Scott Coker has launched a new mixed martial arts promotion, Ki MMA, with its first event being targeted for early 2027 and a 32-fighter featherweight tournament forming the centrepiece of its initial plans.
Coker told BBC Sport that the new organisation would stage events across North America, Europe, Asia and South America. He said Ki MMA would combine the tournament with contests involving more established MMA names, while the company begins building its roster.
The proposed programme would therefore bring together a featherweight tournament and bouts involving established names, according to Coker. He said the promotion was looking to sign free agents within around two to three months as it develops its group of fighters.
The project marks Coker’s first business venture since his time as president of Bellator, which was acquired by the PFL in 2023. He said he felt he had unfinished business in the sport and believed the timing was right to launch another promotion.
Ki MMA has backing of $60m, reported as £44.7m, and Coker said the promotion was looking to sign free agents within around two to three months. Coker said some details still needed to be finalised as he targets an early-2027 first event.
A tournament intended to accelerate roster building
The proposed 32-fighter featherweight tournament gives Ki MMA a defined competitive structure from the outset. Coker told the BBC that the format could speed up the longer process of finding and developing athletes into recognisable figures in the sport.
He said his team had been visiting gyms in cities including Tokyo and Paris in search of potential recruits. Coker described the gym searches as part of an effort to find and develop lesser-known talent, alongside plans involving established names.
Coker said the organisation would be focused on both identifying and building fighters. He presented the process as a long-term task that could take several years, while arguing that the tournament would help to accelerate it.
Coker said fighters would be treated with respect and placed at the centre of the venture. Coker presented that as an aim for the promotion.
Ring format is a key part of Coker’s vision
Ki MMA is also planning to use a ring rather than a cage. Coker said he preferred the viewing experience offered by a ring, arguing that the structure could make action easier to follow for spectators when fighters move towards the edge of the fighting area.
Coker argued that a ring would avoid the type of control against cage fencing that he believes can slow fights. The effect of that choice will only become clear once the promotion stages fights, but it would distinguish Ki MMA from a cage-based presentation.
Coker said the name Ki drew on an East Asian term connected with inner energy and the spiritual journey of martial arts. He also said he wanted the new organisation to reflect Japan’s place in MMA history, with the choice of a ring forming part of that broader direction.
Coker sees an opening in the market
Explaining his return, Coker told the BBC that he believed mixed martial arts had entered a difficult period. He referred to the UFC beginning its Paramount broadcast agreement and to uncertainty around the PFL following the phasing out of the Bellator brand.
Those are Coker’s assessments of the wider market, not established measures of Ki MMA’s prospects. The immediate test for the new promotion will be whether it can turn its financial backing, recruitment plans and tournament concept into confirmed athletes and events.
For now, the most concrete commitments are the 32-fighter featherweight competition, the multi-continent ambition and the early-2027 target for a first show. Coker has presented Ki MMA as a long-term project, acknowledging that building a group of fighters would take several years even if a tournament provides an earlier competitive focal point.
The launch introduces Ki MMA as a proposed promotion with a ring-based presentation and international ambitions.