« Latest on Strikeforce in April: Nobody knows anything about anything | Home | Measuring interest in UFC 127 »
Now is not the time for unforced errors by Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | February 23, 2011
The more the story progresses about what the hell is happening for the promotion’s Heavyweight GP tournament, the less seemingly anyone knows. I often wonder if the reason for that is because the power brokers & decision makers themselves don’t know what’s going on. Which, in essence, is kind of the bizarre prism that has been created fairly or unfairly in the media that Strikeforce has some success despite of its own actions.
There are many chaotic things that promoters have to deal with that are completely out of their control. Take, for instance, Miesha Tate injuring her knee and now having to pull out of the 135-pound women’s title fight with Marloes Coenen. Robert Sargent:
I’m told that Strikeforce has been aware of Miesha Tate’s injury for at least a few days.
Credit to Strikeforce for putting together a solid replacement title fight on short notice, however. Coenen vs (Liz) Carmouche is a good matchup.
Injuries are a part of the game and there’s really no reason to attack the promotion for taking their time and delaying the announcement so that they can find a replacement fighter. That’s fine. What wasn’t fine, however, was today’s… unique… conference call to promote the upcoming March 5th show at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The event has been entirely overshadowed by the HW GP ‘tournament’ despite having Dan Henderson in the main event slot. I expect the show to be really good, but the question is does it have the buzz amongst the fans? On today’s conference call, Scott Coker wasn’t around due to illness and questions regarding the April 9th date for the rest of round one of the tournament were not answered/allowed.
Which brings me to my continued amazement at how things work for a promotion that has the backing of a legitimate television outlet like Showtime. As Dave Meltzer accurately put it last week, Strikeforce is in a war with UFC whether they want it or not. UFC is treating it as a war, so it is a war. Now what are you going to do about it? You can be content with being #2 and successful but you also have to protect your business interests and cut down on the amount of errors you make. In the case of Strikeforce, it feels like the majority of media coverage about them is what they do outside of the cage as opposed to what is going on inside the cage. Sure, there’s plenty of outside-the-cage coverage for UFC, but ultimately when the fights happen everyone talks about the fights. In Strikeforce, you’ll see some coverage of the fights themselves but there’s an increasing amount of coverage about what happens outside-the-cage with this promotion. The drama that Showtime & Strikeforce creates for themselves is completely unneeded.
When the promotion decided to book a year-long ‘tournament’ as the main theme for 2011, they had to realize that everything needed to set up for the year. That means the arena bookings, the matches, and everything logistical. Even PRIDE, of all organizations, had a slate of dates booked for Saitama Super Arena or buildings like Yokohama Arena. (They had to, since most buildings in Japan require a 4-6 month advance booking date, if not longer.) The fact that Strikeforce still doesn’t reportedly have a venue booked for April 9th for the rest of the first round is absurd. The idea that Sherdog’s report on this has not been disputed yet by the promotion is curious. All of this chaos is also completely unfair to fighters who have training camps and are trying to peak at the right time. How would you like to be Alistair Overeem right now? You thought you were going to become the ‘ace’ of K-1, you won all your fights last December at Ariake Colosseum, and then you end up claiming that they didn’t pay you? He had big plans for Japan, so much so that he signed with talent agency Yoshimoto. Now, he fully commits to Strikeforce, and what happens? He’s like the rest of us in not knowing what is going on — and he’s supposed to fight a major opponent in Fabricio Werdum!
All of this chaos started with the dumb notion of wanting to run events in Japan. Yes, I predicted that the promotion would try to run there, but I never thought it made any financial sense. With all the chaos going on there now, why make things harder for yourself? Seemingly, that seems to be the theme of this operation right now. Once the landscape in Japan fell apart, the promotion should have already had everything ready to go to promote an event on April 9th. After all, that’s the date the promotion pushed on Showtime for the next event. You have all those eyeballs watching Fedor’s fight and you tell fans that a certain date will be used for the rest of the first round and now you are hedging on that. Why? None of this uncertainly should have happened in the first place.
