Dana White is srs biz

[kookiegod]

Will UFC air a live special up against Fedor's Strikeforce debut?

- With UFC becoming aggressive against Strikeforce by airing most of UFC 100 on SpikeTV up against the Strikeforce show, Dave Meltzer reports that he wouldn't be surprised to see UFC now air a live special against the Strikeforce show on Showtime this fall that features Fedor's Strikeforce debut.

- The Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves match won't be airing on SpikeTV on Saturday night as part of the UFC 100 counter programming to Strikeforce. The Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir match will air along with Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping.

Vince McMahon did this years ago, running the Survivor Series vs WCW's Starcade on Thanksgiving and promised cable operators that if they carried the other, they'd lose his biz forever.

Later, WCW countered with a free PPV show on TBS against the Royal Rumble where Ric Flair made Sting's career.

Just the hand of time going around, but damn be fun...


~Paul

[Jaimaltz]

Dana said a lot of nice things about Strikeforce and left them alone until they signed Fedor. Dana wanted that signing, and when he didn't get it and Strikeforce signed Fedor for less money than the UFC offered him, he was pissed. The only way to market Fedor correctly is to hype him up as the best fighter in the world, and that bothers Dana because he feels the UFC is supposed to have the best fighters in the world. By suddenly going after Strikeforce, he's making a statement that signing Fedor = getting fought and counter programmed on all your big shows, and most likely losing more money than you gain in the process.

It's the same thing they did with Affliction, and the same deal with Floyd Mayweather, who also pissed off the UFC by talking shit about MMA fighters and fans. The UFC is going head to head with his next boxing match.

[Parkbandit]

If I was Fedor.. I would have signed with Strikeforce as well. No way would I want to be forced to face Lesnar.

:D

[Jaimaltz]

If I was Fedor.. I would have signed with Strikeforce as well. No way would I want to be forced to face Lesnar.

:D

He'll end up facing Lesnar in a roundabout way. Every time Fedor fights, at bare minimum they'll put a rerun of one of Lesnar's recent fights on free TV.

Fedor already lost some fans with the perception that he's ducking Lesnar/UFC (he signed with Strikeforce for a lot less money despite the UFC offering to allow him to compete in Sambo which was his sticking point the last time they negotiated). As soon as he loses once, his appeal is gone for all but hardcore fans. In the meantime, the heavy marketing requirement and the UFC counter programming will destroy any profits Strikeforce hopes to earn on his events, making his "co-promotion" BS requirement with M-1 worthless.

Eventually he'll either lose, sign with the UFC, or make comparably tiny amounts of money and limited exposure fighting cans, UFC rejects, and middleweights.

[Drew]

He'll end up facing Lesnar in a roundabout way. Every time Fedor fights, at bare minimum they'll put a rerun of one of Lesnar's recent fights on free TV.

Fedor already lost some fans with the perception that he's ducking Lesnar/UFC (he signed with Strikeforce for a lot less money despite the UFC offering to allow him to compete in Sambo which was his sticking point the last time they negotiated). As soon as he loses once, his appeal is gone for all but hardcore fans. In the meantime, the heavy marketing requirement and the UFC counter programming will destroy any profits Strikeforce hopes to earn on his events, making his "co-promotion" BS requirement with M-1 worthless.

Eventually he'll either lose, sign with the UFC, or make comparably tiny amounts of money and limited exposure fighting cans, UFC rejects, and middleweights.


My understanding was that he was under contract with M1 for a number of more fights so he HAD to be co-promoted.

[Bhuryn]

Dana gave Fedor everything he wanted, M-1 canned the deal not Fedor.

[Jaimaltz]

Doesn't Fedor own part of M-1?

Granted, it seems like owning M-1 is like owning a bag of diarrhea, but he should really be in control of his manager. If he let his manager lock him into co-promoted events only, that's his own stupidity.

[SHAFT]

I don't blame Fedor and M1 for signing with Strikeforce. They're trying to build M1 into a force in the MMA world. By co-promoting they can do that.

Fedor has 3 fights on his M1 contract and then he can really go where he wants. I understand he owns 20% of M1, believe me. Notice he signed a 3 fight deal with Strikeforce, which tells me he has a realistic shot of signing with the UFC when those 3 are done.

[Drew]

Doesn't Fedor own part of M-1?

Granted, it seems like owning M-1 is like owning a bag of diarrhea, but he should really be in control of his manager. If he let his manager lock him into co-promoted events only, that's his own stupidity.

Presumably he got the 20% ownership deal as part of his contract for joining.