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In the film "Talledega Nights" there is a classic line which goes "if you ain't first.... you're last". That's not always the case though.
While Dana White and the UFC continue to rush to be the 1st professional sport back from the coronavirus shutdown; the rest of the sports world took a sit back wait and watch approach. Scott Coker and his Bellator team called off the March 13th Bellator 241 card at Mohegan Sun just hours before it was to all go down.
It was a very important card for the organization for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost it was going to close out the 1st round of the featherweight grand prix. There were 3 other divisional fights that were the 1st steps in future match ups. On Monday that week, Bellator had their summer blast press conference in New York City. With the subsequent shut downs, and the fear that all flights would soon be grounded they too had to close shop. Backlogging their schedule as other organizations now face.
Man for man across all combat sports people look at Scott as a more in control, caring, responsible person than Dana. They look at him as the fly by the seat of your pants, quick to act, hot head (at times). Bellator's home base is San Diego. California still has a strict guideline in place thanks to Governor Newsom. But there are some States ready to loosen the reigns. One of which is Florida, where the WWE is based and from all unofficial accounts, Florida will be the temporary home to the UFC as well. Before they head to Dana's "fight island, fantasy island, gilligan's island", whatever you want to call it.
It's now extremely possible that Bellator joins them in the Southeast. Scott, Rich Cho, and their team have put together multiple plans depending when they get the go-ahead. They're ready to go June, July, and August. Scott also said that if the UFC wants to go to a fight island, they can go. He'll just wait till the coast is clear. Once again showing one of the greatest qualities known to man; patience. He also feels they may possibly wind up doing some fights on their partners CBS/PARAMOUNT's sound stages and back lots.
Some MMA fans look at Bellator as second tier. However the way they treat fighters, members of the media, anthe public shows that they are the definition of first class.
