Zuffa purchases Strikeforce

Voodu Child

I think it goes without saying that they will pay some fighters less. It takes a major element out of the equation when negotiating a contract.

And its not just money, but other terms of employment also. UFC do a lot of things like require fighters to sign over their likeness (a lifetime deal!), control what sponsors are allowed etc.

Aggressive behaviour like that was kept in check somewhat because fighters could go elsewhere in seek of what they perceived as better terms, and many actually did. Now that UFC own the main competition, that's gone.

MrStuffins

pauldoo wrote: »

we don't want MMA to turn into boxin with 5 world champions in every weight class, and a big rigmarole in organising fights like Haye/Klitscko fiasco.

Exactly! This is the beauty of the UFC! They want to find out who the best guy in the world is in each class! One thing people can never say about UFC is that they never sought to protect their Champions or contenders by feeding them cans! (although, they might be guilty of this with guys like Bisping :P )

At the end of the day, this is going to benefit us, the fan! We will finally see all of the best HWs in the world go against each other, we will see the influx of the best of the SF divisions and see them fight the UFC guys!

Only need to buy one game next year i guess

Also, what does this mean for women's MMA?

MrStuffins

SDTimeout

This is bad as a whole, competition is what makes the UFC put better cards on for us. SF drawing a 1.1 would have scared them to be honest.

Monopoly is now setting in the MMA world . Dana has said before how online streams will end, people will go to jail, ufc online 3D blah blah blah.

The prices will be raised for us the common fan also, don't kid yourself thinking we have it good over here ESPN only 15 a month. As soon as MMA becomes marketable enough that's going on PPV over here as well.

Exclamation Marc

pauldoo wrote: »

i think the ufc will keep a lot of fighters on the books as their global expansion continues they needs more cards/fighters.

Does not that mean more and more cards?

More and more cards probably mean less and less 'supercards'. They'll spread out the top guys to ensure the rest of the card will be filler. Also they have to be careful of overkill too, too many PPVS and they'll probably lose buys in the US.

Denners

MrStuffins wrote: »

Exactly! This is the beauty of the UFC! They want to find out who the best guy in the world is in each class!

No they don't, they want to make as much money as possible. Simple as.

Fozzy

ScareGilly wrote: »

This news ruined my weekend..

Overeem won't fight under Zuffa if he can't fight in K1..
Jacare and Roger Gracie won't since they'll want to compete at the Mundials and such..
Paul Daley will have to fight at some useless show where he's miles better than everyone else..
Mousasi will want to fight in K1 too?

It's the middle of March now and K-1 still hasn't announced any shows for this year. FEG could be going bankrupt very soon, so there may not be a K-1 for Overeem and Mousasi to fight in

I suppose Jacare and Roger will have to decide what's more important to them at some point

Fozzy

Voodu Child wrote: »

Aggressive behaviour like that was kept in check somewhat because fighters could go elsewhere in seek of what they perceived as better terms, and many actually did. Now that UFC own the main competition, that's gone.

How many fighters that UFC wanted went elsewhere? Dan Henderson. Fedor. I'm struggling to come up with a third name

Perhaps if Nick Diaz or Robbie Lawler didn't sign new contracts recently the UFC would have come looking for them

This does remove the bargaining tool of playing the two sides against each other for top fighters when negotiating new deals, but it's something that doesn't appear to me to have happened all that frequently in the past anyway

pauldoo

the 15 quid a month is goin to end regardless of the strikeforce deal, when it becomes popular enough ppvs will begin.

the extra cards are also happening either way, so when they have the strikeforce roster moved across, they will 10-15 additional fighters that will help make the cards stronger. i dont think they have that many contenders but they do have some names, fedor, hendo, diaz, reem, bigfoot, souza, mousassi, diaz, melendez, werdum, aoki and of course my favorite....Bobby Lashley

seadnamac

SDTimeout wrote: »

This is bad as a whole, competition is what makes the UFC put better cards on for us. SF drawing a 1.1 would have scared them to be honest.

Yea it's got nothing to do with PPV numbers, live gates, advertising or sponsorship revenue....

