Bellator brings a fighting carnival to San Jose

The innovative mind of Bellator MMA President Scott Coker is at it again.

Saturday at SAP Center in San Jose, the organization will stage a joint combat sports event along with Glory kickboxing, placing a cage and a ring on the arena floor.

Spike TV will broadcast the card live at 6 p.m. Pacific on DirecTV’s East Coast feed and it will air delayed at 9 p.m. on other cable systems.

“Dynamite 1” is the creation of Coker, the former Strikeforce president who brought Ronda Rousey to sporting consciousness and had current Ultimate Fighting Championship belt-wearers Fabricio Werdum, Robbie Lawler and middleweight contender Luke Rockhold previously in the fold.

Coker’s cutting-edge event will also honor MMA’s primitive era with a one-night, four-man tournament featuring some of Bellator’s top light-heavyweights: Phil Davis, Linton Vassell, “King” Mo Lawal and former champion Emanuel Newton.

The winner of the tournament -- with a two-round opening fight (Davis vs. Newton, Lawal vs. Vassell) followed by a three-round finale -- becomes the No. 1 contender and will be in position to later fight the winner of Saturday’s main event between legend Tito Ortiz (18-11) and undefeated light-heavyweight champion Liam McGeary (10-0).

It’s the Bellator debut for ex-UFC fighter Davis, who had 13 UFC bouts.

“‘Dynamite’ is the first of its kind, it’s going to be super exciting for the fans with both MMA and kickboxing fights at the same time,” Davis told The Times in a telephone interview.

“I only plan on being there for a total of a minute and a half for both fights,” Davis cracked, joking he’s capable of fighting “five MMA rounds, go next door, get suited up and kick somebody in the head,” in the Glory ring.

Coker’s innovative thinking has won his circuit support among hard-core fans and fighters alike.

“Scott Coker is like Bill Belichick because players love playing for [him]. You don’t hear from these players talking bad about ... Belichick, they love playing for him [and] fighters love fighting for Scott Coker,” Davis said.

Bellator functions on a tier below the UFC, and has drawn some criticism by staging a lampoonish Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock main event earlier this year.

But Coker’s risk-taking built Strikeforce into such a power that UFC was forced to buy it out.

And with Coker at the helm continuing his trendsetting ideas, the sport’s most committed fans have provided Bellator on Spike TV strong television ratings, by MMA standards.