Scott Coker is returning to the promoter’s chair with a new global MMA league, and he has $60 million in financing lined up to take on the UFC and the PFL. The veteran promoter plans to launch the still unnamed venture globally in early 2027.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, funding is led by investment firm Creator Sports Capital, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners. The investor group also includes trading card company Upper Deck, D.C. United owner and Oaktree Capital co-founder Steve Kaplan, Visional founder and New York Yankees limited partner Swimmy Minami, skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, and former Fortress Investment Group vice-chairman Dean Dakolias. The founders say the backers include several people with ownership stakes in NFL and NBA franchises.
Coker will serve as co-founder and CEO. Peter Levin of Griffin Gaming Partners, who was an advisor and investor in Coker’s Strikeforce, takes the co-founder and board chairman roles. The advisory group features former TelevisaUnivision CEO and ex-Viacom CFO Wade Davis, former Sony Pictures Television chairman Steve Mosko, and Kevin Kay, the former president of Paramount Network, CMT, Spike TV and TV Land.
The pitch leans on a gap the founders see in the sport. MMA has grown into a market worth more than $20 billion with over 625 million fans worldwide, yet the founders argue that professional fighters across more than 40 countries still lack a clear path to elite competition. The new league says it wants to place athletes at the center of the sport, a positioning that sets it against the UFC, where Dana White has handed off fighter contract negotiations to other TKO Group executives.
From Strikeforce To A New Challenger
Coker founded Strikeforce, which grew into a genuine UFC rival before it was sold to the UFC in 2011. He took over Bellator MMA in 2014 and ran it for close to a decade, but did not move with the brand when the PFL acquired Bellator in late 2023. Bellator now operates as part of the PFL’s restructured tournament system.
The founders pointed to Coker’s history of finding and developing fighters such as Daniel Cormier, Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano during the Strikeforce era.
“I always knew I wanted to come back when the time was right, with the right vision and a carefully curated team. That time is now,” Coker said. “There is an incredible demand for a fresh, new global brand in MMA. This new league is about returning to what matters: the integrity of competition, respect for the athletes and sharing their remarkable journeys with the world.”
Benjamin Grubbs, co-founder and co-managing partner of Creator Sports Capital, framed the bet on Coker directly. “Scott Coker is one of the few operators in combat sports who has built winning franchises at a global scale, and he has done it by putting athletes first,” Grubbs said.
Details Still To Come
The full leadership team is expected to be named in the coming weeks. The league’s name, format, participating regions and event schedule have not been announced.
A 2027 debut would drop Coker’s promotion into a market led by TKO Group’s UFC, run by Dana White, with the PFL operating as the clear number two.