10 Ways Scott Coker Can Improve Bellator To Compete With UFC

9. Don't Drop The Tournament Format Entirely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdsWtImELGw Yes, it didn't work out when Bellator tried to seed tournaments in a way that would ensure King Mo would be their light heavyweight champion. Of course it didn't work - MMA is unpredictable, and it's not pro wrestling. You can give a fighter a favourable match-up, but you can't ensure victory, and you can't stop the underdog from upsetting the favourite. It happened with Emanuel Newton upsetting Mo, and it almost happened again with Mikhail Zayats and Mo, in a dull, close fight. It worked out okay with Cheick Kongo, and Rampage Jackson, but tournaments are always a gamble for promoters. You run the risk of losing the ability to promote some of your most marketable names, and while you can build stars through tournaments, you have two problems: a) it takes longer to build via a tournament than via gimmick match-making, and b) your champions need to stay active, and they wind up sitting waiting for tournaments to complete All that said, however, tournaments, and being sport over spectacle, is what got Bellator where it is today. While a bit of spectacle is tolerable, dropping the tournament format will piss off just as many fans as it pleases - so don't do it. At the same time, ensure the tournaments are spread out, stacked with decent names (so that losing one or two won't hurt), and mix in more four man tournaments, which have less risk for both fighters and the promotion.