Bellator president Scott Coker was in understandably positive mood when he met with the media after Bellator 291 in Dublin.
The promotion enjoyed another big night in the Irish capital, with the biggest story of the night undoubtedly the return of welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov, who came back to the Bellator cage after 20 months – including a year on the front lines in Ukraine – to defeat interim champion Logan Storley in the main event.
Coker addressed Amosov’s performance, as well as a host of other topics, as he chatted with the press backstage at the 3Arena. Here’s a quickfire recap of Coker’s key post-fight takeaways.
Amosov’s ‘master performance’
Well, I’d say he looked like a guy that has been not in a war zone fighting. He looks like a guy that’s been training for the last five years and didn’t miss a beat. I know he’s been training for about six months and getting ready for this particular fight, but it was impressive. I think that the biggest part that I think Logan had a hard time with was just his movement – in and out, sideways, sideways. I think Logan had a hard time tracking him down. He started eating some shots, working the leg kick. I think it was a really a master performance by Amasov.
Jackson’s next in line
The next fight we’re waiting to see what happened with this fight. But you know, Jackson has been in the in the line, in the queue, for a while. And I think he definitely deserves it. So you know, we’re gonna go back and talk about it. But (Jackson), to me, is probably the next fighter that’s gonna get the shot.
What’s next for Jeremy Kennedy
I’ll tell you it’s really interesting. I mean, to me, I think of Kennedy who’s a great super talented kid. But I think about maybe he should run it back with Pico and that’s fight I’d be very interested to see. I can think of two or three other guys but everybody wants ‘Pitbull,’ you know? But we’ll see. We have to talk to ‘Pitbull,’ see if it’s interested in the fight. But as this kid just keeps winning and winning and winning, that’s what you got to do. You keep winning, you’re gonna get your shot eventually,
Brian Moore vs. Leando Higo
I think he definitely deserves it. And, you know, we’ll talk to Higo because it takes two to make the fight, right? So we’ll see if there’s interest on that side. And we’d love to work together. I mean, you know, Higo was gonna fight James Gallagher soon and James got injured couldn’t do the fight. But to me, that fight would be amazing. A lot of fun to watch.
The women’s featherweight title picture
Kat (Zingano) is gonna fight with Leah (McCourt), at the end of March. So we’ve got to wait another month. But, you know, I think that fight will have title implications, for sure. And with (Sinead) Kavanagh, she looked great. I don’t know how much damage she took on her legs. She looked like she was injured a little bit, so we’ll have to monitor that. And once we see if she’s clear, then we’ll figure it out.
What to do with Dillon Danis
Yeah, that’s, that’s a tough one. Because, you know, we had such high hopes for that kid. And, you know, I think I think that we’re gonna have to have a serious conversation with him when I get back.
