UFC to be sold?

[wandshogun09]

It did seem to be a slippery slope for Strikeforce after Coker signed Fedor. Overeem's deal can't have been good for them either. I don't know how much they were paying him but I imagine he didn't come cheap and they had to share him with DREAM and K-1.

 

I'm with the general thinking that Dana's run his course as the UFC's frontman. His bullheaded and aggressive ways was probably a good thing in some ways (bad in others) in that the sheer persistence and stubbornness of him probably got the UFC places it mightn't have got to under a more reasonable, nice promoter like Coker. Dana was probably what the position called for in many ways in getting the UFC off the ground. Lorenzo too actually, he's just the good cop to Dana's bad cop publicly. But Dana's seemed to be losing it for a good two or three years now to me. They've still been plugging away and things were lining up for them that couldn't miss really. If it wasn't for the emergence of Ronda and Conor, I wonder if Zuffa would've sold up already by now.

 

All that said, my fears are the same as Supremo's above. That post hit the nail on the head for me. For all their faults, they have been the only MMA promoters who have not only stayed the course, but flourished business wise AND delivered quality shows on a consistent basis. No-one else has been able to do all three for long. I think it's very likely that some other owners come in and people then really realise just how good Zuffa were at this shit. I'm not confident that someone else can run it as successfully as Zuffa have. I really hope they can, but I'm sceptical. And we probably won't really be able to judge for a good 3-5 years after the takeover because Zuffa's got everything in place right now that it'll be easy for whoever comes in to have a profitable first year or two. Unless they're hit by a serious avalanche of injury and PED woes, everything's in place where they should be able to line up good stuff for the foreseeable future. You could probably put my Dad in Dana's seat and he'd he able to ride the wave they're on and have a strong 2017/18.

 

I just fear that some plonker's going to come in and start spunking money away hand over fist. That could result in some brilliant events in the short term (bringing Fedor in, tempting GSP back, getting Nick Diaz in the cage more regularly, coughing up enough money to finally get some of those dream fights like Ronda vs Cyborg, Jones vs heavyweights on etc). We could see a monster few years if some mental money mark comes in and starts splashing the cash about the place. Maybe even some of those crazy MMA vs boxing crossover fights that previously seemed ludicrous would become possible if the figures were right. But long term, that stuff could be the iceberg that the UFC crashes into. I don't think the UFC will ever completely die, the brand is strong enough that I think it could always be resold on (albeit for less) and someone would always see value or potential in those three letters, but it could damage them if they get some pillock come in and basically Affliction the fuck out of it.

 

It's all premature and I'm hoping my worries are unfounded and I'm just being an overly paranoid twat. But I can see us looking back in 5 years and appreciating the 'Zuffa era' a lot more in hindsight.

[herbie747]

I'm really worried about it TBH. Can't see UFC lasting. The guys will burn through money, I fear, and then call it a day. Like everyone else has done.

[David]

It did seem to be a slippery slope for Strikeforce after Coker signed Fedor. Overeem's deal can't have been good for them either. I don't know how much they were paying him but I imagine he didn't come cheap and they had to share him with DREAM and K-1.

 

My memory may be a tad hazy, but didn't shit start coming apart for Strikeforce after Silicon Valley Sports Entertainment (who were paying all the money for Hendo, Fedor etc) suddenly decide they wanted out? On top of that, I'm sure the Showtime partnership came with some input from them, which is why certain big names were signed and so on?

 

Basically, the whole thing simply got away from Coker eventually.

[ColinBollocks]

If Joe Silva pisses off, then I'd be a bit concerned. UFC will always be held up by their ability to make stars that connect and putting the matches on people want to see and Silva knows how to get it done.

 

For me, the most interesting twist in the future is the Ali act being used in MMA. It would mean the UFC have to be really transparent with their finances, which could lead to all sorts of arse aches.

