Scott Coker Expects Sell Out For Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers

Posted by Larry Csonka on 11.03.2009

See what he has to say…



Strikeforce President Scott Coker took part in a conference call today, and discussed Saturday's Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers event. Here are the highlights…

On Their Chances Of Success: "When you have an opportunity to do a co-promotion with M-1 and sign the No. 1 heavyweight in the world, we sat down and we talked about it, and I think it works for everybody," Coker said. "Believe me, it's something that if you compare us to the other companies that have gone out of business, I really don't think it's justice. The other companies, that wasn't their core business. We're not a T-shirt company; we're not a gambling company. This is our core competency, and this is what we've done for many years – over two decades now. To take it to this level, we're very proud and honored to have Fedor fight and do the co-promotion with M-1 and be on CBS."

Will They Sell Out?: "I think the building holds 12,000," Coker said. "We're about 85 percent there now. I'm expecting we'll be fully sold out by Saturday."

On The CBS Relationship: "It definitely helps with CBS helping us out," Coker said. "I've seen a lot of spots on their college football, on the SEC, and on the pro sports. I saw some spots on 'Survivor,' and that's getting to a whole other audience that aren't traditionally MMA fans and that MMA marketing doesn't get to. So we're very thankful for that."

On Working With M-1: "[M-1 Global's] roles and responsibilities – because they're so far away – were to bring Fedor," Coker said. "We have a good team, and we're very good at what we do. We said, 'Lets let us be the promotional vehicle and let us run with it. Let us do what we do, and for this first fight, just bring Fedor and co-ordinate all the promotions and all the activities for Fedor.' ... The day-to-day operations, the nuts and bolts of the fight itself for the live event, was pretty much coordinated through our company. They were responsible for doing all of the international (marketing), which I think they have some very good news. I know this is airing on the national network in Russia, and it's also going to be on Bravo in the U.K. They have a distribution deal in Korea and Japan and over 40 countries in the world."

Credit: MMAJunkie.com