doing, or submitting,” said Coker. “Honestly, it’s (the safety document) probably as thick as the SpaceX re-entry back into orbit (document), it’s a document that’s probably two inches thick. We’ve had many calls back and forth with the task force until they felt comfortable and gave us the green light to go.”
While Coker is very comfortable with the plan that is in place for tonight’s Bellator 242 event, that doesn’t mean the promotion won’t look at how things go during the event and make any needed adjustments before Bellator 243 takes place on August 7 at Mohegan Sun. That card will feature a rematch between Michael Chandler and Benson Henderson in the main event.
With tonight’s fights about to happen, Coker feels confident Bellator 242 will go off without a hitch.
“There’s no apprehension,” said Coker. “I’m excited. This has been a two-and-a-half month process to get to this point. We’ve gone through all the testing and all the protocols and everything’s in place. Now, it’s just time for the fighters to fight and I think you’ll see the fighters really shine tonight because they’ve been feeling kind of pent up. They haven’t been able to practice their craft for the last five months or six months. If you talk to the fighters, they’re ready to go and so are we. I think everybody from inside the company from our matchmaker, Rich (Chou) and our staff and production, everybody’s really excited.”
Bellator 242 takes place tonight at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. The main event features Ricky Bandejas vs. Sergio Pettis. The main card airs on Paramount and DAZN following prelims on YouTube and DAZN.
I am a freelance writer who has covered a wide variety of topics over the years. I’ve written about crime, technology, fitness, and entertainment for a variety of
I am a freelance writer who has covered a wide variety of topics over the years. I’ve written about crime, technology, fitness, and entertainment for a variety of outlets. These days I mostly focus on MMA as a contributor to MMAjunkie and now Forbes. I make my home in Baltimore, MD.