Saturday, March 12, 2011

Thoughts on the UFC Purchasing Strikeforce

  • It speaks volumes that the UFC saw that the organization had value and shelled out the dough for it. That alone is a slap in the face to every Zuffa shill who clamored on about how "Strikeforces sucks". Think about it: the UFC was content to let EliteXC, the IFL, et al. die and pick apart the carcass post-mortem. In this instance, it didn't appear to Dana White and company that Strikeforce's death was at all imminent. Quite the contrary.
  • For fans of the Strikeforce brand and their evets' particular "Pride-esque" feel, this is a mixed blessing. First, we all know what happened to Pride after Zuffa said they'd keep it alive. And sure, a lot of that had to do with the financial chaos and organized crime links that came along with the purchase of the Japanese organization. But other than some canned "Best of Pride" shows on SpikeTV, I don't seem to remember Zuffa putting forth much effort to keep the product going. However, on the plus side, now we know for sure that - for at least the duration of Strikeforce's contracts with Showtime/CBS - Strikeforce is in no danger of disappearing. It's now got Zuffa to prop it up. God only knows what will happen when those Showtime/CBS contracts expire (Will Strikeforce keep going? Will it go the way of the WEC?). But until then, the beast will live.
  • This a mixed bag as well for fighters. If you're on the outs with Zuffa, you'll likely be on the outs with Strikeforce now, too. Where will big paychecks come from? Bellator? Sharkfights? The silver lining, though, is that if you do fight for Strikeforce, no matter what, Zuffa is underwriting your check.
  • What does this mean for Bellator? Well, with organization #1 now merged with organization #2, Bellator's ranking certainly goes up. Unfortunately, it's suddenly gotten a lot harder to grow.
  • Kudos to Scott Coker and his team. In just a few years, you took a San Jose-based kickboxing promotion and made it in a valuable thing that garnered the attention of the MMA industry's giant.

No comments: