Strikeforce never went full Pride FC, but in Scott Coker’s homecoming to San Jose — which Bellator familiarly dubbed "Dynamite" — the homage to Japan was so retrotechnic, so pyrospective, it almost felt like a cult movie remake ten years too early.
There was Lenne Hardt rolling the R’s out of the SAP Center, this time a disembodied circus barker. There were shooting flames threatening to reduce all things to ash. There was "Bipolar Rock’n’Roller" Mauro Ranallo working Stage B, and god how he’s been missed. There was the one-night light heavyweight tournament in which the understudy Francis Carmont snuck in subconsciously and left unconsciously.