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7:58 pm
Instructor
June 9, 2009
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http://www.mmafighting.com/201…..rikeforce/
Zuffa, owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) have purchased the last remaining, viable competition in the American and possibly the world market, Strikeforce.
What does this mean for the world of MMA?
What will become of fighters such as Barnet, Fedor, and Diaz who have historically not been on the best of terms with the MMA Promotion Superpower?
1:55 am
August 12, 2009
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i'm totally sad.
i just hope dana dosn't rule over japanese mma
4:25 am
Post Leader
July 9, 2009
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I totally didn't see that coming at all. All the Japanese big promotions are in trouble, Bellator is still a relatively small promotion. If a fighter disagree's with any aspect of the Zuffa model where can he go? The fighters can no longer barter to increase pay by saying they are going to fight for the opposition.
I really don't see the point from Dana's interview, No cross promotion, no superfights, still running each promotion as seperate entities.
Dana says because they want to showcase the sport to a larger number of people but strikeforce was already doing that. Seems like Zuffa realised that Strikeforce was the real deal and decided to buy, help it grow and reap some profits along the way.
I think that after the 2 year deal with Showtime is over Zuffa will fold strikeforce, merge it's talent into the UFC and Barnett, Daley, Frank Shamrock, Fedor and Pat Miletich will all have to find a new home.
7:16 am
Post Chaser
April 15, 2010
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Will it be like the when Zuffa bought Pride FC and ran it into the ground in a matter of a few years?
8:00 am
Post Leader
July 9, 2009
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I don't think it's fair to blame Zuffa for 'running pride into the ground'. They paid around 70million dollars for Pride but they were totally conned in the process. After all the paperwork and translations were cleared up they only had a video library and the brand name. They had to go out and secure each individual fighter and re negotiate a contract with them to sign them up to the UFC, thats why they never managed to get Fedor. The previous owners had such a bad reputation with the media and general public due to their dealings with the Yakuza that no TV company was willing to use the brand name 'Pride' and they couldn't get a tv deal anywhere in Japan.
I think at that time they were willing to co-promote and have title unifications and continue to run Pride shows in Japan. They were selling out hundred thousand seater gates at the Tokyo dome at one point. I'm sure Dana would have liked a piece of that. Vegas holds around 13-15,000 seats at any event.
I think Zuffa got a real bad time of it with Pride. If they were real smart they should let Reed Harris take over the reighns at strikeforce for a while and get Scott Coker to rebuild Pride in Japan. He has great experience and contacts from his days working with K-1. Apparently if you have not done business dealings in Japan before then it is notoriously hard to negotiate anything from a western standpoint.
I think they will eventually disband the strikeforce name in a couple of years and start setting up superfights in the UFC.
11:32 am
Post Chaser
April 15, 2010
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Good point about the Pride/Zuffa ordeal. Bad judgement on my part, for I didn't know all the details.
1:25 pm
Instructor
June 9, 2009
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naturalbornfighter1 said:
I don't think it's fair to blame Zuffa for 'running pride into the ground'. They paid around 70million dollars for Pride but they were totally conned in the process. After all the paperwork and translations were cleared up they only had a video library and the brand name. They had to go out and secure each individual fighter and re negotiate a contract with them to sign them up to the UFC, thats why they never managed to get Fedor. The previous owners had such a bad reputation with the media and general public due to their dealings with the Yakuza that no TV company was willing to use the brand name 'Pride' and they couldn't get a tv deal anywhere in Japan.
I think at that time they were willing to co-promote and have title unifications and continue to run Pride shows in Japan. They were selling out hundred thousand seater gates at the Tokyo dome at one point. I'm sure Dana would have liked a piece of that. Vegas holds around 13-15,000 seats at any event.
I think Zuffa got a real bad time of it with Pride. If they were real smart they should let Reed Harris take over the reighns at strikeforce for a while and get Scott Coker to rebuild Pride in Japan. He has great experience and contacts from his days working with K-1. Apparently if you have not done business dealings in Japan before then it is notoriously hard to negotiate anything from a western standpoint.
I think they will eventually disband the strikeforce name in a couple of years and start setting up superfights in the UFC.
Those are some interesting details. Can these be backed up with any documentation?
At any rate, thanks for shedding more light on this situation.
Now if you can only explain how it is that fighters while fighting in WEC were incredibly entertaining and fun to watch became, snoozers once they were absorbed into the UFC. :)
6:27 pm
Post Leader
July 9, 2009
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Here's some of the documentation -
Then there is the persistent problem of the Japanese mafia. The yakuza.
The power and influence of the yakuza is often misunderstood and over dramaticized but the UFC has already had experience in that area.
"There are fans over there who want this, but there's some shady [expletive] people over there that keep it from happening," UFC President Dana White admitted in 2009. "They know who they are, and they don't want the UFC to come to Japan, and that's a fact."
The yakuza provided the money that saw fight industry explode in the early 2000's, but were also responsible for it's downfall. Exposed Japanese mafia relations led to Pride FC losing it's TV deal and ultimately, selling out to Zuffa in 2007.
The yakuza were also responsible for Zuffa spending a reported USD$70 million on essentially nothing more than Pride FC video rights and a handful of fighter contracts.
"They're going to have to kill me. That's where they're going to have to do. We're coming there no matter what. We're coming there. We're going to break through this thing," White said in 2009. "We're going to get past these dirty, sneaky, bad guys in Japan, and we're going to make it happen. If I don't get killed over in Japan, I'll be [expletive] amazed when I go ever there. I'll be amazed."
There are many barriers to entry for the long term growth of the UFC in Japan. Zuffa has conquered everything in their path so far so it would be foolish to bet against them here. Just don't expect it to happen in the time frame that they expect.
Here's the full article – http://www.mmafighting.com/201…..t-in-2011/
3:40 pm
Instructor
June 9, 2009
Offline
Thanks for that documentation, very intersting.
In other, related news, Strikeforce fighters respond in this post found at mmaunderground.
http://www.mixedmartialarts.co…..ce-buyout/
3:15 am
August 12, 2009
Offline
thanks for the link kruh.
strike force was the only intertaining mma show in america for me and now its gone. with dana
.
ganna chain up all those fighters to a contract and they'll only fight 1-2 a year.
i also hate joe rogan's commentary
7:06 am
September 30, 2010
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IDK Joe Rogan is starting to get really off the wall, last PPVin the Ebersol fight he was making weird comments like: WOW look at those biceps fexing!
12:31 pm
March 16, 2011
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My guess is Zuffa will run Strikeforce as a separate show; at least for a little while. I would think that would be in the contract but I can't confirm that. The upside is that the UFC can put on a MUCH better production than strikeforce so hopefully SF won't be so painful to watch anymore. Also hoping to see guys like Melendez, Diaz, Mousazi, and some of those HW's get to mix it up with the UFC guys.
One thing I know for sure is the SF rules have already been changed to allow elbows on the ground.
The obvious bad news is Dana may be (probably) be able to determine the career of each individual fighter.
Summary – improvements are almost guaranteed for SF. The downside is really only speculation & fear at the moment. Although Paul Daley is probably worried…
2:51 am
Post Leader
July 9, 2009
Offline
Dr Sick said:
Thanks for that documentation, very intersting.
In other, related news, Strikeforce fighters respond in this post found at mmaunderground.
http://www.mixedmartialarts.co…..ce-buyout/
You're welcome Dr.Sick! I heard Dana talk in depth about it at a UFC fight club Q+A one time and it was crazy. That's where I initially heard it. The other article I just found through google. Wish I could have got you the Dana White Q+A it was very enlightening.
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