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Former Strikeforce and Bellator CEO Scott Coker has spent decades promoting fights and has long harbored an affinity for the Japanese MMA scene that once made PRIDE a global phenomenon. Now, with his new promotion Ki MMA, Coker is trying to compete with the UFC by importing a piece of that heritage into the California rulebook and allowing knees to the head of a grounded opponent.
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On Tuesday, Ki MMA released a statement confirming that the promotion has formally requested a rule variance from the California State Athletic Commission. The request asks regulators to consider adopting elements of the “Global MMA Rules” into the “Unified Rules.”
pic.twitter.com/TOut7JyRnT
– Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) October 20, 2026
The statement explicitly mentions excluding soccer kicks, head stomps, and what the statement calls “linear knee strikes,” the latter of which CSAC Chief Andy Foster has expressed interest in banning from the Unified Rules of MMA. Coker framed the move as a natural step in the sport’s evolution.
“I’ve always believed MMA should keep evolving,” Coker wrote in the statement.
He added that the promotion has asked CSAC to place the topic on the agenda for its Dec. 1 stakeholders meeting.
The Strike in Question
While Coker’s public statement carefully lists the techniques Ki MMA is not seeking to legalize, the core of the request centers on a strike that has been banned in most North American jurisdictions for over two decades.
According to former fighter Josh Thomson, the request is specifically focused on allowing knees to the head of a grounded opponent.
We have most recently heard @Jon_Anik on @anikflorianpod talk about the importance of the sport continuing to evolve with things like, new gloves, open scoring, etc. @ScottCoker is leading that charge with what most people want….. KNEES TO THE HEAD OF A GROUNDED OPPONENT https://t.co/TPQKrEPAJP
– Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) October 20, 2026
Under the current Unified Rules, a fighter is considered grounded when anything other than the soles of their feet bears weight on the canvas, and striking the head of a grounded opponent with a knee is illegal.
The technique remains legal in Asian promotions such as RIZIN and ONE Championship, where the Global MMA Ruleset is more closely followed.
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By seeking to allow knees to the head on the ground while disallowing soccer kicks and stomps, Coker is attempting to thread a needle that avoids the most visually jarring elements of the PRIDE rulebook while restoring a weapon that many grappling purists and hardcore MMA fans argue is a natural extension of ground and pound.
The distinction matters for competitive integrity. In the Unified Rules, a fighter who is hurt or tired can often stall on the mat with a hand down, secure in the knowledge that their opponent cannot knee them in the face.
Removing that protection would fundamentally alter takedown defense and offensive wrestling, giving wrestlers an incentive to finish fights rather than ride out decisions, and preventing fighters from stalling.
Regulatory Path and Promotion Identity
The request now sits before the California State Athletic Commission, an agency that has historically shown a willingness to entertain alternative rule sets. CSAC executive director Andy Foster has previously overseen the licensing of bare-knuckle boxing and slap fighting in the state, signaling an openness to regulatory experimentation that is not universal among athletic commissions.
However, a stakeholders meeting is a forum for discussion rather than a binding vote, meaning the Dec. 1 session will be the beginning of a conversation rather than an approved rule change.
Ki MMA, which Coker launched in September alongside longtime business partner Rich Chou, is expected to debut in early 2027 with a 32-fighter featherweight grand prix. Coker is
Fights will take place in a ring rather than a cage, a deliberate aesthetic choice from Ki MMA to position itself as a distinct alternative to the UFC and PFL in North America. It also marks a departure from his previous time as a Strikeforce and Bellator leader, where the rules and atmosphere were quite similar to the UFC.
If CSAC ultimately grants the variance, Ki MMA would become the first major North American promotion to permit grounded knees to the head in the modern era. That would give Coker a tangible competitive differentiator and a powerful recruiting tool for fighters.
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This story was originally published October 20, 2026 at 10:58 PM.