MMA news: Bellator boss reacts to million dollar fight ending in No Contest

Bellator MMA CEO Scott Coker gave his reaction to the fight between Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemkov ending in a NC.

Bellator always seems to have the wackiest results in their MMA fights. The recent fight between Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemkov ended in a No Contest after an accidental clash of heads.

The fight was supposed to be the finale of the Bellator light heavyweight MMA tournament, with the winner getting a million dollars. Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemkov both left with no million dollars and a bad taste in their mouths.

Bellator MMA CEO, Scott Coker was asked about the fight after the event. He was disappointed in the result but understands why it was the right decision.

“It’s unfortunate the way that fight ended,” Coker told MMA reporters at the Bellator 277 post-fight press conference via MMAJunkie. “I was surprised. I didn’t realize that his cut was so deep to the bone because I was asking (California State Athletic Commission executive) Andy Foster, ‘What happened? There’s only three or four seconds left. Why couldn’t they finish the fight?’ And he said, ‘No, the damage was too much, and we couldn’t safely move forward.’

“They have the rule here where it has to go three rounds to go to a decision, so there’s no tournament champion. So what we’re going to do is regroup and put that fight together in the next three or four months as soon as everyone is healthy and ready to go. We’re definitely going to re-run that fight. That’s probably in late summer maybe.”

Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemkov are going to have to rematch in order to win the million dollars. Bellator MMA likes to have a winner in order to award a million dollars.

“Basically you have to win the tournament to win the money because the tournament prize is on top of the regular purses they get paid,” Coker explained. “So both sides get paid their normal contract pay. And the million dollars is just a bonus check on top of their pay.

“So in order to win that money, you have to win the fight, be the champ. So there’s no champ here, so it will continue on, and we will give the million-dollar check once we continue the tournament in sometime, let’s say, August or September.”