Ki MMA offered us a plan with no names, but doesnt it feel like this sport needs ... someth

Here's what we know after Monday's press conference in New York to announce the new MMA promotion backed by Strikeforce founder and former Bellator president Scott Coker:

— It will be called Ki MMA, which looks like K-1 on paper but is pronounced like "key," which led to at least one accidental pun in just the first half-hour or so of conversation among the executives.

— Its fights will take place in a modified boxing ring, with such an abundance of tightly spaced ropes that should help us finally figure out if it's possible to use this set up without fighters getting tangled or falling through.

— It will focus on tournament-based competition, beginning with a 32-man featherweight tournament in 2027, that will draw fighters from four different continents — North America, South America, Europe and Asia — leading to a world grand prix final, where the eventual champion will have to win two fights in one night.

What we didn't find out was who will be in this tournament or where we'll be able to watch it. Those are typically two pretty important factors in determining whether or not fight fans will get on board, but I guess we're taking things one step at a time.

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These types of unveiling events can be tricky in this business. The suit-and-tie types up on stage often overestimate how interested people are in hearing the backstory on how and when they all decided to join forces and start a business together. Media and fans just want names and dates and details, which tend to trickle in over time rather than all at once.

The names we did hear at Monday's event included some genuine MMA royalty, but not from this decade. Former two-division UFC champion Randy Couture handled some of the introductions. Longtime heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko sat stoically nearby, as is his habit. PFL women’s featherweight titleholder Cris Cyborg popped by, carrying a championship belt that just said "CYBORG" in big letters across the front, which must lead to some interesting conversations with airport security.

Even Royce Gracie and Frank Shamrock were there, two guys whose faces should appear next to the word "pioneer" in the MMA dictionary. What do they have in common? They all have highlights that are older than UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van, and none is signing up for the Dana White fan club any time soon.

Oh, and one other thing: You can't build a fight promotion around any of them in 2027.

This cadre of retired MMA royalty seemed to be there as character witnesses for Coker. They were all happy to play that role, which tells you something. Coker is the rare fight promoter with multiple decades in this business across two different and important (but now extinct) organizations who hasn't left a trail of bitterness and anger and betrayal in his wake.

People who have known and worked with him for years will tell you, he's a genuinely good guy who means what he says. He genuinely cares about this sport, too. He's one of the only people in the space who could get up there and say his goal is to "bring martial arts back to MMA" and actually mean it.

Those are all good things to have going for you. But do they add up to a successful MMA promotion these days? That remains to be seen.

On one hand, this sport could use a good kick in the butt right now. The UFC seems like a lumbering beast capable of occasional extraordinary feats, but it's gotten so used to just laying around waiting to be fed that it takes a lot these days to get it motivated. There are some inklings of potential competition from this new MVP-PFL merger, but nothing you could call momentum or even firm plans just yet.

Feels like we're all sitting around waiting for … something.

Could a sprawling, multinational tournament be that something? Maybe. The nice thing about tournaments is they give you instant stakes. We understand them. We can follow the logic and the progression — provided it isn't disrupted by injuries or arrests or any of the other pitfalls associated with this life.

You get a couple strong performances there and you could make a few new stars, no problem. Or you could end up with a reminder of why other promotions that started as a tournament-based competition (Bellator and PFL, to name a couple) eventually ditched it.

Still, maybe we should just be encouraged that someone is out there trying something. We should probably also force ourselves to wait until we see it in action before deciding if it can work. That may be contrary to our nature as fight fans, but that doesn't make it impossible. If Ki MMA can come along and try something new — even the type of new that is also something old — maybe we can too.