UFC Announces GSP vs Diaz for UFC 137

Yesterday on Twitter, UFC president Dana White announced that current UFC Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre would be taking on Strikeforce Welterweight champion Nick Diaz on Oct 29th at UFC 137 from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, stating “U wanted it! U GOT IT!!!” to his followers on the social networking site.

According to Cesar Gracie’s interview with USA Today, Nick Diaz signed a new Zuffa contract for 8-fights, which allows him to fight in both the UFC and Strikeforce, but prohibits the current Strikeforce Welterweight champion from pursuing boxing.  Diaz was set to box Jeff Lacy in the fall of 2011, which was one of the hurdles that needed to be cleared before making GSP vs Diaz a reality.

Diaz and his manager were able to use his boxing aspirations as leverage when negotiating the new deal with Zuffa, which led to Zuffa offering Diaz GSP and a substantial pay bump according to our sources.  Gracie also noted that Showtime did not have a say or presented roadblocks in making the fight, stating that Showtime did not have a contract with Diaz and in fact, the new contract dissolved his old contract with Strikeforce.

 

Payout Perspective:

The bout will only have GSP’s WW title on the line, and looks to be one of several fights in the works for other Strikeforce fighters which would have similar type of contracts.  One such fighter is Strikeforce Lightweight champion and fellow Gracie Fighter camp member Gilbert Melendez.  According to MMAPayout sources, UFC fighters are already free to go and fight in Strikeforce with the current contract they have, and now these new Zuffa contracts will do the same for Strikeforce fighters.  Gilbert Melendez and his manager have both stated that they are very interested in fighting in the UFC.  Melendez has been linked to fighting either former WEC champion Anthony Pettis and whoever the UFC champ is down the line for another champion versus champion match-up between the promotions.

The move puts Showtime in a curious situation, potentially taking away one of their biggest draws.  If Nick Diaz beats GSP, it is expected that Diaz, as the new UFC WW champion, would vacate his Strikeforce title. If he loses, Gracie said Diaz could go back and fight for Strikeforce, but at that point would be coming off a loss.  Several sources told MMAPayout that this situation has to do with the UFC positioning themselves for a new TV deal, trying to use different networks and outlets as leverage for finding a more lucrative home, which could mean leaving their current home in Spike TV.  Showtime Sports Ken Hershman told Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred that Showtime does indeed have a 2012 option to extend the Strikeforce TV deal, and that no decision had been made yet on what they will do.  It is said that Showtime has until February/March of 2012 to make that decision.

As for the UFC, Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting is reporting that other than Spike TV and NBC Sports (Versus), the G4 cable channel which is owned by NBC Universal is “emerging as a player” to air TUF in 2012.  Interesting to note that G4, which was currently dropped by DirecTV for being one of the lowest rated networks on cable, is only available in 60 million cable and satellite homes nationwide (lost 20 million homes when DirecTV dropped them).  NBC and G4 could potentially use UFC’s programming to try and get back on DirecTV, but either way, jumping on to G4 or NBC Sports will be considerably less than the 98 million homes Spike TV currently reaches.

In terms of UFC’s Spike TV deal, it will be up in 2011 just after the next season of TUF concludes, which will be coached by Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Michael Bisping.  After this season produced some disappointing ratings featuring Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, Spike TV and the UFC wanted to spark some life back into the reality TV show. Adding Miller, who will now leave MTV’s Bully Beatdown show behind and focus on Spike’s TUF, has the personality and the followers to bring buzz and drama back to the show, which many within the industry believe is the reason he was chosen over others, including Brian Stann.  Interesting to note that the bout between Miller and Bisping will not be on a PPV show, but on the TUF finale on Spike, similar to Penn vs Pulver a few seasons ago.

Adding to that, Dana White recently stated that the UFC does not make any money off of Ultimate Fight Nights and live specials which air on Spike.  Those shows are paid by Spike as part of their annual contract which includes UFN’s and TUF Finales.  That would explain the UFC’s urgency in looking for a substantial bump in TV rights fees, either from Spike TV or another network. The market for sport programming has become more lucrative in the past year with demand for content increasing, which is why the UFC is looking to cash in given the current conditions.  It is said that the UFC’s number one priority right now is to look for the best TV deal possibly, which means would pay them well, give them production control, and support them through other programming on the network.