After Stratus Media Group announced that they had acquired ninety-five percent of ProElite, CEO Paul Feller gives MiddleEasy.com a great interview on what we can expect from the resurging MMA group.
Here are some excerpts from the interview conducted by MiddleEasy’s Elena Lopez. When asked about why Stratus Media made the deal to acquire a large stake in ProElite, Feller stated the following:
We have a well-established name worldwide, they have a wonderful library of previous events and we’re looking to take that branding and that history, and rebuild the brand as a major player and we’re looking to fill the number two spot that Strikeforce once held.”
In terms of making ProElite a success, feller stated that they will use their experience and already-existing relationships and leverage those into all properties they manage.
We have multiple events, not just in the MMA space, but music festivals, concerts, film festivals, autoracing, autosports — and we’re going to extrapolate the benefits of media and sponsorship from all of our different properties and cross-pollinate them across all of our brands and all of our events including ProElite. That means leveraging our television relationships, our sponsorships and our merchandising partners. We have considerable resources to go into this and better the chances and the odds to make ProElite a large success.
Payout Perspective:
Here is a summary of other topics the extensive interview touched on:
– Feller attributes the video library, intellectual property value, fighter relationships, and equity in brand-awareness as reasons they invested in the defunct company.
– Feller admits that they were in “significant discussions to acquire a large portion of Strikeforce” but the deal did not materialize.
– Regarding the future of the promotion, Feller states that a bulk of what could happen in the future is dependent on what happens with the future of Strikeforce and UFC. In terms of acquiring fighter, Feller states that they are “already in major communications” to get a number of fighters and free agents.
Feller sounds like he has a balanced view on the potential success of ProElite, but I still question how successful they can be in attaining their goals. They may be in communications with fighters who are free agents, but given the lack of real depth in the Bellator roster, it’s hard to imagine their are a lot of elite fighters outside of Zuffa and Bellator. Strikeforce became the “number 2” promotion because there was an argument that some of the fighters could hold their own and possibly beat their UFC counterparts. Those arguments don’t really exist anymore. It will be very interesting to see what they can come up with, and whether or not they can snag a decent TV deal. I just have one question: what will the new promotion be called? I doubt it will be called ProElite, so as of right now, it seems the company has no promotion.
Feller sounds like he has a balanced view on the potential success of ProElite, but I still question how successful they can be in attaining their goals. They may be in communications with fighters who are free agents, but given the lack of real depth in the Bellator roster, it’s hard to imagine their are a lot of elite fighters outside of Zuffa and Bellator. Strikeforce became the “number 2” promotion because there was an argument that some of the fighters could hold their own and possibly beat their UFC counterparts. Those arguments don’t really exist anymore. It will be very interesting to see what they can come up with, and whether or not they can snag a decent TV deal. I just have one question: what will the new promotion be called? I doubt it will be called ProElite, so as of right now, it seems the company has no promotional entity.
Feller sounds like he has a balanced view on the potential success of ProElite, but I still question how successful they can be in attaining their goals. They may be in communications with fighters who are free agents, but given the lack of real depth in the Bellator roster, it’s hard to imagine their are a lot of elite fighters outside of Zuffa and Bellator. Strikeforce became the “number 2” promotion because there was an argument that some of the fighters could hold their own and possibly beat their UFC counterparts. Those arguments don’t really exist anymore. It will be very interesting to see what they can come up with, and whether or not they can snag a decent TV deal. I just have one question: what will the new promotion be called? I doubt it will be called ProElite, so as of right now, it seems the company has no promotional platform.