Scott Coker: Former PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara planning MMA return in 2015

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Scott Coker: Former PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara planning MMA return in 2015 | MMAjunkie


Scott Coker

Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the man who once headed PRIDE before the promotion sold to the UFC in 2007, is planning a comeback this year, according to Bellator MMA President Scott Coker.

“He asked if we would help,” Coker told MMAjunkie of a recent conversation with the Japanese executive. “I said of course, and when the time’s right, we’ll have a serious conversation of what he would like us to do.”

Coker said Sakakibara, who earlier this year attended Bellator 131, expressed interest in promoting a one-night event this fall. He added a co-promotion using Bellator MMA fighters would be considered “when the time is right.”

It’s not the first time Coker has hinted at such a venture. Before his former MMA venture, Strikeforce, sold to UFC parent company Zuffa, he said on several occasions that his promotion had a strategic alliance with DREAM, which emerged after the contentious sale of PRIDE, and talked up a co-promotion....