[seanz25]

Weird debate, I get what everyone's saying if someone comes in, views it as a toy, spunks tons of money but gets bored within a year or so or it goes down the shitter money wise then they could be in trouble, but then you either sell the company or we'll have a load of the UFC guys just going elsewhere won't we? Maybe I'm missing something but Jones, DC, Diaz's, Lawler, they're not all gonna go into movies and TV if this falls through are they? Won't it just potentially create a more open playing field promotions wise if that was to happen? there's obviously repercussions to that to a point, but nothing detrimental the sport won't exist on TV again IMO.

[herbie747]

Weird debate, I get what everyone's saying if someone comes in, views it as a toy, spunks tons of money but gets bored within a year or so or it goes down the shitter money wise then they could be in trouble, but then you either sell the company or we'll have a load of the UFC guys just going elsewhere won't we? Maybe I'm missing something but Jones, DC, Diaz's, Lawler, they're not all gonna go into movies and TV if this falls through are they? Won't it just potentially create a more open playing field promotions wise if that was to happen? there's obviously repercussions to that to a point, but nothing detrimental the sport won't exist on TV again IMO.

 

I don't think they'll view it as a toy - of course not. Nobody spends $4b on a toy, no matter how rich they are. I just think they won't know what to do with it. Only UFC has ever been a success at MMA, and it's because of Dana, Lorenzo, and Joe SIlva. It's a way more delicate balance behind the scenes than people can even conceive. You don't just "make fights". Otherwise Affliction would have been a success - they had 2 fun shows and just "made fights". We'll probably end up with Gary Shaw & Bjorn Rebney running it or something, with Gus Johnson on commentary & GAD doing post-fight interviews. The usual fucks that manage to weasel their way into projects just by being around forever - like Russo.

 

UFC's success has been because of the people behind it; and the money of course. But not just the money. Maybe it'll be all fine and I'm worried about nothing - but this is the only sport I watch & I love it. I'm afraid. Hug me (no homo).

[lambyUK]

I can understand the concern from people, but more than likely they will keep the infrastructure that made it a success.

 

On top of that the sport and fighters within the organisation have become too big for it to just vanish.

 

The fact is people watch the ufc because that's where the best fighters remain. As long as that's the case I won't be too concerned.

[herbie747]

That's what WCW thought in 1998.

[wandshogun09]

We'll probably end up with Gary Shaw & Bjorn Rebney running it or something, with Gus Johnson on commentary & GAD doing post-fight interviews.

That's me having nightmares tonight.

[ColinBollocks]

I can understand the concern from people, but more than likely they will keep the infrastructure that made it a success.

 

On top of that the sport and fighters within the organisation have become too big for it to just vanish.

 

The fact is people watch the ufc because that's where the best fighters remain. As long as that's the case I won't be too concerned.

The talk is they want to keep Dana on, which makes sense in the short term. If Planet UFC does crumble it's going to be years down the line and, frankly, you imagine the new owners won't be total morons so they'll be looking to do well by their investment.

[lambyUK]

The one thing that the ufc do so well mind is fan access. There aren't many sports or organisations out there that are so fan friendly with the access they grant.

 

From the q and a's, press conferences, fighter signings etc etc, I wonder if new owners coming in would be so open?

 

I don't worry from the perspective of fights or presentation, but accessibility may change.

[jimufctna24]

Re:Strikeforce

 

David is correct. SVSE advised Coker to find a seller. From there, it was all over for Strikeforce as an independent promotion. 

 

Some of Coker's best work came after the Fedor signing, and even when Zuffa was footing the bill. Coker gave Rousey the exposure she deserved in. He had her headline major shows, which was a first for women's MMA at that stage. Coker also re-energised Nick Diaz's career. He made sure Diaz faced the right fighters, at the right times. 

[the_mole]

Showtime did that, it was them that did the All Access shows.

 

Cyborg -Carano headlined I'm sure under Strikeforce but it was Elite XC that built that up.

[jimufctna24]

Cyborg -Carano 

I really should have remembered that fight. 

[Supremo]

Speaking about Strikeforce's demise, I thought it might be interesting to go back and read Meltzer's article from the Observer, back when the UFC bought Strikeforce. It's super weird to read what a different landscape it was back then. Even weirder that five years later it's the UFC that's selling up shop.

 

For anyone who might be interested...

