'Rampage' Jackson, 'King Mo' Lawal praise new era of Bellator under Scott Coker

CHICAGO – Quinton Jackson and Muhammed Lawal want fans to remember that, when it comes to Bellator being on pay-per-view, they did it before it was cool.

“Me and ‘King Mo,’ we held it down for the first pay-per-view,” Jackson said today at a press conference for his Spike-televised rematch with Lawal at Bellator 175, which takes place Friday at Allstate Arena in Rosemount, Ill. “We made history; that’s what we want people to remember.”

The bout in question, a headliner at Bellator 120, was more memorable for its fallout than the action inside the cage. After Jackson (37-11 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) won a unanimous decision in a largely lackluster fight, Lawal (20-6 MMA, 9-4 BMMA) had profane words for former Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, and he and Jackson argued for much of the press conference.

Three years later, Rebney is gone, replaced by former Strikeforce chief Scott Coker. The promotion is heading back into the pay-per-view business with “Bellator NYC,” which takes place June 24 at Madison Square Garden with price of $49.95. The fighters may have had previous issues with the brass, but now they feel a lot better about the direction of the company.

“They’re moving up,” Jackson said. “I think they have the means to be a great, great company. They have a lot of great fighters over here, and a lot of fighters over here are very exciting. I look forward to watching their pay-per-view.”

Jackson wasn’t always so magnanimous towards his employer, and Coker wasn’t so hot on him, either. Two years ago, Bellator sued the former champ for breach of contract when he signed a deal with the UFC. Jackson claimed he’d been short-changed by Bellator over the proceeds from his pay-per-view bout with Lawal and went to court to fight Fabio Maldonado at UFC 186. The two sides later settled, and Jackson agreed to a two-fight deal with Bellator.

Talking up his last contractual obligation, Jackson painted Rebney as the source of his previous problems and gave Coker his due.

“I think Bellator is doing some good stuff and making some good moves,” Jackson said. “I agree with them making the decision to get Bjorn out and get Scott Coker in. I don’t want to badmouth Bjorn, but you guys saw what was going down. I think if any organization keeps the fighters happy, you win in there.”

Not surprisingly, Lawal agreed.

“Things have changed drastically. When I first came, it was just me and a few other people,” Lawal said. “They signed Quinton, and they signed Tito (Ortiz), and they started making big signings and big moves. They got rid of Bjorn, Coker came in, and Coker started pulling all these people from other organizations and making partnerships.

“They’re making big moves, got a big pay-per-view coming up, bigger cards, going international – it shows the growth, and I’m excited to see where it goes.”

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