"I was surprised" - Tony Khan denies report that his family is interested in purchasing Bellator
Tony Khan is part of a number of professional sports and entertainment ventures, but is denying that he and his family are interested in adding Bellator MMA to the portfolio.
During today's press call to promote this Sunday's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, he was asked whether there was any truth to the report that he and his father are interested in Bellator. He responded by saying that he did see the report and was caught by surprise as he didn't have any conversations regarding a purchase:
"I was surprised to see that report. I haven't had any conversations with them [Bellator] about that. I don't know what that was about. My father hasn't had any conversations with them either. I don't even know who owns the promotion. Is Scott Coker the owner, the president? I'm not sure. I'm familiar with Bellator. I'm familiar with MMA."
The AEW owner then brought up that he is no stranger to dealing MMA fighters as a number of current and former UFC and Bellator fighters have appeared and even wrestled on AEW programming. Khan mentioned that aside from the fighter appearances, he hasn't worked in MMA from a professional standpoint, saying:
"I've never worked professionally in the space, other than having some stars from UFC appear at times in AEW. I saw that report, and there's really nothing to that. I'm not sure where that rumor got started. I've honestly never had any talks, and my father has never had any talks, about buying Bellator, so I was surprised to see that."
It remains to be see whether Khan is legitamately not in the running for Bellator's purchase or if he denied any interest because he doesn't want the specifics surrounding the bid to be made public.
What other sports and entertainment ventures is Tony Khan and his father part of?
Tony Khan and his father Shahid are involved in a number of professional sports and entertainment ventures, which includes pro wrestling, NFL, and soccer.
In the NFL, the family own the Jacksonville Jaguars after acquiring the team in 2011. The team was initially brought into the NFL along with the Carolina Panthers when the league expanded in 1995.
In pro wrestling, the Tony Khan owns AEW, which airs weekly programming on TNT and TBS. The company has been a viable alternative to WWE and is considered to be the second biggest pro wrestling/sports entertainment company in North America.
In addition, the family owns Fulham F.C. of the English Premier League. The club returned to the Premier League this past season and finished tenth in the standings.
Thank you @FulhamFC fans, and thank you very much to all of you Fulham supporters at Craven Cottage today and to everyone who went to any and all of the matches this season at the Cottage! Thank you so much to Marco, the entire Fulham squad, and our staff. It was the final home… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/kbXkaCwXQk