Bellator’s president reveals the reason behind PFL matching Bellator’s offer for Kayla Harrison. Not long ago Kayla Harrison was a free agent and was ready to get signed by the top MMA promotions. PFL, Bellator, UFC all of them had their eye on the two time Olympic gold medalist.
There were even rumours about her accepting an offer from Bellator as she wanted to face the Bellator queen Cris Cyborg in a fight to prove her potential. Nevertheless, this didn’t happen as PFL matched the offer made by Bellator and Harrison re-signed with PFL. Cris Cyborg on the other hand fought Arlene Blencowe and won the fight via unanimous decision.
Related: “I’m ready”- Kayla Harrison open to a cross-promotion bout against Cris Cyborg
Bellator President Scott Coker comments on PFL matching Bellator’s offer to sign Kayla Harrison
Recently, Bellator’s president Scott Coker went on the Spinning Back Fist podcast. He discussed what Kayla needs to do in order to become great.
“Kayla needs a fight of that stature to really put herself in that upper echelon because I believe she is great but she hasn’t been proven yet…She hasn’t been tested yet. She hasn’t been hit on the chin yet. Those are things that Cyborg will answer. You don’t really know how great she can be, we all have opinions about it and my opinions are very high on her but until she gets that first right hand or left hook on the jaw, we don’t really know.” Said Scott.
Coker also revealed the reason behind PFL matching Bellator’s offer for Kayla Harrison:
“For them, she’s their biggest star…For us, she would be one of the fighters we would put into our organization of great fighters we have, right? It meant a lot more to them to have her and keep her there than maybe for us to overpay, you know, we’re gonna make good business decisions as we’re running this company.”
Kayla is currently 13-0 in MMA. Her last win came against Marina Mokhnatkina. However, Mr. Scott saying that the price PFL is paying Kayla might be a case of overpayment for Bellator seems logical considering their fighters. But, fight fans would still love to see a fight between Harrison vs Cyborg. So, let’s hope that both the promotions do make that fight happen.