I’ve yet to confirm the delay, let alone cause. Strikeforce, Showtime won’t comment one way or the other. Smells funny though.
Think what you want about Strikeforce, but three years ago today, they headlined a show with Jan Nortje-Bob Sapp. We’ve come a long way.
Maybe, but they need to step up their game big now. Amateur hour is over. Even Bellator is making some moves, like signing Marlon Sandro. Time to get some steely resolve.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 67 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
1) Bellator got Sandro because SF doesn’t have a FW division and the UFC already has 2 guys from his same camp. Not to mention he is refusing to fight Aldo. So there is no point in making him look good only to have him not fight for the title.
2) If they knew the Female title fight was going to change, they should have given people a heads up on the conference call today. Hiding from the media in this case and also about April 9th is only going to frustrate people. Heck, they already have Josh Gross, who is a known UFC hater, trying to dig up dirt on them. He’s checking with athletic commissions to see if they are telling the truth and stuff like that….
3) I find it so hard to believe that Coker banked so much on Japan. He can’t be that dumb. He just can’t be….. It’s like setting up a donut shop at the base of an active volcano….
4) 200,000 viewers for Friday’s Challenger show. So none of the big Fedor ratings carried forward for the Challenger show. Interesting to see what the ratings for the Henderson fight are. See if there is any carry over for that show.
As much as White is vulgar and obnoxious, he still takes the media by the balls and gets out ahead of stories. If Strikeforce was going to CBS, then Coker would be saying something to the media. The fact that he isn’t saying anything means
sh!tlikely hit the fan.Coker’s job could be at stake here. If he screws this up, Showtime could just get rid of him and either end MMA or bring in another promoter to do their shows. If he can’t pull of his crown jewel which should end on the heels of his contract ending…. It’s going to get interesting.
Funny that people
bitchand criticize about Strikeforce not “controlling the narrative” in the wake of Bigfoot’s upset of Fedor, but when they have a press conference for an upcoming “Arena Series” show featuring one of their bigger name/pay fighters and they take steps to “control the narrative” and keep the “media” on point and covering their upcoming show, people bitch and criticize about that!At least mma “commenters” are consistent.
Did I say that they shouldn’t focus on the Nationwide event on that conf. call? Of course not. However, when there’s a developing story like the advertised April 9th date, they should be able to at least give a statement or answer on that matter. There’s no answer right now. It’s feeding the beast.
Let me further state the obvious — when you run a year-long gimmick like a tournament (I’ve always criticized the concept as a lazy booking crutch during the PRIDE days), you have to know going in that the gimmick will suck up all the oxygen in the room for the year as far as media interest is concerned. It’s fine to not have spot shows booked 4 months ahead of schedule, as they are secondary. However, you have to understand that mid-level shows like the Nationwide event are not going to attract the media attention because the year-long gimmick is what everyone is focused on. It’s a reason why you don’t see UFC doing tournaments.
The UFC books incredibly far ahead anyways. They basically lock themselves into PPVs even if they don’t have anyone to headline it, which I’m not sure is any better.
Besides, if they really are getting things together for a May event with CBS, what kind of statement do you want them to make here? Honestly. An example, please.
SF locked themselves into this date and are now asking for Diaz to be on standby and fight on short notice. No full camp that isn’t good.
Why do you keep bringing up CBS? Could it happen? Sure. But there hasn’t been on credible source who has said it’s even being talked about. The rumor came from Meltzer who was purely speculating as to reasons for the delay. No sources. No nothing.
SF was having issues getting a venue for the GP BEFORE their last championship show. The signs were there when Coker got mad at Helwani for even mentioning it. Sure CBS could be in play, but most likely that is notthe case….
Getting a venue is secondary. The primary source of income is Showtime money. I seriously doubt that they aren’t running the HWGP because they “couldn’t get a venue in time” when they can go to any bumfuck town with a Armory and set up camp if need be.
Just like what Shaw and King did with Bradley-Alexander. That worked out great…
It did for Shaw and King. They didn’t pay a dime to rent the Silverdome. The Silverdome PAID THEM half a million.
