The Dino Dome had many of the same features and layouts that the Claw Coliseum had in Animalia, but with the obvious difference of being scaled up for much larger Animalians than those that lived in Lyre/Animalia. This had meant that the inside area was much larger and could offer a lot of room for varying events that would go beyond just the Dinotopians. But for the moment with the IAC going on and its related events going on, that was the real focus at the Dino Dome. This then provided a good opportunity for a pair of Dinotopians that were involved in many of the athletic events, and particularly the planned Mesozoic Fight Club, to talk over the planned events and the club itself.
Brett Horne, a Styracosaurus Dinotopian, and Mario Domini, a Pachycephalosaurus Dinotopian, had both joined Project Mesozoic during its testing phase and were soon picked up by the UFC as they started advertising and working with Animalia for new outlets. A lot of it had come the fact that while Animalians didn't favor warfare and particularly aggressive war, a fair number had apparently enjoyed some of the various combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, MMA, and the UFC. Some of it was shown in letters and calls into sports talk shows with questions and even a few converted humans that had opinions on matches. The UFC then took interest and helped fund the construction of the Claw Coliseum and laying the ground work for the UFC-A, which had its inaugural tournament the previous year. Brett and Mario both had their roles in setting rules for it and making sure that the matches were relatively even, but the Mesozoic Fight Club was something that they looked forward to for a few obvious reasons.
"So... what do you think?" Brett asked to Mario as they watched Tyra go through her routine as part of the body building competition.
"The size should be good for the real Dinotopian matches when we get to them," Mario commented, "More room, which means if we get someone who wants to participate and becomes a Sauropod, there won't be major issues for space in the matches."
Brett nodded, as size issues had been one of the bigger issues for the Dinotopians in Lyre/Animalia. Some like Sora, Yuki, Sophie, Roland, Mario, and his wife Courtney didn't have too much trouble, as they were based off of Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs that were of comparable size to Humans or were even smaller than Humans. However for the larger Theropods, like Jeremy, Heather, Tyra, Rex, and Regina, the Sauropods like Andrew, Jen, Luke, and Marjorie, and some of the more unique Dinotopians like Brett and Sherry as their frills and horns added to their height and space they took up had some issue in Lyre and Animalia. It was that sort of thing that both of them had figured was the restraining factor in people signing up to join Project Mesozoic and the Mesozoic Fight Club.
"Though... we could probably get some schedules that would allow for matches in the Claw Coliseum as well," Mario added, "since some of the attention for UFC-A has raised some interest in having some Mesozoic Fight Club matches there."
"And some of the smaller Dinotopians could do that easily," Brett nodded, "That shouldn't be too much of a problem. Though... we may need to see on what the interest is... Have you gotten anyone showing interest?"
"That's hit and miss," Mario said slowly, "among those who've already converted... there has been no uptake in interest. A good match would be to pit Mr. M and Rex against each other with regard to matched Theropods or Heather and Regina in an actual match..."
"But they don't want to," Brett concluded.
"Heather Green is more interested the artwork and advertising for Horizon," Mario nodded, "she'll do some work outs with Regina... but more I think for company than anything else. And Rex's focus remains with paleontology and furthering what science can determine on Dinosaurs through Dinotopians. Which means he's mostly shuffling between the state park to the north of Dino City and the Horizon offices here. Regina and Mr. M might have interest... though, M's mostly been helping me with some of the weight training with those that have already joined."
Brett sighed and nodded. He didn't expect all that much in that regard. Those that had already joined Project Mesozoic already had some of their ideas on what to do out there, and while the UFC could provide a good outlet for those that had interest in it, that wasn't going to mean that every Dinotopian would have that interest. The big hope was that now with a colony city for Dinotopians that was scaled up to them, they might start to see some of those that might be interested in the Mesozoic Fight Club.
"What about those that might be new?" Brett wondered, as that was where their best shot at getting contestants in.
"There we have had some more positive responses, as there are a fair number of people that saw Heather and Regina's staged match and have shown some interest," Mario answered, "though at the moment... many have also voiced specific interests in specific species. We have some that have voiced interests in Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Triceratops... all popular and with the exception of one... all Theropods."
