Scott Coker took his time. Two years of development behind the scenes, a $60 million round led by Creator Sports Capital, a carefully vetted coalition of investors – and it’s only on May 21 that the founder of Strikeforce and former Bellator MMA boss breaks the silence to announce the launch of a new international mixed martial arts league, with operational kick-off planned for early 2027.
Alongside Creator Sports Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners and a series of investors from the sports, media, and technology sectors participated in the round. Among them: Steve Kaplan, co-founder of Oaktree Capital and owner of DC United, Swimmy Minami, sponsor of the New York Yankees, or Tony Hawk, an iconic figure in extreme sports turned savvy investor. On the board of directors, Peter Levin – a former advisor and investor of Strikeforce before its acquisition by the UFC in 2011 – will serve as president. The circle is tight, the profiles carefully chosen.
The project is based on a precise sectoral diagnosis. MMA now represents a global market estimated at over $20 billion, with 625 million fans worldwide – an audience focused on the 18-34 age group, sought after by advertisers and broadcasters. Industry projections see it becoming the third most watched sport in the world by 2035. But this growth has created a paradox: hundreds of professional athletes from over forty countries still lack access to a competitive structure, or stable career paths.
This is exactly the void that Coker intends to fill – by emphasizing a rhetoric centered on the fighters from the outset, a register he has always cultivated and which has earned him the loyalty of athletes over several generations.
Coker should be taken seriously on this point. A 9th dan black belt in taekwondo, he has organized over 700 events on five continents, introduced women’s MMA on a major platform before anyone really believed in it, and contributed to the emergence of fighters like Daniel Cormier, Ronda Rousey, or Usman Nurmagomedov. His method has always been the same: long-term relationships, focus on athletes before TV rights, and an ability to read regional markets before they open up.
The operational launch is scheduled for early 2027. By then, the essentials remain to be revealed: the name of the league, its sports structure, the distribution model. This organized silence is as much a communication strategy as an acknowledgment of work in progress. But in an industry dominated for fifteen years by the UFC – which has absorbed or marginalized all serious competitors – simply gathering $60 million and such a high-profile group of investors already sends a strong signal.
AJ