Yes, half a million dollars!! Thats awesome to make an event that people thought sucked, and everyone inside boxing condemned. But it made half a million dollars!!!
Yes. It did. That’s the point of promoting fights from the promoter end – to make money. No arena was going to bring them that sort of live gate for that fight outside of St. Louis and there was probably a clause in the contract for a neutral location. If Vegas didn’t want the fight, then it goes to the highest bidder. In this case: The Silverdome.
That is the best example possible of a fight made because the network wanted it specifically and paid for it. It would have made money if they ran it in my backyard.
Respectfully disagree, the point for Scott right now is to build his brand to keep fan interest and not get lost in over extending himself. You’re right SF will make money on any location they run in right now, but bad press, and bad fan reaction will bury SF because they already only have a hardcore fans turning in from show to show.
Long term viability is a hell of a lot more important to SF than 500 Gs is.
The UFC didn’t run UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi last year because they think like FIFA that they’re gonna open up the middle east. They did it for money. No one promoting Alexander/Bradley was under any delusion that the fight was being marketed first and foremost as a “live event product”. It happened because HBO demanded it and told them they couldn’t get paid to fight anyone else, much less get paid as much.
If they tried to tell Showtime to take a hike, they’d be dead tomorrow. Forget talking about “long term viability”.
Good points but that has absolutely nothing to do with Strikeforce. The UFC is a built up brand that sells itself. Strikeforce is a brand that is still trying to gain traction, while also trying to open up new markets that the UFC hasn’t covered. If they market an event and it completely bombs than it is a lot worse than a bomb for the UFC.
No one was under the delusion becuase King and Shaw rarely think ahead. They ended up with a terrible fight, a terrible atmosphere, and a shit load of backlash from the boxing community. Shaw is going to end up losing Bradley because of dealings like this one.
What are you talking about with this “opening new markets” thing? They go where there’s an arena and theoretical interest for a pro MMA show.
Seriously, whatever backlash exists from the “boxing community” exists because the fight wasn’t any good, which is not something King and Shaw have control over. If Bradley thinks he’s gonna get a better deal than the one lined up by HBO for him by Shaw, he’s
fuckingcrazy.Opening up new markets like going to places where the UFC hasn’t been, like Japan.
Bradley is busy weighing options right now, but the best deal that has been spoken of yet is GBP. So to sign with a promoter with less ties for less money would be stupid.
There has been plenty of backlash on many websites that talked about not only the main event sucking, but the way the whole event was promoted including TQBR, BLH, Boxing scene, and probably others that I’m missing.
1) they held back info on a title fight change. That’s not controlling the narrative. Thats being deceptive.
2) imagine talking to Angelina Jolie, only she has a giant 2 inch diameter mole on her cheek. No matter how hot she is, it’s impossible to not concentrate on that mole. That’s what today’s conference call was like. How can you expect people to notice the beautiful girl (Henderson card) when there is a giant mole on her face (the April 9th issues).
That’s not controlling the narrative. That’s hiding out until they can figure out what to do…. And trying to promote another card at the same time. It just doesn’t work….
Being deceptive is nothing new for any of the promoters. It is hilarious to see people claim to say that any of them are ethically better than others. Wasn’t it just a week ago that Rashad “didn’t want” a Rampage rematch? Now apparently he did want it and Dana refused to make the fight, instead giving us Hammil/Rampage and “war of words”. The irony there is IMMENSE.
You are comparing an injury situation with matchmaking. Let’s compres apples to apples.
The UFC found out the DAY OF UFC 126 that Rashad Evans was injured. Fans knew about it before a contractwas signed and before the end of the event.
Compare that to the female title fight where they were sitting on the information, intentionally did not talk about as to avoid the questions about it…. And then announce it once the media would have a harder time asking questions about it.
It’s not even in the same ballpark.
What does the date of UFC 126 have to do with anything? Dana White openly admits now that he didn’t book Rampage/Evans II for three months from now because he didn’t like the first fight after the initial reports last week the UFC leaked had Evans backing out.
So Marketing your event as a set up tournament, when you actually have nothing set up for running the tournament beyond your first show is not deception?
