I think we all agree that Coker is imaginative and bold enough to avoid going with something by default just because it's being done that way for a long time...
IMO the people from Bellator Kickboxing should take a real close look on the landscape of combat sports today as compared to when K1 came up;
- my guess is that the general public is well used to seeing blood and gore on TV by now. the japanese supposedly don't like but we westerners love it don't we?
- with the popularization of MMA people disregard more and more boxing and TMAs because it's MMA that brings out "real fighting";
- these casual fans don't understand the breaks in kickboxing. it just looks like the referee is interfering. when I asked my co-worker why he wasn't crazy about K1 like I am he said "because it has rules";
- the current K1 ruleset was put into place specifically because Buakaw brutalized Masato with traditional muay thai techniques in the 2004 K1 WGP Final match. mainly the clinch. watch that fight and see how long Buakaw is allowed to work the clinch as opposed to nowadays when you have single collar neck tie with one knee and separate;
- but it's been over a decade since then and almost one since Anderson Silva brutalized an oblivious Rich Franklin in the muay thai clinch. I guess people are used to it by now. maybe not as much as a seasoned nak muay but still, pro fighters won't just eat knees in the clinch with no clue to reaction;
- even with the current rules the latest Glory MW title fight was a dry humping contest with both fighters tied up in the clinch - and to make matters worse, unable to attack with knees!
so the current ruleset does not keep casuals from thinking the ref is interfering too much. the need to exclude elbows is not there anymore. and the clinch rules don't avoid a title fight from becoming a clinchfest either!
in that context, why not adopt K1's original 3/5 second clinch rule with one knee? more important, whether the ruleset is, be consistent with it!! the mentioned MW title fight between Artem Levin and Simon Marcus ended up a draw because of a bullshit point deduction against Levin.