 

On 3/12, when UFC President Dana White announced that Zuffa had purchased Strikeforce, its leading worldwide competitor, the term he used to describe things going forward was “business as usual.”

 

Two days later, when White was joined by UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and Scott Coker, who will remain in charge of the Strikeforce division, the theme seemed twofold.

 

The first was that the deal, which had been in negotiations since early December and was finalized on 3/11, is right now a work in progress. The second was pushing that the new deal does not create a monopoly in the sport.

 

“There are thousands of other promoters, thousands of other options (for fighters), plenty of competition,” said Fertitta. “There’s no barrier to entry. Anyone who wants can go in.”

 

“All you have to do is raise some cash and jump in the business, try and get a TV deal and have some big balls,” said White.

 

But the reality is different, at least at the present time. Every major star and potential legitimate championship level fighter in the sport is now locked up and under contract with Zuffa, aside from a few with Bellator. The only exceptions are featherweights Bibiano Fernandes and Hatsu Hioki, both of whom have no name value outside of Japan, where the sport is struggling for survival past the grassroots level.

 

“There is no getting in,” said one person who in the past had interest of getting into MMA in a big way. “One of the networks will have to say, `let’s teach `em a lesson,’ but that was (Doug) Herzog’s mentality in taking TNA in 2005. Even though Spike didn’t own TNA, he went with them in order to build someone up against Vince.”

 

As far as being able to run local shows, there are plenty every weekend all over the world on a small scale and this deal will not affect that scene. As far as being able to compete as a national, or international force, you can try, but startup costs are huge, and there is not enough available talent to build with.

 

For a top fighter, there is nobody out there who can afford the kind of money the elite fighters can get. Putting the two leading companies that were competing under the same umbrella removes any leverage fighters had when it came to getting better deals.

 

Cesar Gracie, whose camp members like Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz have been able to all get better deals based on playing interest from one side against the other, told ESPN.com, “We’re definitely concerned that it’s going to impact their future contracts and their pay in future contracts.”

 

It appeared White and Fertitta were ready with answers regarding monopoly and anti-trust questions stemming from this purchase. The subject has been heavily talked about in recent days. The existence of smaller groups and limited barriers to entry of promoting on a small scale may or may not be a point if the question is brought up. When Microsoft faced antitrust issues, there were plenty of competitors, but they controlled the market. The question is market domination. So the argument may come down to what is the market. If the market is the sport of MMA, there is a case. If this becomes a legal issue and Zuffa claims the market consists of MMA, pro wrestling and boxing, or even the sports market itself. If they can successfully argue that, there is no case. The fact was when WWE purchased WCW, it was a similar situation and there wasn’t even a Bellator with national television at the time, and there was never an anti-trust issue that came out of that purchase. Plus, almost every major sports league in North America is in the big scale a monopoly and the top players don’t have the option of playing a league against the other. Now, in team sports, there is very real competition among teams, but it’s not like the PGA tour, for example, or NASCAR, aren’t dominant brand circuits where most of the top talent in the sport play.

 

Nevertheless, within the industry, the words anti-trust are being more than whispered, although it’s unknown whether anything will come of it. Regarding fighters we’ve spoken with, nobody wants to publicly say anything negative (or is it in their best interest to do so, especially now) other than Paul Daley. While Daley’s views of saying he’s not sure he wants to make money for Dana White, who fired him in May from UFC, is not a prevailing view, concern and the feeling this isn’t good for fighters in the long run is. However, it is a positive for the top fighters in Strikeforce as they are going to be in a position to earn more money, because UFC does pay virtually every fighter that appears on a major show significantly more than they are contracted to do. But in every situation, there are different mentalities when it comes to talent. Coker will use people like Ray Sefo or Melvin Manhoef who were great kickboxers and charismatic fighters, but had very obvious shortcomings that would keep them from being competitive at a high level in MMA. Coker loved Herschel Walker, used Bobby Lashley and was interested in Dave Bautista. White did use James Toney, but that was for a different reason, the idea that it would make money but also a message to those out of touch regarding a pure boxer in a fight with a wrestler/MMA fighter. UFC would not have an interest in Lashley unless he proved himself to be UFC-caliber, and would have no interest in Bautista, even if he would likely be a curiosity draw. White was very negative when Walker debuted, although that doesn’t necessarily mean he would be today. The fact UFC has shown interest in Royce Gracie, who could not compete at UFC level today, means the argument against Walker, since he also could not compete with a mid-level or even probably a low-level UFC heavyweight, has two sides.

