Scott Coker Would 'Love' to Co-Promote Gilbert Melendez vs. Eddie Alvarez

Last month, Bjorn Rebney essentially called out Scott Coker on a FOX Sports Net Bellator broadcast for not returning his call about putting together a co-promotional bout between Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez.

But on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, Coker said he and Rebney have since had preliminary talks about making the champion vs. champion fight.

"We actually talked, probably about a week ago, and we had a nice conversation. It's the first time I've ever spoken to him. [Rebney] seems like a good guy, and I wish him luck in what he's doing," Coker said.

"I said, 'Look, the situation with Gilbert is he broke his hand in his last fight, so he's out right now. He's going to be out, probably until the fall. So this is something we can readdress. We are open to fighting other fighters in other leagues."

Not only is Melendez recovering from a broken hand, he and his girlfriend are also expecting a child later this year, and "El Nino" has already stated that he is only interested in fighting towards the end of the calendar year.


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That shouldn't necessarily be a problem, as Alvarez has an obligation to fight Season 2 lightweight winner Pat Curran later this year, as well.

Coker is no stranger to co-promotions, as Strikeforce has recently worked with EliteXC, DREAM and M-1 Global.

"Doing co-promotions and fighting other fighters from other leagues is never going to be an issue. It just a matter of how do we do it? What's the deal?," he said.

"We'll sit down and give it a shot. I would love to see that fight between Eddie and Gilbert."

The biggest road block could be Bellator's television deal with FOX Sports Net. When Strikeforce worked out a deal with EliteXC to co-promote fights involving Frank Shamrock, they were in need of more television exposure, while DREAM and M-1 Global don't have much of a presence in the United States. So those deals, as far as television goes, made sense for all parties involved.

In this particular case, both Strikeforce and Bellator are trying to build audiences on separate networks (Bellator on FSN; Strikeforce on Showtime), and that could ultimately lead to issues coming up along the way.

"It comes down to details, like, after the fight's over, who owns the intellectual property rights? Is it them? Is it us? Do we co-share it? There's a tremendous amount of points to be negotiated," Coker said.

"And then is it on our broadcast platform? Is it on their broadcast platform? What rights are we going to retain? What rights are they going to retain? What if he wins the title? Is there an automatic rematch clause? It just goes on and on and on. But you know what? We got it done with the Fedor piece, and so I feel like we can do it with anybody."

(Ed. note: Watch Coker's appearance on The MMA Hour below.)