{"id":363746,"date":"2020-10-07T12:17:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T19:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=363746"},"modified":"2020-10-07T12:56:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T19:56:03","slug":"scott-coker-reacts-to-michael-chandler-signing-with-the-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/scott-coker-reacts-to-michael-chandler-signing-with-the-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Coker reacts to Michael Chandler signing with the UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bellator President Scott Coker has shared his first reaction to Michael Chandler, the promotion’s former lightweight champion, signing with the UFC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chandler is arguably the biggest star in Bellator history. Last month, however, the former champ parted ways with the promotion, and signed on the dotted line with the UFC.<\/p>\n

Speaking with\u00a0MMAJunkie<\/a> recently, Coker discussed Chandler’s migration to the UFC. The Bellator boss claims that he likely could have matched the UFC’s offer, but allowed Chandler to move on and embark on a new chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally really think he\u2019s an amazing human being and a great family man,\u201d Coker said. \u201cHe\u2019s got great values and is a real martial artist. He exemplifies everything I love seeing in an athlete and saw when he represented our brand. \u2026 It was, \u2018OK, we\u2019re going to rebuild this 155-pound division. He has some great opportunities. Let\u2019s let him go.\u2019 At the end of the day, we could have matched it, to be honest. But I just felt like his destiny lies elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Coker actually believes Chandler will end up back with Bellator before all is said and done. He’s also open to putting the former lightweight champion in the Bellator Hall of Fame\u2014though it doesn’t yet exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael has been the face of Bellator for the past 10 years, or his whole career, pretty much,\u201d Coker said. \u201cHe\u2019s had some of the most amazing battles in the history of Bellator.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael and I talked about this. We said one day he\u2019ll come back, and we\u2019ll hang your poster up on the rafters, and maybe you\u2019ll be the first person inducted into the Bellator Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Chandler now calls a Bellator competitor home, Coker says he’ll continue to support the fighter in the next phase of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a guy I\u2019m always going to support,\u201d Coker said. \u201cI\u2019m going to watch all of his fights. And what does it say about the quality of fighters in Bellator when a guy like Michael Chandler leaves and gets put right into the immediate title shot conversation? Right? It shows you how great these fighters are over here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bellator President Scott Coker has shared his first reaction to Michael Chandler, the promotion’s former lightweight champion, signing with the UFC. Chandler is arguably the biggest star in Bellator history. Last month, however, the former champ parted ways with the promotion, and signed on the dotted line with the UFC. Speaking with\u00a0MMAJunkie recently, Coker discussed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":361857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44,10485,10122,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nScott Coker reacts to Michael Chandler signing with the UFC | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bellator President Scott Coker has shared his reaction to Michael Chandler, the promotion's former lightweight champion, signing with the UFC.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/scott-coker-reacts-to-michael-chandler-signing-with-the-ufc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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