As long as the tournament bouts come off, no, it is not deception. Is it deception on the part of the NBA to force networks to pay for playoff series in advance with no idea how long they’ll be?
Really, I don’t understand why you guys (as in not just you) continue comparing MMA to things like Football and Basketball.
If CBS picks up the tourney for May you were right. However that’s only a thought built on rumors at the moment.
I’m not saying CBS is doing that. I am saying that the argument that Strikeforce is pushing the fight back because of venue doesn’t make any sense. What the cause of the delay, if one even happens to occur, is something I don’t know.
Actually it makes plenty of sense. They have a fighter that’s gonna be apart of the co-main event that is having trouble getting licensed in the USA. It makes just as much sense as Coker waiting on CBS maybe picking up fights in May.
You’re arguing that Strikeforce is delaying an event due to a circumstance that is largely irrelevant to why they hold events and that is easily circumvented. The problem is that you don’t understand the business model here and how it works, to be frank. And you’re displaying that talking about Alexander/Bradley.
And you do comparing it to the NBA playoffs?!? Haha whatever you say buddy.
You’re whole argument is based around that you don’t know why they are delaying, and it very well could be CBS in May. Then your run away from is saying “I’m not saying CBS is doing that.”
What does Rampage/Rashad (probably would’ve been maybe the 6th or 7th most important match for the UFC) have to do with the the Strikeforce HWGP (The most important thing in SF, the biggest moneymaker in SF, the event with all of their draws, and the event a lot of people were calling the most exciting thing in MMA)?
You’re reaching…
45 Huddle is stating that holding back info is deceptive. It is not. It is obfuscation, but it is not deception. Deception is lying to fans. Strikeforce has done its fair job of BSing the fans in the past, obviously. I’ve pointed it out, god, just about every time they’ve ever done it as long as they existed. What happened with Rashad and UFC 130 is actual deception.
“The UFC found out the DAY OF UFC 126 that Rashad Evans was injured. Fans knew about it before a contract was signed and before the end of the event.”
The UFC found out on the day of the UFC 126 event, but Joe Rogan recently said on his podcast, that he knew about it a day before the Jones/Bader fight. So you expect us to believe that Rogan knew about it before the UFC?
According to MMA Junkie, Diaz has been told that he could be fighting on short notice for April 9th.
Is Strikeforce really going to delay the GP for Barnett? If they can put on a card on that date, then they should do it with the GP.
Unless Barnett is not the only issue. Perhaps Overeem doesn’t want to fight in CA under the more stringent drug testing? Pure speculation on my part for that one…..
How foolish of coker to bank on Japan? At the peak of his most significant promotion no less. There’s a reason why these promotions in Japan are folding, why on earth get fixated on this?
This is as much a sign of desperation as it is ineptness. They work with such small margins that instead of trying to make overeem a star in the states he wanted to leverage his status and make a quick buck in japan.
This is a horrible sign for a promotion that looked like it was about to make some headway. If the rest of the GP does not occur on the 9th this will be one of the biggest mistakes in Scott Coker’s career.
Zach,
You complained that SF would never be able to have a tournament (or “tournament”, for your sake :P) before the tournament even began.
SF put it together.
Now you are complaining that we don’t know the location of the next block of fights for the first round.
Could it be that Coker is finalizing something with FEG who are scheduled to have a media conference next week, according to Nightmare of Battle?
I kind of like how SF isn’t telling media where the next event is, because message boards and media alike are going into a tizzy and giving Strikeforce plenty of publicity – and the sport is Internet-driven…..So I say, keep doing what their doing – after all, they did get 1.1 million fans at the peak of their broadcast for Fedor/Big Foot.
It’s still a tournament on paper as opposed to reality. I’m still baffled why they couldn’t run the first round (four fights) on one card.
All these delays and venue adaptations/changes do is mess up the calendar and create doubt in the minds of fans. A tournament structure is supposed to alleviate those problems. Say what you want about Bellator, but they have managed to run some tournaments here without the drama that you see with Strikeforce.
