Bellator Says They Had No Idea Cro Cop Was Suspended By USADA, Will Let Him Fight Anyways

Mirko Cro Cop is now set to face off against fellow former UFC competitor Roy Nelson under the Bellator MMA banner. Now Bellator CEO Scott Coker has come forward to comment on Cro Cop’s USADA ban.

Mirko Cro Cop suffered a two year long ban retroactive to Nov. 9, 2015. While over two years have gone by since the ban began, Cro Cop has not been silent on the sidelines.

Since receiving his ban, Cro Cop has competed under the Rizin promotion on multiple occasions, leaving some fight fans curious as to what Bellator MMA plans to do with the fighter. Well, Cro Cop is now set to face off against Roy Nelson at Bellator 200.

The event goes down May 25 inside the SSE Arena in Wembley, London, England. Speaking to MMANytt.se, Bellator CEO Scott Coker revealed that the promotion was unaware of Cro Cop’s USADA suspension.

“To me it’s like, if you wanted to take action, you should’ve took action a long time ago. because to me, honestly, when we booked it, we didn’t even know there were issues. He’s already fighting so we thought he was able to fight.”

“Listen, USADA works with the UFC. They’re doing their own thing, so go do it. I just feel like the timing of it is a little bit questionable because at the end of the day, if you really wanted to enforce it, you should’ve enforced it two years ago when Mirko fought in Japan.”

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