MMA Junkie reports that the Strikeforce-Showtime relationship may continue as Dana White stated to the web site that a deal for Strikeforce to continue on Showtime is imminent.
“Showtime lives,” White stated to MMA Junkie.
Scott Coker appeared on Inside MMA on Monday to talk Strikeforce:
Coker didn’t reveal too much about the future of Strikeforce.
According to White, Strikeforce fighters are staying put although it was rumored that Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez would move over to the UFC.
Payout Perspective:
The move to continue the Showtime relationship is interesting considering the amount of programming Zuffa intends to put on Fuel TV. Its also surprising with the Fox deal that there would be a need to continue with the Strikeforce promotion on Showtime. Keeping Strikeforce talent such as Melendez in Strikeforce is disappointing considering Melendez has outclassed his division in Strikeforce. Certainly, a superfight with Frankie Edgar would create some PPV buzz.
One think about keeping Strikeforce is that it keeps women’s MMA. While its unlikely to see women in the UFC anytime soon, keeping the women’s divisions in Strikeforce would have Zuffa observe whether its something that fans want to see.
Does anyone else get the feeling that Coker has almost no idea what is going on? He negotiated a job with Zuffa. But i believe that just gives him a pay check without any real power or responsibilities. In some of the pics he is in with Dana White and Lorenzo he looks like he is ashamed to be pretending to be part of the group. Dana White speaks like Coker is in control and has an important role with SF. But i dont see it. He never seems to answer anything directly as if he has no control and isnt even in the loop of the decisions Zuffa are making.
In the first minute of the video above talking about SF on Showtime. He never mentions “We”. He says i guess, think, believe, optimystic, hopefully, etc a lot. He is speaking like a reporter who isnt involved at all. “I think both sides look at this as something they want to do”. If reminds me of when an ESPN reporter would talk about the NBA lock out.
I believe Coker is playijg along because he is technically an employee. I think one day he will tell all especially if SF doesnt go well and he will want to distance himself from the blame.
It seems since SF will continue he will basically be match maker. I dont kow. Jest get a weird feeling watching him talk about anything major with SF.
hi! sorry if this is not a valuable comment, but I’d be ashamed to be associated with Dana White in a picture as well 😀
I agree with what you say about Coker shifting to the role of an employee. Peace
BrainSmasher: I have a same feeling. But I think, that Coker right now isn’t even a matchmaker (I believe Sean Shelby does that for Strikeforce now if I’m not mistaken). Thing is, that when UFC acquired Strikeforce, White stated, that he will be nowhere close to Showtime negotiations since people from Showtime doesn’t like him and that Coker can make deals where White cannot. But since this point is void now (after UFC landed Fox deal, Showtime accepted White as negotiator), so Coker now isn’t really useful for them (which is a bummer). I see a short future for him in UFC, but I hope, that he can use his talents elsewhere.
I certainly hope that Women’s MMA doesn’t make it to the UFC over from SF. Two reasons:
1. Call me sexist, but I don’t want to see women beating each other up, spilling blood, etc …
2. Women’s matches don’t appear to be nearly as competitive as what we’ve come to expect from the UFC.
Here’s hoping they keep the women on SF …
My initial impression post acquisition is that Dana really wanted Coker to run SF, with final veto power maintined by Zuffa. However, I do not think that Coker was up to the task.
With the Fox deal and injuries, Dana decided to raid some SF talent and at that point was close to imploding SF. With Showtime management shake-up and the 1st Fox show in the books, Dana seems to have taken over the tone/scope of negotiations. I’m not sure why, but it seems like he has decided to keep SF around in some capacity. Which is good imo
While there will be no more raids/crossovers, that is not to say when someones contract is up they do not migrate to UFC. I really like the feeder approach and thought they could have done that with WEC as well. Plus Dana will not have women fighting.
BS,
I agree. It looks like he’s just there to draw a paycheck. The terms of the SF purchase probably had something to keep him around for a while. He doesn’t look like he wants to be there anymore, and he clearly has no control since there is no way he would have let Overeem, Hendo and Diaz leave of his own accord. Zuffa have gutted the company he created and there isn’t anything he can do about it. Mind you, I’m sure he made a lot of money on the sale, but it must be hard to watch your work dismantled.
SF now feels like the WEC used to before Zuffa folded the heavier WEC divisions into the UFC. This is not good for viewership. If I didn’t have a DVR I probably wouldn’t watch anymore.
I have always felt MMA is best with no competition to the UFC. That is the only way ALL fights can be possible. Co Promotion doesnt work if one has more leverage than the other. It isnt just the UFC who refuse to do it. Anyone in their position would be foolish to do so. But there was 1 thing that come from Competition that the UFC benefited from. Currently the UFC blows through interesting fights so fast that they run out of credible challengers and often make the fight before there is really any HUGE demand. If the public waits a 6-12 months or so for a fight it builds anticipation and starts to draw some mainstream. As soon as someone gets #1 contender he is forced into the fight before anyone is really sure of their abilities. Now the UFC has a “National League” so to so peak. Melendez in the UFC would be forced to fight the champ already. But with SF alive now they can build at least one guy in each division that isnt forced immediately into a title fight in the UFC. They can let the public stew on who would win if the two champs fought. Argue who is better. Then every year to 18 months they can set up the fight. If the UFC built a guy that long people would claim the UFC is protecting the champ. This way they can still put on the best fights they have in the UFC but have a super fight brewing that can be huge. The nature of the UFC only allows for 1 guy in each division to really be a star. This gives them the ability to have twice as many. I dont think the UFC will cross people over every event. But i think every 12-18 months we will see the fights that will really sell. I mean it will have to be a block buster fight.Thanks my opinion.