 

There are many unanswered question, but short-term for fans, they are going to see likely more exposure for some of the Strikeforce fighters and some of them will become bigger stars. At that point, there will be a wider variety of big matches that can be made when there are more stars. But the actual quality and quantity and number of stars are different equations. Because there are 400 fighters, more likely you’ll have more stars than if you have 260 fighters, but not by the same percentage. All of the star fighters of the early and mid-90s could not compete in today’s UFC with the skills they had at the time. But they were still stars. The ability to actually win a fight is part of being a star, but it’s not even the predominate aspect. And the public is only going to accept so many fighters as stars, whether they have a 400 man roster of a 4,000 man roster, particularly the casual fans who are responsible for the vast majority of revenue.

 

Coker would not discuss other companies that attempted to get into the MMA game by purchasing Strikeforce. Because of virtually all the key talent being locked up contractually, this would be the only viable way in on a national level.

 

Coker was a minority owner of Explosion Entertainment, the parent company of Strikeforce, but with the deal, has a long-term contract to run the Strikeforce brand, but has no ownership stake.

 

The majority owners of Strikeforce were Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment, the company that runs the HP Pavilion in San Jose, the company’s home base since 2006, and the San Jose Sharks.

 

SVSE didn’t seem interested in expanding to compete against UFC, and as long as they were running something bigger than a local level show, they were at war with the combative White, whether they wanted that war or not.

 

Pro Elite, Inc., which had the Showtime deal in 2007 and 2008 before going belly-up and having its assets purchase by Strikeforce in early 2009, had raised new capital and had reportedly made a $40 million offer, which would have been $20 million to the owners and earmarking another $20 million in capital to grow the promotion.

 

Other names, including Shelly Finkel, Mike Tyson’s manager, were reportedly interested as well. While Fertitta said he was not aware of other offers while negotiating this deal, insiders with knowledge of the negotiations said the UFC deal was more lucrative and they kept raising the ante until the deal was agreed to. The purchase price has been reported at $40 million, although neither side publicly talked details. According to information from a source familiar with negotiations from the start, it may have been slightly higher, but it was in that range. His records showed first being alerted to the negotiations in early December. Fertitta said the deal slowed a little due to the holidays.

 

“Silicon Valley Sports and us were great partners,” said Coker. “They wanted to get back to their core business, the hockey business and expansion of their other sports businesses. We had a long conversation and started taking different offers and then we started talking to Lorenzo. They had a really good time in this business, but they wanted to get back to their core business. I wanted to stay in this business and this is how we hooked up.”

 

One person with knowledge of the background of the sale noted frustration had built of late between Coker and SVSE.

 

“They were selling with him or without him,” the source said, who noted the deal with Fedor Emelianenko (who between all costs of getting him was costing Strikeforce and Showtime about $2 million per appearance) was in the end the killer. While not a killer, what could have been a savior was the EA Sports Video game, but it sold poorly and a second game was not expected to happen, removing what could have been a significant revenue stream. The purchase may freshen up for a third UFC Undisputed game, because of so many new fighters on the roster, since sales for game two lagged significantly behind game one. But that may not be the case, since the last UFC game did not include WEC fighters, and the UFC/WEC relationship of the past is probably to some degree what the UFC/Strikeforce relationship will wind up being, other than they are talking about some intermixing of talent if there are fights they perceive the public wants to see.

 

Immediately, rumors began swirling that Strikeforce would exist as a separate company to fulfill the Showtime contract, but that eventually the brand would disappear, similar to what happened with World Extreme Cagefighting, which merged into UFC at the end of last year.

 

White laughed when it was brought up, and didn’t deny it.

