Sources: UFC parent company Zuffa agrees in principle to buy Strikeforce - ESPN
Thoughts?
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From MMA FightingQuote:
Dana White buys them or kills them. Pride - buy. IFL - kill. WEC - buy .Elite XC, Affliction, Bodog. Kill Kill Kill* Now he has bought the only significant rival to the UFC.
With the purchase, Zuffa now controls the contracts of almost every top ranked fighter in the sport, other than a handful in Bellator FC and in Japan.
UFC President Dana White dscusses the details in an exclusive interview with Ariel Helwani.
"It's literally official right now. We just closed the deal. As we continue to grow and expand in more countries, one of the things is we need more fights. Strikeforce is a brand that fans have come to like. They do have a following, people enjoy the fights that they are putting on and it made sense to us."
Why did Zuffa buy Strikeforce?
“As we go out and (continue to expand), we need more fights. Let's face facts. Strikeforce is a brand that fans have come to like and enjoy the fights that they're putting on. So it made sense to us. Our job is to put on the big fights that fans want to see, and as we continue to travel, we have to put on the right fights in these other countries.”
On Scott Coker:
“We've signed a deal with Scott Coker. He's staying on. You've seen me battle with guys over the years, but I’ve never had a bad thing to say about Scott Coker. I’ve known Scott since the K-1 days. Scott is a good guy.”
On Strikeforce:
"That's a separate business that has their own income. They have their own budgets and everything else that they do. They have they're own television deals. If they're that interested in acquiring (a fighter), it's no different than it was before."
On Showtime:
"Strikeforce is going to continue to run business as usual. There are contracts in place. These guys are on Showtime. Strikeforce pulls good ratings for Showtime. I think Showtime is happy with them. All those contracts will be honored. These guys are going to remain Strikeforce fighters ... Lorenzo can go over there and deal with Showtime. I'm sure the last time Showtime wants to see is me show up at the doorstep and go over and start having conversations."
"Could guys from the UFC leave and end up over in Strikeforce? Yeah,"
On Co Promotion:
"We won't be doing any superfights. Even when we own it, we don't co-promote, period."
On figures off the Josh Barnett,*Fedor, Paul*Daley, Frank Shamrock, Pat Miletich, etc:
"There's a lot of guys on that side of the table who don't like me. I don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable over there. ... If we didn't own the company, you wouldn't see me hanging out at a Strikeforce event, and you probably won't see me at one now that we do."
Terms of the purchase were not immediately disclosed, but White characterized the transaction as "a good deal."
I am stunned! I'm also surprised that UFC won't copromote with themselves
Gotta figure at some point there will be a merger. When and if that happens then UFC will have to find a way to do more shows. There is no way they will have enough fights annually compared to their rosters. Pretty interesting to see what happens with the M-1 deal and the Dream deal that Strikeforce has.
I've read that StrikeForce has two years left on their Shotime deal, so the two will merge then. But that's just speculation. The way Dana's talking, it sounds like it'll me a minor-league of the UFC. StikeForce's top guys move up, UFC's bottom guys move down. As long as it stays free, I really don't care. I like the idea of one strong commission to make fighters fight, make ducking top opponents difficult to impossible. If the UFC runs a PPV every month and a Fight Night/Live on Versus each month, while StrikeForce runs a Shotime/CBS show each month and Challengers card each month, there'll be plenty of fights for all their guys.
I absolutely loved the first episode of Strikeforce heavyweight tournament more than any UFC event since Lesnar-Velasquez (and there has been a few). I prefer Jimmy Lennon Jr over Bruce Buffer, Showtime/Strikeforce commentators over those from UFC. Even the Strikeforce ring card girls are better looking. So it's not all that obvious to me that UFC is the more attractive spouse here.
Well I gotta say I pay no attention to buffer/lennon jr, the commentators or the ring girls. SF has had some good cards lately b/c they stack them but they don't have a deep enough roster to do this continually. Its no so much that the UFC isn't making good cards either its that the fights themselves haven't been super exciting.
This would be much better if they just merge into the UFC they would just have to put on a lot more fight cards. Wont this just make it harder for the fighters who want to go into the UFC from strikeforce to do so? So we wont get to see some of the fights we want to. I want Hendo and Daley back... :eek:
From what I've rtead Hendo is open to coming back, but Daley is utterly pissed and is considering pulling out of the Diaz fight. I prefer Strikeforce, I just think they have fighters that are more open to the standup, and being a massive boxing fan that is what I look for. The likes of Diaz/Daley/Fedor/Hendo and even someone like Melendez always try and close the show with a stoppage. I just hope it doesn't become too UFC like, because like Therealremi said, in my eyes almost everything about the way Strikeforce present a show is better. By this what I mean is that Strikeforce seems to lead towards a boxing presentation, where as UFC is more like WWE.
Just a couple of things to add. Scott Coker has signed a deal with Zuffa that will keep him on with Strikeforce.
Dana says the entire Strikeforce roster will be kept on, with contracts honoured.
Dana also says some UFC guys could end up in Strikeforce.
I've read that any fighter who signs now with either UFC or StrikeForce can fight for either promotion, and any current fighter will be able to switch promotions after their current contract ends and they resign a new deal.Quote:
White told MMAFighting.com that Coker would remain in charge of Strikeforce and retain his staff of around 10 employees. The company would run separately from UFC and exhaust its contracts with Showtime television. The network has a deal with Strikeforce that runs through early 2012, sources said.
I didn't see that move come. Personally, I think that monopoles are never a good thing and owning Pride, UFC and Strikeforce is pretty much like a monopole in MMA. Now fighters have much lesser place to negociate a deal when their contract expires as it is all the same owners.
I also wonder: what will happen with guys like Overwem who are doing K1 shows in Japan too? Will they still be allowed, once his contract expires, to make such fights in K1 or they will be bound and tied to the league they did sign in?
I'm not so sure there's a K-1 to fight for anymore. Last I saw, neither DREAM nor K-1 has an event scheduled so far this year. Plus DREAM's not been paying all their fighters on time, they even shorted Gary Goodridge several grand after a year without paying him. It looks like FEG's (Fighting and Entertainment Group, DREAM and K-1's parent company) going under.
Also, just saw this from Lorenzo Fertitta
Quote:
Lorenzo: Strikeforce will continue to use the hexagon. Strike WILL ADOPT the Unified Rules.