Bellator president Scott Coker has welcomed the move to legalize and regulate MMA in France and said the promotion is ready to help get the sport up and running before bringing its big arena shows to French soil in the near future.

Last week, the Ministry for Sport in France announced it had chosen the French Boxing Federation to supervise the early stages of regulation of MMA as the sport becomes legal in the country. The French government’s plan is for the nation’s boxing administrators to oversee the initial setup of MMA as a regulated professional sport in France, with a view to the formation of a dedicated MMA regulatory body, subject to a successful review by the Ministry of Sport.

The move marks the latest step towards France being able to host big international MMA shows, and Bellator president Coker issued an official statement hailing the news.

“Bellator welcomes France’s decision to move towards the regulation of professional MMA,” his statement began. “We also welcome the decision of the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, to make the French Boxing Federation (FFB) the governing body of professional MMA, and await with interest the upcoming opinion of the National Olympic Committee.”

Coker also offered Bellator’s assistance during the setup process, and stated his desire to bring big shows to France once the doors had been fully opened.

“Given their successful and longstanding track-record with boxing, we believe the French Boxing Federation are well suited to oversee the sport and we will be pleased to work with them towards MMA’s continued growth, development, safety and regulation throughout the country,” he said. “We look forward to hosting Bellator events in France, bringing fans incredible shows featuring some of the best athletes in the world.”

Bellator has invested significantly in the organization’s European expansion in recent years, with the launch of a dedicated European Series, as well as the creation of a European team, led by former BAMMA CEO David Green. The promotion has held both standalone European Series events and larger, twin-card events that feature both numbered event cards and more localized European Series lineups on the same night.

Bellator will host its seventh European Series show, a twin-card offering, at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland on Feb. 22.