Opinion: MMA Needs More Tournaments
Combate Americas on Saturday held its first “Copa Combate” -- a one-night tournament with a unique set of rules in which the promotion’s best bantamweights competed against each other for a $100,000 grand prize. During the broadcast, there was talk that there would be another “Copa Combate” in Spain in 2018. Combate Americas President Campbell McLaren co-founded the Ultimate Fighting Championship 24 years ago, and many fight fans mark UFC 1 as the beginning of the sport we now know as mixed martial arts.
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“Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen,” Coker said. “Now we get to put eight iconic brand names in our sport together over a year, and then whoever wins will be crowned the heavyweight champion.”
One grand prix has already begun and will carry MMA fans into the New Year. The Rizin Fighting Federation bantamweight grand prix features some notable fighters who have parted ways with the UFC, including Ian McCall and Kyoji Horiguchi. The 2017 Rizin bantamweight grand prix will conclude with two events on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Shintaro Ishiwatari seems more focused on a rematch with Horiguchi than winning the tournament, as he lost a decision to the Norifumi Yamamoto protégé in 2013. Ishiwatari in a Rizin press release affirmed that he had his eye on Horiguchi and looked forward to his chance at redemption.
“I’ve been watching his fights after I lost,” Ishiwatari said. “I study off of his fights to make myself a better fighter. Most fighters have a time period where you hit a wall and stop improving, a time where you struggle, but he just continues to evolve like simple math. His fight IQ is high, his overall skill levels are high and there is a lot to learn from him.”
Other competitions -- the million-dollar Professional Fighters League tournaments -- begin in January and should create some interest. Back in November 2015, the World Series of Fighting held an eight-man tournament to find an opponent for lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. It was one of the company’s more memorable events, and it not only cleared up issues with rankings but gave prospective fighters a fair shot at a title. Once the WSOF was rebranded as the Professional Fighters League, it announced plans to hold season-long tournaments in seven weight classes, with $10 million in prize money up for grabs.
“All fighters deserve to control their own destiny, to win or lose on their own merits,” PFL President Ray Sefo said. “There are thousands of professional MMA fighters, and yet in the entire history of the sport, only a handful of these athletes have ever fought for $1 million. We are proud to offer that opportunity to every fighter in the Professional Fighters League.”
“The Ultimate Fighter” is the only tournament going in the UFC, and it will crown an inaugural women’s flyweight champion at the conclusion of its current season. In this day and age where rankings seem to matter less and less in MMA, bringing back the tournament format in 2018 and beyond might be just what the sport needs to keep moving forward.
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