Ki MMA co-founder praises Scott Coker as 'generational operator'

Scott Coker has just received glowing praise from his Ki MMA co-founder, Peter Levin, who regards him as one of the greatest promoters the sport has ever seen.

There's no one like Scott Coker

Besides UFC president Dana White, there's been no other MMA promoter in the modern era as prominent as Scott Coker, who has been at the helm of several promotions. Ki MMA is his latest creation, and already promises to shake things up with some proposed rule changes. Rule changes that have earned the approval of all-time great women's MMA fighter Cris Cyborg, who took to social media to praise the effort. Now, it is Peter Levin, the Ki MMA co-founder, who has praised Coker, highlighting him as a gamechanging businessman.

"The most important thing that you look for when underwriting business is the operator, is the founder, is the CEO, and Scott is a generational operator. He's an apex predator. Again, I think he's one of, probably, two people on God's green Earth that's been able to do what he's been able to do in the sport and so, starting with that, is the most important foundational element."

Two of Coker's greatest efforts were with Strikeforce and Bellator MMA. He had initially founded Strikeforce as a kickboxing promotion back in the mid-80s, but eventually transitioned to MMA in the mid-2000s. It quickly rose to prominence and featured some of the biggest names in MMA at the time, including heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, all-time great submission specialist and future UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, ex-PRIDE FC two-division champion Dan Henderson, MMA and kickboxing world champion Alistair Overeem, MMA cult stars like Nick Diaz, and more future UFC champions like Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier, Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey.

Under Coker's leadership, Strikeforce became the UFC's last great rival before the UFC eventually went on to completely dominate MMA by buying Strikeforce out and signing many of the best and biggest names in MMA. Coker tried to reintroduce some competition when he became the new president of Bellator MMA, but it never reached the UFC's level despite finding success in its own right up until its 2024 sale to the PFL. Now, he'll try to take Ki MMA to even greater heights.