"And the only two that would be comparable enough in size would be Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus to have matches," Brett gave a sigh, "have there been any interest in any of the armored dinosaurs? Sauropods... or some of the more medium sized animals. Shoot, I'd beet that even plant eaters had means of defending themselves when attacked."
"With those that have contacted me here as one of the Mesozoic Fight Club organizers/trainers... not really," Mario admitted, "though that's also something that may not be fully known. As confidentiality agreements mean we can't go into Horizon and check to see who has made order requests for what species and what fossil DNA they have available. We can advertise what we want to plan out... but beyond that we're still rather limited with what people choose. And for all we know there may be plenty that have decided to become Dinotopians because it's new and now they have the space to be bigger than most if not all other Animalians and haven't gotten that far."
Brett sat back in his chair and looked out through the thick glass to see Tyra lift up her hammer in triumph and gave a heavy sigh. Both he and Mario had agreed on a certain set of rules for matches with regard to the UFC-A, and those base rules would in theory also apply to the Mesozoic Fight Club. Competitors had to be of comparable size and strength, which was a rule that all combat sports had. The full use of natural weaponry was to be limited to defensive measures. Walter, for example, could not use his tail club as a direct weapon unless it was as part of a demonstration on what it could do, and that was possible as Dinosaur City had some agreements with the Texas State Government to provide help with education on prehistoric life, which was essentially part of the deal that got the colony city built, but it would still be something that would be limited with regard to actual matches. These rules were also standard and related to other issues that were designed to prevent mismatches.
And those same rules would apply with regard to the planned Mesozoic Fight Club as well. A match between a Tyrannosaurus Dinotopian and a Velociraptor Dinotopian would be a clear mismatch in terms of size. As would be a fight between most Sauropod Dinotopians and any other Dinotopian. But the organization couldn't control the fights or the matches or even who volunteered, which was the thing that Brett had found with many of the UFC-A matches. Many Humans when they converted to become Animalians ultimately chose animals that were rather popular, and those joining Project Mesozoic would be no different.
"We may need to advertise openings if we're to get a real tournament," Brett said slowly, "get enough variety so that the matches aren't all the same species against each other and with a limited number of matches per weight class."
Mario nodded in agreement, as the situation was such that while they had gotten some volunteers to sign on, many of their choices were often in certain species. It was fine to get those volunteers, but they'd still need more and a greater variety in order to fill out those needs. It might be tough, but outside of that, Mario was actually quite confident that the Mesozoic Fight Club would work out reasonably well.
"Possibly," Mario nodded, "and that might require some signing bonuses that would go along with it... as we'd essentially be arguing for people change what their choices might be. We could still keep them if they don't wish to change their minds, obviously, but that would have to be without the signing bonus."
"I'll have to talk with Marcus about that," Brett said slowly, referring to Marcus Pennington, who had been assigned by the UFC to manage and operate the various combat sports leagues in Animalia, UFC-A and the Mesozoic Fight Club, by the larger company, "though between the tickets sold for the tournament last year and the ratings we got on television for the first UFC-A tournament, I don't think that'll be a problem."
Mario nodded took a couple pieces of broccoli that were in a small snack bowl between them popped them into his mouth as they continued to watch the events going on in the arena.
"So... how's Courtney doing?" Brett asked, turning to a subject off the general topic, as the two reached a general agreement on the steps to be taken. The end of the IAC would include a planned announcement for the regular start of the Mesozoic Fight Club, which was intended to introduce the actual fighters, be they Dinotopian or Cenozoic Mammal Animalian of sufficient size. If they had enough members, tentative schedules would also come out for that first tournament, though for the moment they still had to wait on that part.
"Quite well," Mario laughed, "She'll be in the local track and field events, so I'll be looking forward to watching that."
"Still trying to teach you American football?" Brett asked.
"That too," Mario laughed again, "but then I've taught her what little I know about REAL football and she's had some interest. With the right sponsorship she might just end up leading the push to get more Animalians interested in more sports."
"That'll be something we can all support," Brett smiled.