Former Strikeforce founder Scott Coker takes over Bellator MMA

Former Strikeforce founder Scott Coker is back in the MMA business after signing on to become the new president of Bellator Fighting Championships on Wednesday.

Coker replaces Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, who was excused from the promotion along with fellow executive Tim Danaher this week. 

Well known throughout the MMA world, Coker is a respected executive who was responsible for taking Strikeforce from a small, regional kickboxing promotion to the heights of MMA where he signed a long term deal with Showtime while bringing in several top named fighters including Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson, Tim Kennedy, and Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza.

Coker was also one of the first major heads of a MMA promotion to give women's fighting a shot on the big stage when he promoted Gina Carano and other fighters as early as 2006.  The new Bellator president was also responsible for the rise of women's MMA with fighters like Cris 'Cyborg' Santos and Ronda Rousey signing to the promotion during his tenure.

"It feels good to be back," Coker said on Wednesday.  "I see a lot of potential in Bellator."

First things first up for Coker in his new role as president of Bellator is eliminating the tournament format that helped launch the promotion in 2008.  While the format worked in the formation of the promotion, over the years the constant barrage of tournaments failed to spark with fans and eventually became more of a hindrance than a help when creating new stars and title contenders for the organization.

Coker said that tournaments could still be a part of Bellator in the future, but it will be handled 'on a case-by-case basis'. 

Coker will be handling the day-to-day operations for Bellator while reporting directly to Kevin Kay from Spike TV.  Coker said he's looking at this opportunity as taking the promotion in the direction of 'Bellator 2.0' with his first day on the job taking place on Wednesday.