Some thoughts on the Reem/Prix situation

Read this if you want, if not, no big deal.

Part is copied from a post made yesterday, I could reword it, but it works well enough.

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After thinking about this whole situation more I see it like this. I get the whole fan angle and disappointment that the guy most of us wanted to see most in the Prix is out, and that therefore kills a couple great potential matchups, Reem/Foot and Reem/Barnett or Serg. But looking at the SF Title and Prix winner situation, wasn't there a lot of confusion if Reem didn't come out the Prix winner? You have the most marketable guy in the tourney, who is the Champion, fighting in the tourney with the belt not on the line, what if he loses? Does the Prix winner then fight Reem who's coming off a loss? Does Reem still as SF HW Champion come over and fight Cain or JDS? There's a lot of hype potential if Reem wins it but a lot of inherent risk if he doesn't. It also strings things out longer if he doesn't come out on top. But now, with Reem out of the tourney and free for matchups, it leaves the door open for a move over to the UFC, and it couldn't come at a better time really. I mean ask yourself who the next HW challenger is in the UFC after Cain/JDS, Mir? Schuab? Nog? Brock? there is no one that intriguing in all reality. But with Reem in the mix, everything is setup for a huge matchup in early 2012, it couldn't be anymore perfect. Then you still have the Prix winner to possibly be another challenger down the road. And the reports that Reem had already been in negotiations for a new contract also seems telling to me. I get the disappointment, but I think the end results could endup being far better. Of course this all bears on Reem's next fight being in the UFC....Reem vs Prix winner or Fedor off a win would also make sense.


On the Prix itself, did we really think it was that great? I mean initially it was cool in the sense that we would see some great HW fighters paired up in a tournament format and most of all outside the UFC after years of a UFC dominated market. But as much attention as it garnered when first announced it lost as much when it took so long to complete and in such irratic fashion. Zuffa likes to work on schedule, and that's a good thing, and I'm sure they wanted to get this thing wrapped up so future matchups could be made sooner then later. At current pace we would have been looking at this thing going around or over a year and half to completion, and the tournament winner potentially facing the UFC Champion late 2012, so much fucking momentum would have been lost by then. And we do know the seedings never quite made sense in the first place either. As stated above the greatest matchup from the tourney would have come if Reem won it, but if he doesn't, well he's still Champion, so what then? To much of a cluster fuck for how we all know the UFC like to operate. The Prix itself was not that much different then proposing the UFC HW division is setup as such. Brock vs Cain winner faces JDS vs Carwin winner, while the Mir vs Nelson winner faces the Nog vs Schaub winner (which could actually happen) and then everything culminating in a future Title fight between say Cain and Mir just for simplicity, I think you get the point here, but in this case the belt isn't in limbo. The Prix was a very clever way to create buzz (genius play by Coker), and it could have been great, but time length, lack of orginazation ect resulted in it losing momentum. With the buyout options available, and "Brock effect" coming to a end the UFC/Zuffa needs another big player in the HW division right now in all reality, and Reem can be just that. Because even if us hardcore fans know that if Foot or Barnett or Serg won the tourney they'd be more then deserving of a UFC Title shot and we know they are high caliber fighters, and guy like Reem, K-1 Champ, SF Champ, shreaded beast is just so much more marketable. We watch fights because we all love martial arts and love just watching talented fighters fight, but the fight game has to have a sense of business as much as it has to be about fights.

I had more to say but forgot some of it and lost track after blazin up, I'll add more if it comes to me. But again while I get the disaapointment the Prix has probably lost it's best fighter, and believe me I think it'd be BS if it came down to a matter a 3 weeks difference, I see this more of another case of pullling a Diaz and the UFC wanting a sure thing for a next big matchup, if all this doesn't endup being the case, well then everything changes. My guess, Reem vs the Cain/JDS winner early 2012.

It is def the better business decision. They still get SF champ vs UFC champ, and now lock in an additional big fight, tourney winner vs UFC champ. This could not have happened if Reem stayed in(well it could, but reem would be coming off a loss in the only other 2 fight possibility)

And in truth the prix was undercut the moment the UFC bought SF.

And yeah Ill get over it, the prix is still pretty good, and reem vs UFC will be a fight Ill be hyped about.

But the real deal side of the bracket just lost the SF and K-1 champ via corporate takeover. Not cool.

I think the injury/I am fuckin' reem and I do what I want attitude Overeem has always had vs Showtime's specific dates conflict is probably the real story and I don't think all these tinfoil hat conspiracy theories about this or that make any more sense than what is simply out there.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

I think the injury/I am fuckin' reem and I do what I want attitude Overeem has always had vs Showtime's specific dates conflict is probably the real story and I don't think all these tinfoil hat conspiracy theories about this or that make any more sense than what is simply out there.

It's weird cause one of my forgotten thoughts was similar to this, with Reem and some other guys used to the JMMA scene thinking everything will cater to them in the big leagues, just don't work like that here.


Nice thoughts Capt.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

I think the injury/I am fuckin' reem and I do what I want attitude Overeem has always had vs Showtime's specific dates conflict is probably the real story and I don't think all these tinfoil hat conspiracy theories about this or that make any more sense than what is simply out there.

Yeah this is where I'm at with this as well.

Reem was made to wait forever for the 1st rnd of the prix, then after apparently agreeing to Oct, someone, somewhere decided that we now need a super quick turnaround for the semi's, and needed it so badly that they are willing to ax their champ, by far the biggest star left, from the mix in order to do so.

I don't need a tinfoil hat to smell something is fishy here. I might not be able to pinpoint the source of the smell, but the fish is somewhere.

captain organic wrote:

Reem was made to wait forever for the 1st rnd of the prix, then after apparently agreeing to Oct, someone, somewhere decided that we now need a super quick turnaround for the semi's, and needed it so badly that they are willing to ax their champ, by far the biggest star left, from the mix in order to do so.

I don't need a tinfoil hat to smell something is fishy here. I might not be able to pinpoint the source of the smell, but the fish is somewhere.

the man speaks the truth

captain organic wrote:

Reem was made to wait forever for the 1st rnd of the prix, then after apparently agreeing to Oct, someone, somewhere decided that we now need a super quick turnaround for the semi's, and needed it so badly that they are willing to ax their champ, by far the biggest star left, from the mix in order to do so.

I don't need a tinfoil hat to smell something is fishy here. I might not be able to pinpoint the source of the smell, but the fish is somewhere.

Truth, and I def see it this way, at least Reem's next fight being in the UFC, but at the same time Reem did mention some things in his interview on this which makes some sense. He mentioned how the UFC had multiple other events going at or around Oct, and maybe they didn't want things too crowded during that time. It does make sense that the UFC now has to take SF events into consideration when making their schedule. The rest with it going down in Sept and seeming rushed, well we all know without really knowing they want to get this thing wrapped up.