Monopoly is now setting in the MMA world . Dana has said before how online streams will end, people will go to jail, ufc online 3D blah blah blah.

And?

The prices will be raised for us the common fan also, don't kid yourself thinking we have it good over here ESPN only 15 a month. As soon as MMA becomes marketable enough that's going on PPV over here as well.

What's that got to do with them buying Strikeforce? They were never competing with them in this market in the first place.

DrPhilG

Well that happened fast... No rumours, no alleged secret meetings, just wham bam thank you Scott Coker!

It's funny to watch the interview with Ariel Helwani where Dana broke the news and list off the statements that are clearly false or misleading!

Scott Coker will remain in charge of SF with freedom to sign fighters and renegiate deals...
So if the UFC want a fighter Coker is going to compete with them? If a top SF fighter contract is expiring, Coker is going to try to resign them even if Dana wants them in the UFC? Best of all, if Coker decides to let M-1 Global take his trousers down again, Zuffa is going to stand idly by?
Coker will remain the preident but DW/Zuffa will pull the strings.

Strikeforce will continue to operate as a separate entity...
First of all, why would they? The UFC are very proud of the fact that they are synonymous with MMA. The casual fan or observer sees an MMA match anywhere and thinks they are fighting a UFC match. Why would he dilute that highly prized brand by allowing a big name like SF continue to be known? I wouldn't be at all surprised if even while SF continues to operate (not too long) that they are rebranded, something like Strikeforce presented by the UFC etc.

On to the actual future for SF. As others have said, the main thing of note that Dana said that I actually believe was that they will honour SF's contracts. More likely the contracts with Showtime etc are set in stone and Dana can't break them. However I strongly suspect that in 2 years when the Showtime deal expires, SF will be dissolved. If not dissolved, then downsized and used as a feeder organisation, (as suggested by Dana when he mentioned in the interview that some UFC fighters could mover over to SF at the end of their contracts).

By the end of the Showtime deal, I expect to see Melendez, Jacare Souza, Bigfoot Silva, Werdum, Lawler, Mousasi, King Mo, Gracie, Hendo (who has just said he has no grudge with the UFC) and possibly Overeem and Diaz all signed for the UFC when their SF contracts expire over the next few years.

The UFC said Pride would continue as a separate organisation and then folded them. In fairness that was more about the finances and the Yakuza etc. But the best example is the WEC. The WEC continued to operate as a separate company, but who ever remembers the WEC WW, MW, LHW or HW champions or contenders? The best of them moved to the UFC like Vera, Stann, Condit, Sonnen and Carwin but the only real reason the WEC lasted as long as it did was because they dissolved the heavier classes and used it to promote the LW, FW and BW fighters.

Strikeforce doesn't have any hook like that to give a reason to keep them operating by themselves (female MMA doesn't count coz it's too shallow and Dana hates it) so their only future is as a feeder organisation IMO.

DrPhilG

PS, Fedor to Bellator?

unknown13

DrPhilG wrote: »

PS, Fedor to Bellator?

and Paul Daley

unknown13

Interesting question I want to know.

With Zuffa taking over Strikeforce does this mean that Strikeforce will now be using the full unified rules of MMA. IE Elbows strikes to the head on the ground ?

DrPhilG

Good question. With the UFC no doubt waiting to pick up SF fighters as they become available I'm sure it would make sense to have the fighters get used to it right away.

Will depend how much Zuffa want to keep up the pretense that it's "business as usual" and they're not interfering!

t-ha

Shocking news - obviously I have no idea what they intend to do (take official announcements with a grain of salt) but there's no way they're taking all those contracts into the UFC. We're already seeing LWs being cut fast after the WEC merger; expansion or not they're just not going to blow up their roster like that.

I actually think it makes sense to have a second promotion to play with - they could even do a UFC Challenegers Series where guys who are successful get a chance to fight in the UFC. It would give them a bit of flexibility to play with things like tournaments, special rules fights, women's MMA etc. even though Dana claims to hate all of those things. That way, up and comers would have somewhere to fight before they're ready for the UFC, older guys would have somewhere to go after a losing streak in the UFC, and the UFC itself would have an unquestioned place as the home of the top-dogs.

