Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 18, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 18, 2016 As much as I miss Strikeforce (not as much as I miss Pride or WEC but I miss it), I'm glad they closed down, purely for the fact of what we got to see in the UFC because of it. If Strikeforce didn't shut up shop, certain things might've never happened, certain fights might've never happened and certain fighters might've never jumped over to the UFC. Â I think it's safe to say Ronda Rousey was always going to end up in the UFC. You could tell from early on in her Strikeforce days that she was going to be something, as long as she kept winning. Even with the UFC not having women's fights at the time, she stood out and was becoming too much of a breakout star for the UFC not to want a piece of her. Â But other fighters? Would Dan Henderson have ever returned to the UFC if Strikeforce was still doing well? If he stayed there we'd never have seen that Shogun epic in 2011. Just for that fight alone, I'm glad Strikeforce went down. Would Overeem have jumped? Would Nick Diaz have ever returned? Bigfoot might've stayed...so possibly no Hunt vs Bigfoot. Â And the big one for me, Robbie Lawler. All the names above, I think they'd probably have made it to/back to the UFC at some stage. Especially Overeem. He reeked of money at the time so Zuffa would've broke the bank for him at some point regardless. But I don't think the death of Strikeforce affected anyone's career path as much as it did Lawler's. He was floundering in Strikeforce at the time the UFC took over. He was a middleweight and a very inconsistent one. Seemed to be going through the motions and at times, like he just couldn't be arsed. He lost his last Strikeforce fight to Lorenz Larkin and I remember we were all expecting him to get shown up in his UFC return fight against Josh Koscheck. Â The return to the UFC seemed to do something to Lawler. It woke up the beast. If Strikeforce never went down, I think there's a good chance Lawler would still be there now, as a middleweight on a win one/lose one merry go round of inconsistency. He was probably on decent enough money in Strikeforce and I doubt Coker would've ever released him because, win or lose, he was always exciting. So Lawler could've probably picked up a paycheque forever there if he wanted to. Â It just seemed like the UFC return was the moment where Lawler decided it was time to get serious. The drop to 170, training at ATT, he had a kid on the way at the time I think as well...the UFC move at that time was his chance to go from journeyman to champion and he grabbed it with both hands. Â Â Robbie Lawler's career is one of my favourite stories in MMA history. The road that bloke took and all the setbacks and ups and downs, I still can't believe he's the champion now. You'd never ever have called it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
METAL ON METAL Posted June 22, 2016 Author Share Posted June 22, 2016 Jeremy Botter is confirming the sale is now complete. An announcement will probably be made the week of UFC 200. Â The CEO of the group who has bought it, WME-IMG, is Ari Emanuel - one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and also the person whom Entourage's Ari Gold is based upon. Â In a way, Jeremy Piven owns the UFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 Awww, was really hoping the Chinese would buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 Jeremy Botter is confirming the sale is now complete. An announcement will probably be made the week of UFC 200. Â The CEO of the group who has bought it, WME-IMG, is Ari Emanuel - one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and also the person whom Entourage's Ari Gold is based upon. Â In a way, Jeremy Piven owns the UFC. Â As a massive Entourage fan, my mind is completely fucking blown! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
METAL ON METAL Posted June 22, 2016 Author Share Posted June 22, 2016 Awww, was really hoping the Chinese would buy it. The Chinese company Dalian Wanda are involved in this deal as it's an investment group who have bought it, not just one company. Â WMG-IMG are the ones leading this group and likely the majority owners, with Dalian Wanda presumably minority owners and overseeing the Asian market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 We edging ever closer to hopefully the demise of Face The Pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slapnut Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Â DANA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
METAL ON METAL Posted June 22, 2016 Author Share Posted June 22, 2016 I wonder what this will mean for the Reebok deal. I'm totally guessing here but as new owners could the terms of the previous deal become somewhat invalid or at least eligible for review? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 I wonder what this will mean for the Reebok deal. I'm totally guessing here but as new owners could the terms of the previous deal become somewhat invalid or at least eligible for review? Â From what I've read the reebok deal would have to be honoured just like any other contract, similar to the fighters and their contracts too. Â Hopefully a buyout clause exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members John Matrix Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 You have to assume it's been 'sold as seen'. What would be the rationale for the Reebok deal being eligible for review, and not any others? It's lovely to think of this as a new era, but these guys have spent 4.2bil? on it right? I'm inclined to believe they're pretty chuffed with it as it stands.  I'd be surprised if we see anything more than a few production tweaks and a few less behind the curtain horror stories. Certainly very interesting to see how this plays out though. When people talk about outsiders knowing MMA as UFC, then to many insiders the UFC is Dana, Frank and Lorenzo.  I'm fascinated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_mole Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Ari Emanuel was the one who told Fox to get the UFC, so he kind of brokered that deal. Â His management company has Rousey as a client. Â Kraft is I'm sure the guy who owns Kraft cheese, he also owns the New England Patriots, he's about 80 though. Â Wanda are a big investment group and you won't get into China to do business without some sort of Chinese investment, they own 20% of Athletico Madrid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 It'll be interesting looking back at this sale in 5 years time and see how the industry has changed. Could be huge, could be that they chose a song by hot RnB sensation Maximus Jack to replace Face The Pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 It'll be interesting looking back at this sale in 5 years time and see how the industry has changed. Could be huge, could be that they chose a song by hot RnB sensation Maximus Jack to replace Face The Pain. Knowing how this world works. Maximum Jack will be requested to do another re-mix of Face The Pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted June 22, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2016 Maximus Jack, Grandad. Â Indeed. But at least the new owners won't be as precious with the song as Dana for some reason is. Although so long as Dana has a big say in the decisions we've got to somehow pretend Face The Pain isn't annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev2050 Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Will Dana still be "the face of the UFC"? Â I really don't know if replacing him will be a good thing or a bad thing. Yeah there's a lot about him that could be better, but there's a lot about him that could be worse too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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