The One-Night Tournament Revival Continues with WSOF 25

One-night tournaments, which require fighters to win multiple bouts in a single night to emerge the victor, were a common theme in earlier chapters of the MMA history book. They were a frequent occurrence in leagues like PRIDE and DREAM, where men like Takanori Gomi, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Gegard Mousasi rose to prominence as winners of them. And though they ceased after UFC 17 and UFC 23 in the late 90s, one-night tournaments were also a regular feature in the formative years of today's MMA superpower.

Yet while they added some wildly exciting variables to the game—namely by forcing fighters to contend with injury, exhaustion, and an uncertainty as to who they'd face should they advance to the next round—the one-night tournament format eventually fizzled out, becoming a less and less common occurrence as our sport charged into the new millennium.

This isn't to suggest tournaments disappeared from MMA altogether. For many years, under former president Bjorn Rebney, Bellator embraced the tournament format. Strikeforce did the same with their historic heavyweight Grand Prix. Yet for the most part, these tournaments unfurled over multiple events, sometimes taking months to run their course—a far cry from the hectic, single-night melees of yore.

Recently, however, the one-night tournament format has experienced something of a renaissance.

In October of 2014, Oklahoma-based promotion Battlegrounds MMA hosted a one-night tournament featuring names like Brock Larson, Cody McKenzie, Luigi Fioravanti and Roan "Jucão" Carneiro, the latter of whom would be crowned tournament champion and earn a second shot in the UFC as a result.

More recently, Bellator promoted a highly publicized, one-night light heavyweight tourney at their September event, Dynamite. This one featured Linton Vassell, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, Emmanuel Newton, and recent UFC outcast Phil Davis, who would go on to win the tournament and experience a sorely needed rebirth as a result.

The latest development in the re-emergence of the one-night tournament comes courtesy of burgeoning promotion World Series of Fighting, who will be dipping their toes in this wild fight format with WSOF 25 on November 20. This one will feature not just four, but eight fighters, who will be competing for a shot at the organization's reigning and undefeated lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje.

This recently announced tournament is scheduled to feature a handful of talented fighters across two brackets. On one bracket we'll see a clash between Joao Zeferino (18-6) and stoppage-specialist Brian Foster (23-7), and another between former WSOF title challengers Rich Patishnock (6-2) and Luis Palomino (23-11). The opposing bracket will feature a scrap between Dagestan's Islam Mamedov (12-1) and Jorge Patino (38-15-2), and another between Brian Cobb (20-8) and The Ultimate Fighter 16 finalist Mike Ricci (10-4). The winners of these two brackets will square off for the next crack at Gaethje's well-guarded throne.

Needless to say, it's going to be a very exciting event, and in all likelihood, probably not the last if its kind we see. Provided WSOF 25 is a success, the organization behind it is likely to offer more single-night tournaments down the road. Similarly, after the success of its Dynamite card, we can expect Bellator to promote other tournaments in the future. Sure, the organization's president Scott Coker admitted that he has no immediate plans for such things, but he also acknowledged that he's not opposed to the idea. And then, of course, there's the newly-created PRIDE-revival Rizin Fighting Federation. Assuming the organization's president Nobuyuki Sakakibara hasn't shed his PRIDE-era predilection for one-night tournaments, it would not be surprising in the slightest to see his new organization promote just that somewhere down the line.

We went a long time without any major, one-night tournaments in professional mixed martial arts. The fans' fascination with these grueling, single-night events, however, is still alive and well, and some organizations are taking note of that fact. And while events of this kind are certainly harder to get sanctioned than your typical night of fights, so long as the demand is there, risk-raking promotions will go the extra mile to make them happen.

Of course, we're not likely to see any one-night tournaments go down inside the UFC's Octagon anytime soon. Promotional president Dana White has assured as much in the past, and as the sport's irrefutable top-dog, the organization really has no reason to start experimenting with different formats. This resurgence of the one-night tournament does, however, provide some interesting and undoubtedly healthy competition for today's top MMA promotion. The revival continues on November 20 with WSOF 25.