Scott Coker says Bellator plans to sit down with Luke Rockhold to see ‘if there’s a fit’
Scott Coker plans to meet with Luke Rockhold to see about the possibility of the former Strikeforce and UFC champion signing with Bellator.
Rockhold recently announced he was granted his UFC release and was open about signing with Bellator, PFL, ONE Championship, or doing boxing.
“Your man’s a free agent,” Rockhold said. “Free and clear, and I’m ready and re-inspired to go out there and do something new… I need a new setting. I need a new challenge. … You get burned out in the game when you’ve done so much, and you need new obstacles.”
However, there hasn’t been much news since then but ahead of Bellator 290, Coker revealed the promotion plans to sit down with Rockhold and his team to discuss the possibility of the two reuniting.
“We’ve talked to Dave Martin and I think he’s going to come to the fight. We’ll probably have a conversation or two,” Coker said to MMAJunkie. “We just haven’t sat down and had a real conversation yet. We’ve been busy with this event, but we will at some point, to see if there’s something that could work or if there’s a fit.”
Of course, Rockhold fought in Strikeforce from 2008 to 2012 and Coker was the president of the promotion so the two have a relationship. But, as of right now, it’s uncertain if Bellator and Rockhold will be able to finalize a deal to bring in Rockhold to Bellator.
Luke Rockhold (16-6) is on a three-fight losing skid and last time out, dropped a decision to Paulo Costa at UFC 278 in August in his return to the UFC. Prior to that, Rockhold was knocked out by Jan Blachowicz in July of 2019 in his light heavyweight debut after being knocked out by Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight champion. Rockhold’s last win came in 2017 with a TKO victory over David Branch. In his career, he holds notable wins over Jacare Souza, Michael Bisping, Tim Kennedy, Chris Weidman, and Lyoto Machida among others.