 

“Who knows?,” he said. “Anything’s possible. I’d never say never to anything. For now, Strikeforce will continue to run shows on Showtime. We own Strikeforce now. Showtime runs the production. There’s a lot of things we can do in house to make it a better experience for fighters and fans.”

 

It creates an interesting situation because one of the reasons UFC has not gone to a more high-profile television station, either a premium station, a network or a higher rated cable station, is because of the insistence of controlling the production. They are now in a contract where somebody else is in charge, but White is a hands on person who is pretty meticulous about control.

 

For all the same business reasons, the fact the UFC brand name means more marketing-wise to a show, there seems to be an inevitability that once contracts are fulfilled, it all goes under the UFC umbrella.

 

For now, Showtime, not Zuffa, will be in charge of the announcers on the Showtime events, because all existing contracts will be honored. It is believed Strikeforce’s current announcing team is under contract until late 2012 or early 2013. Showtime was going to have a sit down meeting this week with White and Fertitta about working together going forward.

 

Many of the Showtime contracts with fighters are not exclusive, and Zuffa has always insisted on exclusive deals. For now, all contracts will be honored. Regarding what happens when individual deals run out, that’s another story. But many of the joint deals were done to enable Strikeforce to get fighters that were already signed with Dream, which was part of the K-1 umbrella. Coker was the former K-1 promoter for the North American market, so he has longstanding relationships with the group. It enabled Coker to get a higher caliber of fighters into Strikeforce. But with Dream, K-1 and Sengoku all in grave danger–none has a future show, while fighters probably would like the non-exclusive contracts, it may become a lot less of an issue when deals start coming due. In recent months, most of the fighters who had contracts with the Japanese groups were trying to get out of them to work in the U.S., because at least in the U.S. you would be paid after you fought, and in Japan, many of the biggest name fighters were owed substantial money and not paid for months, or even a year, after their last match.

 

White and Fertitta talked about the new partnership as a way to get enough fighters under contract to expand internationally. Both talked of running more shows in markets like Europe, Asia and Australia. Fertitta noted that there is a demand for more shows than the company is supplying, particularly in the U.K. and Australia,

 

Ironically, the size of the roster even a week ago in both promotions was thought to be too high. UFC has about 260 fighters under contract. With the number of shows scheduled, having fighters get three fights per year and allowing for frequent injuries, the maximum number believed they could facilitate was 200, and that’s with now doing 12 fights on most major shows. Coker said Strikeforce had about 140 fighters under contract, but the frequent complaint among fighters on that roster were that they were not getting enough fights.

 

There is no question a demand in more markets for live events than the promotion is currently supplying. But as a television and pay-per-view product in North America, there are questions about the saturation point when it comes to the number of events, and there is a breaking point on live events in the same market, and a limited number of stars who can viably headline. If you protect your championships, you’re going to have 15-18 title matches per year if you are lucky, given injuries and such. If you have 13 live shows or 50 live shows, the number of title matches is still going to be the same unless you add titles. But in adding titles, the average person doesn’t know who the champion is, therefore doesn’t care about the titles, and that’s actually a lot worse in the long run because the titles stop drawing.

 

Emelianenko will remain under contract with Strikeforce and Showtime in a three-way deal, and this does open up opportunities to do matches like Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar that were previously impossible. Even though Emelianenko has lot twice and Lesnar lost his championship, in an Observer poll listing possible interpromotional matches, that match, by leaps and bounds, had the most interest.

 

The heavyweight tournament will continue as planned, and White indicated that the finals would likely become Strikeforce’s first foray into pay-per-view.

 

White and Fertitta, for years, have never subscribed to the idea there can be too much product, citing sports like football and baseball which produce countless times the number of events as UFC does. Right now there is no clear answer, because as the company has expanded its number of dates, pay-per-view and television numbers give conflicting messages. But there is also a clear message that the UFC fan base is less interested in watching what they consider as secondary shows.

 

But Fertitta talked about using the larger roster to run far more frequently, particularly overseas. He gave the booming Australian market as an example. UFC has run twice in Sydney, over the last two Februaries, with both events selling out immediately.

