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Scott Coker is anticipating several policy changes to be made within Bellator, as per the promotion's legal team, to maintain the sanctity of the sport in the wake of the James Krause betting scandal.
The UFC recently banned Krause from attending any events due to his alleged involvement with insider betting. Following the conclusion of last night's Bellator 289 event, Coker appeared in front of the media.
He was asked to share his thoughts on the UFC's decision to ban Krause, and whether Bellator would follow suit. Coker condemned all forms of fight-fixing, and said the following:
"That, to me, is totally unacceptable. Everybody has to put their foot down, and I do know that the legal department is taking a look at what's going on right now. And they'll come out with what they feel are some changes we might have to make."
When asked if he would allow Krause to corner a fighter at a Bellator event, Scott Coker said:
"That's something you'd have to ask Mike Mazzulli. Is he gonna allow the guy to get a license, because every cornerman, fighter, referee, every judge, any official in this building has to be licensed by the state. So if the state license him, then I'd have to talk to the legal team internally."
Catch Scott Coker's comments (8:00) below:
Various sportsbooks were alerted to suspicious betting patterns at UFC Fight Night 214 regarding Darrick Minner vs. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke.
The Chinese national was a -220 favorite for the majority of fight week, but jumped to a -420 favorite in the hours leading up to their fight. Numerous large bets were placed on Nuerdanbieke to win via first-round TKO shortly before the fight.
Minner hurt his knee early in the round and was TKO'd shortly after. James Krause was in the corner of Minner that night, and has since had his license suspended and banned from several MMA promotions.
Scott Coker on the close decision victory in Bellator 289 main event
The main event of Bellator 289 featured a bantamweight title-fight between Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello. The fight went all five rounds, with Stots winning the interim title via a split-decision.
Following the conclusion of the event, Scott Coker appeared in front of the media, and shared his thoughts on the fight:
"I would not want to be a judge on tonight's fight. It was close going into the last round. It's tough being a judge, the 50-45, I don't know where that came from."
Stots dominated the standing-portion of the fight, landing almost double his opponent's strikes. But Sabatello illustrated superior grappling, with over 10 minutes of ground-control time in total.
See the statistics below:
