Coker Wanted 8 Man Tourny, Settled On An Epic 4

“I’ve been doing this a long time. I would love to go to an event, see some great MMA, see a tournament, see some kickboxing at the highest level and be fully entertained. So I said, ‘Why don’t we just do this?’ We had a couple hurdles trying to set up the venue with both apparatuses. We went and actually set it up to make sure the sight lines were good and then called (California State Athletic Commission Executive Director) Andy Foster and asked, ‘Can we do this with the rules and regulations?’ Couldn’t be an eight-man tournament. Because we originally wanted an eight-man tournament.

“He said, ‘No, you can only go five rounds. Total. Just like a title fight. You can do one round, or you can do four rounds, or you can do two or three. You can do two-two-one if there’s overtime.’ He gave us the choice, and I said, ‘Let’s just go two. And then we’ll do three.’ And that’s what it is.”

That’s how Bellator president Scott Coker explained the creation of ‘Bellator: Dynamite’ to MMAJunkie.

It was apparently originally going to be an 8 man tournament until the CSAC shut that idea down. Are you excited to see a one night tournament, throwback style?

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