 

“All the guys in the U.K. (the company’s London office staff) are pissed off we haven’t done enough events there,” said White. “We haven’t been to Ireland. Every time we go to Australia we sell out. We’re going through these growing pains with the sort and UFC. There’s a lot of demand there.”

 

He talked of that market, and the U.K. market, as being able to run one or two major events per year similar to the type they already get, plus eight to ten smaller events. Those would be for television in those markets and focus on exposing and developing new stars, as well as giving the sport a year-round presence in those markets. He brought up that the company’s U.K. office is constantly wanting them to run more shows, noting it makes no sense how infrequently they’ve run in London, and are long overdue for a return to Ireland.

 

The company has also talked of the idea, likely next year, of doing an Ultimate Fighter show geared toward those two markets, with an Australia vs. U.K. theme, to showcase new fighters who can be promoted as local stars. The idea of doing specific Ultimate Fighter shows in different countries like Mexico, Brazil and European countries has been talked about for a few years as a way to expose and develop new stars and raise awareness of the brand.

 

The expansion Fertitta has envisioned was very similar to WWE plans from several years ago, where the company wanted to expand, doing a group of international brands, with offices and local television in different countries and creative, General Managers, and wrestlers based on those parts of the world to run full-time. The company had announced these plans in a trade publication and we were given a detailed story on the ultimate goals. Two months later, after a European tour did disappointing business, Vince McMahon did an about-face and it was never talked of seriously again, limiting most of its overseas markets to two tours per year so keep the live event as a novelty.

 

The idea of a main U.S. office and local offices running regular shows in their market was tried in the 1960s with the Los Angeles-based Roller Games promotion, which was huge on television in Japan and Australia. After the flagship team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds, went to both markets and drew huge crowds, the idea was to capitalize on the success by putting a home team, the Australian T-Birds (and later the Australian Kangaroos) and Tokyo Bombers, creating local stars and using a few Americans stars as the big names on the teams, and sending heel teams from the U.S. overseas for a few weeks at a time as opponents. While there was early success–those in Japan in their mid-40s remember being children in school and the Tokyo Bombers over the short-term being a bigger deal than Giant Baba or Antonio Inoki; and people in Australia will say things similar, legendary skater Ann Calvello, who was the top babyface on the Australian T-Birds in the 60s, was such a big star she was on the cover of TV Guide, remembered that period as the highlight of her career when it came to notoriety.

 

But in all cases, going to housing a full-time local long-term promotion as opposed to the occasional tour in the long run didn’t hold up, and eventually burned out after a few years. Of course the world is a different place and the lure of these entertainment forms is different. But WWE is the closest comparison and they were very serious about doing something like this, and pulled out and the WWE model would appear to work better than UFC for that type of situation. But there is something to be said about a constant presence in the market from a media standpoint to turn something into an established major part of the sporting scene, which is something that WWE could never be.

 

But WWE has gone with the idea not running more than a few events per year (usually two in most cities, with the idea being one Raw and one Smackdown, but some major cities in Europe like London and Manchester will get more than two dates) with the idea of avoiding burning out the market. Wrestling, because of its lower pricing and ability for top stars to work more often, works better as an event in a city running more frequently than MMA normally would. In most cases a singular MMA event in a city for the first time, or once every year or two, would be far bigger than any pro wrestling event except a WrestleMania could be.

 

As far as Strikeforce itself goes, its scheduled events, starting with a minor show on 4/1 in Stockton, Calif., and a major show eight nights later in San Diego, will take place and air on Showtime as scheduled. The only obvious change is that elbows to the head on the ground, that had been banned by the Strikeforce organization will now be legal. Strikeforce will use a hexagon as opposed to an octagon cage, but both organizations will use identical rules.

 

“We’re really in the early stages,” said Fertitta. “We haven’t had a chance to meet with the Showtime guys. As of now, there’s a contract in place (through 2014) where Strikeforce is going to deliver 16 fights (annually) for Showtime.”

