KI MMA Logo Credit: Pat Danna/Cageside Press
Scott Coker’s new mixed martial arts promotion has a name: Ki MMA.
It also has a featherweight tournament incoming.
Coker, alongside Griffin Gaming Partners co-founder Peter Levin and former Bellator MMA matchmaker Rich Chou, were on hand at a press conference New York City on Monday to announce the longtime promoter’s latest venture. Coker is best known to fight fans as the man behind Strikeforce MMA, and later, taking over the reigns at Bellator following the exit of founder Bjorn Rebney.
Also on hand, a number of MMA legends, including Randy Couture, who gave a brief speech, Fedor Emelianenko, and Cris Cyborg.
Levin, early in the press conference, noted that there is a “dearth of triple A content” on streaming platforms, adding that “there’s a huge appetite for premier elite content.” So when it came time to move back into MMA (Levin previously backed Strikeforce), choosing Coker was easy.
“He happens to be one of my best friends, but I’ve seen first hand, he’s a generational operator. He’s an apex predator,” he stated. “There’s like two people on God’s green earth that have taken an MMA platform, global scaled it and made it profitable, and he’s done it twice.”
Rich Chou suggested that “there’s no soul in the sport right now,” which is why they’re looking back to the early days of the sport for inspiration. With that in mind, the tournament format returns.
So does fighting in a ring, Scott Coker revealed.
As for the tournament in question, it will take place at featherweight. “At 145, the world can participate,” noted Chou. Ideally, the promotion is looking for athletes with under ten fights, in the 18 to 25 age range. Future stars. The 32-man field will be divided by eight fighters in each of four continents: North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Visits to Brazil and Ireland are likely.
After quaterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds in the continental tournament, a global grand finale will see finalists fighting twice in one night.
The tournament format will make up “30% of the fights we put on next year,” with other weight classes expected to bolster each card. According to Coker, “we have a budget that, there’s not any free agent that’s untouchable.”
Ki MMA is expected to debut in 2027.