Zuffa Plans to Reevaluate Strikeforce

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/8/25/2382862/ufc-zuffa-plans-to-reevaluate-strikeforce-could-a-move-to-spike-tv-happen
Speculation has run rampant since March whether Zuffa's "business as usual" motto would hold true heading into 2012. The consensus opinion is that Zuffa will fold the promotion into the ranks of the UFC. It would swell the size of the roster substantially and increase the quality of the fights they promote.

UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta spoke about the possibilities with MMAWeekly.com this week, stating that Zuffa will reevaluate the Strikeforce product when their deal with Showtime expires in February of next year:

Fertitta dismissed rumors like these and, again, stressed Zuffa's contractual obligation, but the sense that they will reevaluate their position with Strikeforce is strong. In fact, Fertitta said once the contract is done, they'll take a look at their options.

Quote :

"At the end of the day, Showtime is contracted to receive a product, and we're going to keep giving it to them," he said. "They want us to do the eight Strikeforce shows, the Challengers shows. We're going to do no different than what we've been doing the last four or five months, since we owned the company; keep delivering great fights and keep that going as long as the contract says, and then, at that time, we'll reevaluate."

Good they need to reevaluate.

GDPofDRC wrote:

I hope so.

GDPofDRC wrote:

timthebim wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:

I hope so.

Fuck you guys. If I lose SF I'll be pissed

They won't fold Strikeforce. Why would they give Cyborg a fat deal? Why would Gina still be returning if the promotion will be folded in two months after her fight? That is a stupid consensus opinion.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

They won't fold Strikeforce. Why would they give Cyborg a fat deal? Why would Gina still be returning if the promotion will be folded in two months after her fight? That is a stupid consensus opinion.

Dead org walking.

captain organic wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

They won't fold Strikeforce. Why would they give Cyborg a fat deal? Why would Gina still be returning if the promotion will be folded in two months after her fight? That is a stupid consensus opinion.

Dead org walking.

+1

There has to be logic behind it. There is none.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

There has to be logic behind it. There is none.

They have already lost more then half of their men's champions. They may very well lose the showtime deal. The fate of WEC. Dana saying he wants no part of SF.

Come on bro.

Strikeforce is gone daddy gone.

The UFC will be adding another weight class according to message after message by 2012. The UFC has no room for the Strikeforce roster and if they cut a bunch of people across all weight classes earlier than expected to make room for the merged fighters and the new class, then they give tons of guys they could make money off of to the competition. Guys important locally in growing markets. Guys who wouldn't normally be cut would be. They have an exclusive UFC deal with Fox. Give me a single solitary reason other than absorbing the few fighters that would be better served as pay per view fighters that they would decline the ability to promote under another brand outside the deal, generating supplementary income. Dana said "he wants no part of Strikeforce"? Link. Even if he did say that, so what? That means he simply stays out of that part of the business.

There are a million reasons to keep Strikeforce. Actually, 40 million. Has the UFC got 40 million out of SF yet? Is that their only goal?

Do not look at the absence of a few top name fighters as anything other than that. There will be more Lorenz Larkins and Daniel Cormiers to come.

The UFC will not gift wrap dozens of UFC/Strikeforce caliber fighters, and every network under the sun because they resigned Hendo and Overeem.

The UFC will not stack the fuck out of a Bellator tournament for Spike TV

Quote :

The fate of WEC.

The UFC was actually on VS. when they finally pulled the plug, beyond that the WEC had outgrown itself and the fighters were demanding the merger. It was time.

The existence of the WEC for the other four years Zuffa owned it is a better metric to judge how they'll handle this.

None of these arguments for the closure of SF make any sense at all from a business perspective.

I said this to an extent in another thread, but if they see something they can do with it, it'll be kept, if it's a big money loser, do you blaim them...

One thing I know is a whole bunch more prospect style fighters have been getting signed under the new regime.

Don't use the 40 mill as a reason Wolf, that's chump change to them to squash a potential threat and add talent. I'd say cornering more of the market with your own feeder is a bigger reason to keep it.

Spending 40 mil to eliminate one threat just to create another makes no sense though.

