Bellator President Scott Coker was in the middle of a brief shoving match between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen earlier today (June 22).
Silva and Sonnen will finally clash this Saturday night (June 24) inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. The two have had animosity for years and even brawled on an episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3.”
During the final Bellator NYC press conference, Silva and Sonnen faced off and things got physical. Coker talked about being in the middle of it all (via MMAJunkie.com):
“I wanted to get right in the middle of that because I didn’t want anything bad to happen. When Chael had that water bottle, I was like, ‘Oh, I know where this is going.’ We don’t need any headaches like that. Let’s let the fight happen on Saturday.”
Coker went on to say that things didn’t get too physical to the point where danger was present.
“One shove – that’s OK. But if it got any worse – I don’t want the fight to happen here at the press conference when they could get hurt. Then what? The fight’s off? I always tell the guys, I whisper in their ear, ‘Hey guys, no one gets paid tonight. Everyone gets paid on Saturday night. So keep that in mind when you’re doing your thing.’”