Werdum is now slated to fight Roy Nelson at UFC 143. Not sure if he had been signed a while ago, or if he has just been signed, but it’s another hit to SF. If Zuffa are going to do what BS is suggesting in terms of super-fights, they are going to have to leave at least some people in SF.
Diego. It would help but as we have seen over the history of the sport. It isnt really that important. MMA fans have always hyped the champs of other smaller Orgs as being unbeatable. People assume just because someone looks good, even vs mediocre talent, they are good. They take it at face value. You can take a group of guys who have never fought. Have 1 guy slaughter a bunch of bums and there would eb tons of people claiming him to take out the UFC champ. People did it with all Pride champs, Bellator champs, Strikeforce, and Dream.
The UFC needs to keep a consistant group of fighters there. Thats it. The cream will rise to the top and with good packaging the fans will think each one is the best i the world. It is also good to bring in some “has beens” with name value to get some guys over. We have seen dozens of examples of highly hyped champs from other promotions with outside the promotion and not live up to the hype. Look at the hype Hector Lombard is building in Belltor while not facing anyone above failed UFC gatekeeper status. The guy went win-less in Pride and now is about to make the top 10.
Of course it would be better to leave some names in SF. It would speed up the process greatly.
UPDATE:
Word is that Zuffa/Strikeforce and Showtime will be announcing the TV deal during tomorrows press conference. The deal is supposed to be an extension which will carry the current TV deal until 2014 (2 year extension).
-Jose
BrainSmasher: But when you have two organizations, you have basically twice the amout of storylines to tell. Very well known guys are on the top of the heap – Right now, even in the BEST org, ie UFC there are a lot of guys on the prelims, which I don’t know basically nothing about – and I’m really trying to be informed. When you have UFC and Strikeforce, you have twice as much contenders, twice as much champions – doubling the number interesting storylines to tell and make.
I always thought, that having more organizations allows fan to know better more fighters.. Not having the possibility of champ fighting the champ is price to pay. But even then – Let’s say that all TOP orgs right now merge. You get UFC with Edgar, Alvarez, Chandler, Melendez, Masvidal… maybe Aoki, Kawajiri.. whatever. Then you still won’t get your dream matchups. It’s not really possible to have Edgar facing Chandler, Melendez, Alvarez, Aoki… right now. So even if you merge the organizations, matchups you want won’t materialize. You get probably one such matchup and then other guys maybe lose something, or there will be injury, or there will be other contenders… basically same, as if you leave the organizations separated.
BTW: as for top guys in UFC: Well, there was the opinion about WEC guys being the lower level than the UFC, being the smaller brothers. Then there is merge and what you got? Ben Henderson buzzsawing through competetion up to contender status. Cerrone basically on his way to the same place. Pettis stumbled, but is back on the track. I would say that WEC wasn’t a lower league after all – TOP guys from WEC are pretty comparable with TOP guys from UFC.
I would say that past model with one dominant org and 2-3 bigger ones as plus was better for the fighters and maybe even fans.
Yeah and Dan Hardy was the #1 contender too. Its all based on match ups. WEC fighters are not doing all that well. Some are doing OK at 155 because the divison is at its weakest point in many years. Penn left and Edgar has been tied up with Penn and Gray it seems for ever now. There was a lot of fighters the UFC built to look good but never beat anyone. There is a reason Jim Miller never got a title shot. He beat bums. They used him to get Bendo over. Cerrone has magically avoided all wrestling based fighters he has always struggled with. The UFC needed WEC fighters to fill new weight class’. No one would respect those divisions if the WEC fighters got destroyed at 155. People would assume all the WEC fighters sucked and the 135 and 145 divisions would never take off.
Dont get me wrong there are always good fighters that come form other Orgs. But there isnt as many as people think. Most are over rated. When the UFC has first choice of talent it hugely decreases the overall talent everywhere else. Like the Drafts in other sports. The later you go into the draft the less likey you are to find a good player. But styles make fights and the UFC can make anyone look good. It is up to the fans to look at the skills and the styles of the fighters and see who is legit and who is being protected/carried.
Yes having two Orgs give you twice as many stories. But NAAFS has fighters with stories too. Everyone in this planet has a story. People only want to hear the stories of the best. Ussually with a second Org or more the fighters are hyped up and people fall for it. There are some who have jumped on the Hector Lumbard bandwagon and want to hear his story. But most of the fans dont want to hear it until he proves himself. He cant do that in Bellator. It is important to the sport that new Orgs pop up but equally as important they fail. That is when the best fights always happen. You mention some of the fighters losing and not getting those fights. Well when they lose they build up someone else so it all works out and create bigger fights.