If Jake Paul ever makes good on his promise to switch over to MMA, Scott Coker would be happy to give him a home at Bellator. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Coker was brimming with praise for Jake and his brother Logan. “I always said, ‘Look, these guys are real athletes, and they’re young, they work hard, they’re grinding it out.
They’re putting in the work. You can’t take that away from them, and they’re getting better and better and better. What you saw with (Tyron) Woodley, that’s a lot of hard work to get to that point. I’ve never seen Woodley get knocked out like that, right? And so, is it just boxing? Yes.
Bellator President Would “Love” To Bring Jake Paul to MMA
So, I always said, ‘Look, man, don’t underestimate these guys,’ and this was like a year-and-a-half ago.” Coker’s tenure as Bellator president has been marked by an ongoing attempt to cultivate home-grown stars.
While the UFC often takes tried-and-tested fighters from smaller promotions, Coker is happier to identify young talent and support them on the way up. The way he sees it, the Paul brothers might be yet another example of that young talent.
“If you want to come into MMA, we would gladly do it. Think about this: He’s not saying, ‘I’m going to go train here. I’m going to go train there.’
He’s going to come to one of the best gyms in the planet, where Khabib is, where Daniel Cormier is still training, where Cain Velasquez is teaching there now, and he’s going to go into an environment that he is going to flourish, and he has a wrestling background already.
He has great striking, obviously. You’ve seen it, and so this guy is just going to get better and better and better. The days of him fighting basketball players or whatever, those days are over.”
However, Paul’s own plans might interfere. Coker believes that Jake Paul wants ten boxing fights before he tries MMA, which might take a few years.
“He wants to do it. The only thing I will say is, my understanding is he wants to get 10 fights into boxing, and then after that come over to mixed martial arts.
I know certain people feel a certain way, but I tell you, don’t underestimate these guys because when they have their minds made up, it just seems like that they’re able to fulfil their destiny.
And so to me, it’s something that if they want to make it happen, we would love to do something with them and put them in some big fights and really test them out.”
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