 

It should be noted that while Showtime has a contract with Strikeforce to run a number of shows, the contract does not make Strikeforce the exclusive MMA promotion on the station. They also have a contract for four M-1 Global events, and would be within their rights to sign another promotion.

 

This creates an interesting dynamic since many in the Zuffa organization have been behind the scenes very critical of the Strikeforce announcing crew, and Dana White and Frank Shamrock, in specific, have had issues for years.

 

“This is one of those weird situations where we go in and do this deal and there’s a lot of people (in Strikeforce) who aren’t big fans of mine,” said White. “We can still do business. Scott Coker is going to be running the day-to-day operations of Strikeforce. They’re never going to have to deal with me. If they have to, they can do business with Lorenzo.”

 

An issue has already arisen where Paul Daley, who was set to challenge Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce welterweight title in t main event on April 9 in San Diego, and now is publicly having second thoughts. Daley was fired by White from UFC in May when he sucker punched Josh Koscheck after a loss. At the time White said that Daley would never fight in UFC again, and on Saturday, he said while all contracts would be honored, that Daley would still never fight in UFC again.

 

Daley tweeted after getting word of the sale, “Not sure what I’m gonna do right now, honestly...fight for Strikeforce and be Strikeforce champ, put money in ZUFFA/Dana White’s pockets? Or fight here in the U.K. for BAMMA, who appreciate my brand, and have my loyal fans, family and media support me. For real.

 

“I have a great deal at BAMMA and make just as much money, believe or not...as I do in the USA. They appreciate my services and what I bring to the company.”

 

It probably wasn’t a smart move. The vast majority of MMA groups who use name fighters and pay them well don’t survive for the long haul. To burn a bridge with the organization which most likely will be around at a strong level until the end of your career isn’t wise. There will be a few fighters with some name value who will be able to make more, and actually become bigger stars, being on the outside, similar to the role Shamrock, Matt Lindland, Tim Sylvia and Cung Le played in recent years.

 

On 3/12, White talked about the organizations being run separately and that fighters would not cross over.

 

“That has changed from Saturday until today,” he said two days later.

 

White has, as one of his regular talking points, talked of boxing, and saying that they are students of boxing and have learned from boxing what not to do. One of the things Zuffa has done is attempted to try and avoid diluting the value of championships by creating too many, but in one fell swoop, they go from seven championships to 14.

 

UFC has seven men’s championships, while Strikeforce has five men’s titles, plus two women’s championships at 135 and 145.

 

“They (the Strikeforce champions) were champion on Saturday and they are today,” said White. “Will these guys (the UFC and Strikeforce champions) never face each other? No. Our job is to make the fights people want to see.”

 

Josh Barnett, who had been very critical of White dating back to their falling out over contract negotiations. Barnett had beaten Randy Couture for the heavyweight title in 2002, and then was stripped of the title because he failed a steroid test in that fight.

 

But unlike Daley, Barnett thought before he spoke when asked about the subject, doing something of an about-face.

 

“Things have changed,” he said to Sherdog.com. “This is major and great things can come from it and I just want to be a part of that, and the way I can be the best fighter I can be.”

 

“I’m not here to make this a personal vendetta or judgment with (White), especially in terms of business. I know what I’ve got to do and I know that his position is in terms of being the president of the UFC, and that he has excelled at. He’s done a great job.”

 

“There is a part of me that absolutely wishes that things between myself and the UFC had worked out differently,” he said. “I was 23, 24 years old at the time and I took advice from where I took it, and I tried to do what I thought was the best thing at the time, but this guy that is sitting here talking to you now would tell that kid he was a moron.”

 

“Dan a likes to go out there and crush, kill, pillage, whatever, and lets’s face it, that’s kind of my M.O. As much as I may have ever had difficulty with Dana, at the end of the day, there is a part of me that absolutely vibes with what he does. Whether he wants to think about it or not, here and now, no bullshit, Dana White is pretty fucking metal and I am a metal dude, we’ll at least have that sort of respect that can’t be overlooked.”

