Following Bellator 273, Scott Coker Says Cheick Kongo Was Always Next for Heavyweight Shot

Phoenix, AZ — Despite Fedor Emelianenko expressing interest in a rematch with Ryan Bader, Cheick Kongo was always next in line for the heavyweight title.

That’s according to Bellator President Scott Coker, who revealed following Bellator 273 in Phoenix that the Kongo fight had been in the works for some time.

“This is a fight that we’ve been putting together for a while. They fought in San Jose a couple of years ago, I think it was an eye poke, or it was something that was, I think it was not a clear decision or winner.”

The fight did, in fact, end in a no contest due to an accidental eye poke. The thought process afterwards, Coker told media outlets including Cageside Press, was to run it back, which the promotion has been trying to do for some time. Finally, a date opened up. “We had a date in Paris that we wanted to go in May, it’s the week before the fight in London with MVP vs. Amosov, so we put the fight together. We said whoever wins, [Valentin] Moldavsky or Bader, will fight Cheick Kongo.”

Coker did confirm that Fedor had asked for Bader should he defeat Moldavsky, which is exactly what transpired Saturday night. Despite Bader vs. Kongo 2 being set, the Bellator chief is open to seeing what happens in Paris, but noted that “May to July is not a lot of time.” July is the anticipated landing spot for Fedor’s retirement fight; the turnaround would be quick, but not impossible. “This is a very crazy business, you know things change rapidly, it’s a very fluid business, so let’s see what happens.”

As for Saturday’s title fight, and the co-main event between Benson Henderson and Islam Mamedov, Coker sided with the judges in both instances.

“I think Ryan did what he had to do [against Valentin Moldavsky], I thought he won the fight as well,” said Coker. “I thought it was close. For a minute there, I thought he was going to knock him out in the first round to be honest.”

As for Henderson, “I’m so happy for Benson, because there’s been so many close decisions where it didn’t work out for him, that he finally got the decision. So I’m really happy for Benson.”

Watch the full Bellator 273 post-fight press conference with Scott Coker above. More coverage from the event can be found below.