When he took the job as the chief promoter and face of Viacom-owned Bellator in 2014, Scott Coker said he needed two years to build the kind of roster he had with his former promotion, Strikeforce.

Four years later, Coker believes the promotion is almost there.

“Give us another 18 months – not 18 months, maybe another year,” Coker told MMAjunkie prior to this past Saturday’s Bellator 199 in San Jose, Calif.

As Bellator’s president, Coker has managed to garner big ratings promoting aging MMA stars while aggressively pursuing star free agents. A handful of carefully developed new talents – Aaron Pico, A.J. McKee, and James Gallagher – are poised to break out, while stalwarts such as ex-lightweight champ Michael Chandler continue to push the brand.

Coker is counting on them all to spark the next wave of interest in Bellator. As the longtime MMA promoter and his partners know, ratings ensure survival.

As of late, every major promotion has struggled to retain viewers on cable TV. At the start of the year, the industry-leading UFC generated its lowest ratings to date on FOX. Five of Bellator’s seven numbered events this year have drawn an average viewership just north of 500,000 viewers, according to Paramount. The promotion has cracked the one million mark in average viewership just once this year.

This past month, Bellator 198 was up against steep competition from other combat sports events – PBC on FOX and Top Rank on ESPN – as well as the NBA playoffs. Still, it managed to draw a peak viewership of 1.5 million for a heavyweight fight between ex-champs Fedor Emelianenko and Frank Mir.

“Ratings are tricky, because you’re going to go through peaks and valleys,” Coker said. “The Fedor fight obviously did amazing; the (Quinton) ‘Rampage’ (Jackson vs. Chael Sonnen) fight did amazing. But it’s no different than pro wrestling was for the last 15 years. It’s going to go (up and down). This is the type of business that has that type of fluctuation. We’re not going to be immune to that. We’re just going to be part of that process.

“When you talk about combat sports in the middle of NBA Finals and hockey and all this sports clutter, we’re doing well.”

When Emelianenko faces off with Sonnen in the semifinals of the Bellator heavyweight grand prix, Coker expects to see another peak in numbers. Ultimately, he would like to see more stability and an increasing audience, like any business owner tied to the engagement of consumers. As long as the promotion’s pipeline of talent continues to deliver, though, he figures the numbers will take care of themselves.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.