This Fan Post was Promoted to the Front Page by Anton Tabuena

Just wanted to create a fan post to address how little MMA fans know about Scott Coker and his background.  Everyone knows that he was well respected within the Martial Arts industry before he jumped into the MMA scene and created Strikeforce MMA. Even Dana White himself once said that this sport needs more promotions like Strikeforce and people like Coker involved in the industry. Obviously, a lot has changed since 2007 but lets take a look at the Strikeforce CEO's interesting past.

3 Fun Facts About Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker:

1) He is an Ernie Reyes (One of the Greatest Martial Arts Masters of the 20th Century) protege and renowned full-contact fight promoter (Kickboxing, K-1 USA, MMA) who himself is a 5th degree black belt (TKD) under Reyes and an original member of the West Coast Demonstration Team.

2) Coker spearheaded the blending of muay Thai kicboxing into the West Coast Taekwondo curriculum, hired trainers from San Francisco's Fairtex Muay Thai Kickboxing Camp to teach classes in his gyms. - Black Belt Magazine 1999.  Head of K-1 USA when they signed a deal with ESPN to televise events on TV. Worked very closely with K-1's Ishii and is the main reason why he was able to create a partnership with DREAM and bring fighters over such as Shinya Aoki, Melvin Manhoef, and soon Kawajiri.

3) Through Ernie Reyes' West Coast Demonstration team and eventual move to Hollywwod, Scott Coker has participated in movies such as Dragon Fight (starring Jet Li), Last Dragon, and Surf Ninjas.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0170101/

Dragon Fight (Scott Enters Scene at 2:35)

For those that don't know, Last Dragon is the movie with Bruce Leroy, the character that has been brought back to the limelight recently thanks to TUF 12 member Alex Caceres.

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Another good read: Scott Coker the man behind Strikeforce's curtain

White, who was 16 when Coker began promoting kickboxing, was effusive in his praise of Coker.

"This sport needs more guys like Scott Coker," White said. "He puts on a good show and I think if you talked to his fighters about him, they'd all have good things to say."