 

Frank Shamrock, another longtime White antagonist, has not spoken. Shamrock, a personal friend of Coker, who was the key person in getting Coker to move from being a promoter of local kickboxing shows in smaller arenas in San Jose, had been attempting to raise capital for the company through a hedge fund, likely to allow he and Coker to take control. He is under contract to Showtime as an announcer. Many in UFC have been extremely vocal in complaining about the Strikeforce announcing team which is employed by Showtime. This creates a potential issue off the bat when UFC, for good reasons, has historically been very protective of their vision of quality control.

 

White and others in UFC have been critical of women fighting, believing there are some good and marketable fighters but the overall depth isn’t there in any division, and White has said he simply didn’t like it at other points. It will continue under the Strikeforce banner. Long-term, it is anyone’s guess. If and when there is a brand merger after contractual details are worked will determine the long-term of women’s fighting under the major league umbrella. This puts impetus on Coker and the women to get their brand over and for a marketable star to emerge to where it is popular enough not to be dropped.

 

Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg proved to be an unquestioned success. But since Carano left, Cyborg’s subsequent fights have had a disappointing level of interest. That fight may have only proved that Carano had a unique marketability, and that there was significant interest in the sport of women’s fighting. Zuffa did have interest in Carano in 2008 after Elite XC closed down, because of her ratings drawing power. The idea was to put her in WEC, which needed another marketable star as a way to test the waters on women fighting. So they were not as dead set against it in reality as they may have appeared to have been. But when Carano signed with Strikeforce, partially because most of the other top women fighters had already signed and also because there was a legal question as to whether or not Strikeforce owned her rights from the purchase of Elite XC, Zuffa lost interest in women fighting. And without her, there really was no demand or good reason for UFC to feature women fighters.

 

It had been known over the past year that the company had been looking for additional investor money.

 

White said that Strikeforce would continue to use San Jose as its home base, but that UFC would now also run at the HP Pavilion.

 

The UFC in the past has purchased several competing organizations, to get both key fighter contracts as well as videotape libraries. They range from the one-and-done World Fighting Alliance, which led to getting Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida; to the highly publicized Pride Fighting Championship purchase, which led to acquiring Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and a valuable library, as well as World Extreme Cagefighting.

 

While UFC now has a tape library with more than 4,000 fights. They have expressed interest in doing its own television station, similar to what the NFL, Golf, Major League Baseball, the NBA and Auto Racing have and WWE is planning. But it is more something talked about than something they’ve made major moves to get going and are well behind what WWE has done, and WWE’s channel isn’t expected running until 2013.

 

The Strikeforce events on the schedule and deal with Showtime will continue. White said that Coker will be running the business and given a budget to work with.

 

It should be noted that the same type of talk was done when the Pride deal went down, and Pride ended up folding without ever running another show. But this will be different. Pride was a complete mess, a Japanese brand which due to a scandal had lost television. The inability for a foreign group to negotiate a viable television deal as its platform is what killed Pride.

 

The upcoming major Strikeforce events will now be advertised on UFC events. This will create something UFC has attempted to avoid, the watering down of championships, since they will be promoting champions in two different organizations at the same time, although unification matches are possible and having two world champions in most of the weight classes may end up temporary.

 

With both the Dream and Sengoku promotions in Japan both hanging by a thread, with neither group having announced a future date, it means at the major league level, the mixed martial arts business on a worldwide basis will be controlled by the same company.

 

“The Strikeforce purchase strengthens and stabilizes the (Zuffa) brand,” said Randy Couture, who said this has the potential to make things tougher for free agents, to ESPN.com. “Overall it’s too early to tell if it’s a positive or negative for the sport until we see that direction the new owners take with the brand.”

 

White said because he had so many enemies on that side due to comments from the past, he probably would not attend Strikeforce shows. But he did indicate others, like co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta or matchmaker Joe Silva would likely attend.

 

“The beauty in a business like this is there are three partners, Frank (Feritta III, who along with brother Lorenzo own 40.5% of Zuffa stock), Lorenzo, myself (who owns 9%) and Abu Dhabi (an arm of the government which owns 10%),” said White. “Lorenzo can go over there and deal with Showtime. I’m sure the last thing Showtime wants is for me to show up at their footsteps.”