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By: Alex Williams, MMATorch Contributor In an interview with MMAWeekly Radio, Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker stated that when he meets with Showtime representatives to discuss how they want to promote events, he will broach the topic of utilizing tournaments. Coker believes tournaments can create stars quickly since fans see the tournament winner go through so much adversity to ultimately prevail.
Williams' Analysis: I agree with Coker. An impressive tournament performance can turn an unknown with some charisma into a a marketable fighter. The problem is that tournaments best accomplish this when they feature at least 8 men and take place on a single night. The athletic commission rules, though, forbid anyone from fighting for more than 25 minutes total in an evening. This is why past Strikeforce tournaments have only featured 4 men (semi-finals of two, five minute rounds and final fight of three, five minute rounds). Yamma tried to do an 8 man single-night tournament (quarter-finals of one, five minute round, same for the semis, and final fight of three, five minute rounds), but five minute fights tend to be terrible. One night boxing tournies that are structured like Yamma's tend to be awful, too.
The best solution might be to have the first round take place on a single evening (8 men, four separate fights of three, five minutes rounds), then have the semis and finals take place at the next event using the format Coker has employed previously. It's not ideal, but it's much better than the Yamma/boxing model.
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