If really thinks all the recent moves point to the UFC clearly keeping SF around, you aren't paying attention.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

The UFC will be adding another weight class according to message after message by 2012. The UFC has no room for the Strikeforce roster and if they cut a bunch of people across all weight classes earlier than expected to make room for the merged fighters and the new class, then they give tons of guys they could make money off of to the competition. Guys important locally in growing markets. Guys who wouldn't normally be cut would be. They have an exclusive UFC deal with Fox. Give me a single solitary reason other than absorbing the few fighters that would be better served as pay per view fighters that they would decline the ability to promote under another brand outside the deal, generating supplementary income. Dana said "he wants no part of Strikeforce"? Link. Even if he did say that, so what? That means he simply stays out of that part of the business.

There are a million reasons to keep Strikeforce. Actually, 40 million. Has the UFC got 40 million out of SF yet? Is that their only goal?

Do not look at the absence of a few top name fighters as anything other than that. There will be more Lorenz Larkins and Daniel Cormiers to come.

The UFC will not gift wrap dozens of UFC/Strikeforce caliber fighters, and every network under the sun because they resigned Hendo and Overeem.

The UFC will not stack the fuck out of a Bellator tournament for Spike TV

I know you aren't a TUFer wolf so I will give you an update. This next show will feature some very small but talented BW on the show. They will be future Flys in the UFC. Just a a FYI.

I know this. Dodsen is fighting at 35. This further indicates that the UFC will not close Strikeforce. There are NO signs that they will be. The one argument everyone clings to in this silly debate is the removal of potential PPV draws to the PPV side of the company when they're in a period where they need PPV fucking fighters. This indicates only that the UFC wants to sell PPVs with PPV caliber fighters.

Someone respond to my points with logical arguments.

OU wrote:

If really thinks all the recent moves point to the UFC clearly keeping SF around, you aren't paying attention.

You have to elaborate with a supportable argument.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

OU wrote:

If really thinks all the recent moves point to the UFC clearly keeping SF around, you aren't paying attention.

You have to elaborate with a supportable argument.

If Zuffa KNEW they were going to keep SF around they would have already told us. The "re-evaluate" is not BS, it's real. There has been NOTHING to suggest that after the Showtime deal SF will still be what it was/is or even alive at all. As of right now 3 of their Champions are not under contract at the moment. Up until just recently with the Cyborg signing we had no real reason to believe that they had any interest in continuing to push women's MMA. Some of the best things going for SF were/are up in the air. You may think you know what the UFC will do, but they haven't even made their minds.

Re-evaluate means re-evaluate. They mean they will change their business model. They've signed plenty of girls since Zuffa took over. This "SF is dead" thing is a popular meme that is based on nothing.


There is almost no evidence to indicate they will close the show. The value of the show has nothing to do with their current champions.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Re-evaluate means re-evaluate. They mean they will change their business model. They've signed plenty of girls since Zuffa took over. This "SF is dead" thing is a popular meme that is based on nothing.


There is almost no evidence to indicate they will close the show. The value of the show has nothing to do with their current champions.

I've never been part of the crowd that claimed "SF is dead". Never went that far like some others have. But I was afraid they were leaning toward that direction. Some of the moves didn't make me feel any better about it. But re-evaluate can mean many more things then just a change in business model. Just like the other side of the fence you are making assumptions. Personally I'm rooting for SF to be kept around but I'm not overly optimistic about it.

The UFC can utterly not afford to close Strikeforce while allowing dozens of high level fighters freedom to sign with Bellator/Spike. This will never happen. Ever.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

The UFC can utterly not afford to close Strikeforce while allowing dozens of high level fighters freedom to sign with Bellator/Spike. This will never happen. Ever.

Hey man I hope you are right, I will be thrilled. But Zuffa obviously isn't sure about the future of SF right now. Things are still being felt out and evaluated. Why are you so certain that the UFC won't sign as many SF fighters of value as possible and just release the rest? Been done before. Again if there was already a definitive answer to whether SF will still be around in the future they would have already said so. Things are still very much up in the air at this point.