Bellator MMA President Scott Coker has addressed the decision to book Michael Page vs. Paul Daley but not in England.
This has been a fight that many fans have dreamed about seeing for some time now and they’re getting it. However, it won’t take place in a country that many thought it would as both fighters are from there.
They will meet in a quarterfinal bout for the ongoing Bellator welterweight grand prix tournament at Bellator 216 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on February 16 that will air on DAZN.
This fight would’ve made perfect sense to take place in England but in a recent interview, the Bellator boss explained what happened to book the fight in the United States.
“We did try (to make it in England),” Coker told MMAjunkie. “The issue really was that the broadcast partner wanted to have it here (in the U.S.). But we went and talked to them. And James Rushton, the CEO of DAZN, we sat down with him and said, ‘We really feel like this fight should be here in London.’ We were in London at the time and he said, ‘OK, can do it here.’ There was no venues available at that time.”
“We said, ‘If we’re not going to do it in London, we’re going to do it in America where they really want it anyway,” Coker said. “But James Rushton did say, ‘You guys could do it here if you could find the venue. He gave us the green light, we looked, we tried, we tried to challenge dates and this and that and there was just nothing available. We had to do it in this timeframe, the month of February, there’s only the 02 Arena in SSE Wembley and that’s pretty much it. There’s just no dates available so we ended up doing it at the Mohegan Sun, 16th of February.”