DrPhilG

How it all went down...

MrStuffins

By the way lads, everyone who is saying its bad for competition, if SF wrap up, there will of course be a load of businessmen out there willing to start a company and take their place. SF disappearing will create a gap in the market!

So don't be worrying your little heads

Charlie3dan

I this will be a great step up for MMA on the world stage. Once it becomes even more established then there will be other competitiors but for now the smaller organisations are just holding things back.

Some fighters will get screwed in terms of having to sign away their likeness etc but in time their general standard of payment within MMA will be raised and fighters will also have more opportunities in terms of making money outside the cage. I'm sure the WWE guys are all making more money now then they were 20 years ago and I'm not talking about inflation!

I've always wanted this kind of deal to take place so that MMA could get in the spotlight and we would get to see the fights we really want to see. Let the UFC make MMA massive and then have no fear there'll be other competitors.

DrPhilG

Well not all fighters are as dumb as Paul Daley...

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/3/14/2049739/ufc-officially-announces-strikeforce-purchase-henderson-barnett

I heard Hendo on a radio interview and he didn't seem best pleased, but at the same time he has the sense to play smart. Same for Barnett, he's eating his words at a higher rate than he allegedly popped steroids!

Bigfoot Silva also commented and said he wants to fight Lesnar because he's not amused at Lesnar being ranked no 2 in the world.

MrStuffins

DrPhilG wrote: »

Bigfoot Silva also commented and said he wants to fight Lesnar because he's not amused at Lesnar being ranked no 2 in the world.

YES!!!!!!!

This merger/hostile takeover is already delivering!

scudzilla

I'll give SF 12 months before it's wound down.

One thing that's bothering me, did Zuffa actually buy SF for the reason they said (Elite XC sniffing around) or did they just buy it to get the fighters contracts?

el dude

Terrible for the fighters above all else, it's one less place for them to go if they Dana ever becomes upset with them. Really it was the only other option for a top tier fighter to go and still make decent money. They've not got a lot to bargain with now. The sponsors either.

el dude

Fozzy wrote: »

How many fighters that UFC wanted went elsewhere? Dan Henderson. Fedor. I'm struggling to come up with a third name

Perhaps if Nick Diaz or Robbie Lawler didn't sign new contracts recently the UFC would have come looking for them

This does remove the bargaining tool of playing the two sides against each other for top fighters when negotiating new deals, but it's something that doesn't appear to me to have happened all that frequently in the past anyway

I'd say it played a role in just about every deal negotiated over the last few years tbh. Just because the big names didn't leave, doesn't mean their agents weren't using SF as a bargaining chip. Even moreso when it comes to the mid tier guys, they're the ones who should be worrying, that includes the UFC guys.

Mellor

DrPhilG wrote: »

I heard Hendo on a radio interview and he didn't seem best pleased, but at the same time he has the sense to play smart. Same for Barnett, he's eating his words at a higher rate than he allegedly popped steroids!

Allegedly???
:pac:

rivalius13

DrPhilG wrote: »

Bigfoot Silva also commented and said he wants to fight Lesnar because he's not amused at Lesnar being ranked no 2 in the world.

I don't think the cage was built with those two in mind....can't see it holding them both up.

MrStuffins

I'm amazed to see the UFC haters still floating around with unfounded nonsense!

Look lads, we get it, you're too cool to like UFC! But what's all this bull about them looking to under pay or rip off fighters!

Last time I looked, Strikeforce weren't throwing $160k Fight Night bonuses to their fighters like UFC did for Sanchez and Kampmann, or $100k at UFC 100!

Since when have UFC not looked after their fighters? The TUF guys might've been getting paid less than a lot of the fighters, but they were getting a damn sight more than they'd have been getting elsewhere or without the help of TUF! And a lot of the fighters went on to start earning big money!

Jason McCabe

Also looking forward to seeing Roger Gracie in the UFC.

Especially now he says he is going to be more active

MrStuffins

Jason McCabe wrote: »

Also looking forward to seeing Roger Gracie in the UFC.

Especially now he says he is going to be more active

As long as he performs better than Rolles Gracie we'll be grand! :P