OK, let’s say he is. Why does he need them? He’s never needed them as far as doing business Stateside. What’s the point of running in Japan other than the idea that he would make money and avoid commission issues with Barnett? It’s a bizarre gamble to take, especially given the fact that right now it’s not like K-1 itself is generating money. Plus, look at Overeem’s 180-degree turn about Japan. I would think some alarm bells would be going off here about working in Japan.
So, you’re saying that it’s good that sites like Sherdog, which are friendly to the promotion, are creating doubt in the minds of fans about switcheroos? False advertising and false hope is not a good long-term business plan, sorry.
[Quote]It’s still a tournament on paper as opposed to reality. I’m still baffled why they couldn’t run the first round (four fights) on one card.
All these delays and venue adaptations/changes do is mess up the calendar and create doubt in the minds of fans. A tournament structure is supposed to alleviate those problems. Say what you want about Bellator, but they have managed to run some tournaments here without the drama that you see with Strikeforce.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps SF figured they didn’t want to put all four fights on one card because it didn’t make a lot of sense financially, given what the tournament fighters command as a whole. I don’t know what each fighter’s purse and/or contract is, but maybe they felt it was best to spread it out seeing that they have a limited number of headline fighters who actually have credible opponents. I was a bit surprised myself when Barnett/Rogers, Overeem/Werdum weren’t going to appear on the Ohio show.
Offhand, I don’t recall any statement that Coker or Strikeforce ever gave for a definite date; it was more like a window of two months. As a fan I don’t see it as that big of a deal, because I have faith that Strikeforce will figure a way of getting something together. There is also the rumor floating around that Strikeforce may do the second part of the first round on CBS and the delay is due to CBS’ involvement.
[Quote]OK, let’s say he is. Why does he need them? He’s never needed them as far as doing business Stateside. What’s the point of running in Japan other than the idea that he would make money and avoid commission issues with Barnett? It’s a bizarre gamble to take, especially given the fact that right now it’s not like K-1 itself is generating money. Plus, look at Overeem’s 180-degree turn about Japan. I would think some alarm bells would be going off here about working in Japan.[/Quote]
I don’t know if you saw the interview with Mike Straka on HDNet, but Coker stated that he wanted the GP to be a world event (which would include a country like Japan). I think more than anything, Coker sees going into Japan as a feather in his cap more than being all about money or “needing” Japan. It’s not “bizarre,” to Coker; he probably is very confident with his history with K-1 (and understanding the way Japanese do business) that he can get a deal done.
Here’s the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6kVMwTQUg8
[QUOTE]So, you’re saying that it’s good that sites like Sherdog, which are friendly to the promotion, are creating doubt in the minds of fans about switcheroos? False advertising and false hope is not a good long-term business plan, sorry [/Quote]
I’m not saying that at all.
Like I said, Coker stated there is a window of a couple of months where an event can be done. That’s not false advertising. The window is not yet closed and we haven’t passed that time either.
A lot of the negative comments directed at Strikeforce doubting them, are IMO, online tactics being used by their competitor to try to discredit their organization. When all you read is negative comments – that a lot of times don’t even make any sense – I can see how writers pick up on this as some sort of “popular opinion” and either consciously or subconsciously put that slant into their stories. IMO, it’s a systematic attempt to discredit Strikeforce by their competition. There is a war being waged over perception over what is and isn’t happening….Who is the best and who is “bush league”…Coker may not want to face up to that yet, at least not publicly.
Again, I’ll semi-agree with you that it would be easier to follow if there were dates set in stone ahead of time. Strikeforce isn’t going to tell everyone their internal business and they are not going to always be forthcoming with why they are doing something a certain way – sometimes you just tell people what they know when they need to know it. We may not like it, but we don’t have much choice in the matter.
“I’m still baffled why they couldn’t run the first round (four fights) on one card.”
This baffled me as well. All the fighters were there, so why not kick things off in style? The previous commenter mentioned fighter salaries, but this would be more than offset by the excitement generated. I don’t know if Strikeforce realizes it being that they seemingly only market research MMA message boards, but Overeem is not very well known in America. Furthermore, Overeem thrashing Werdum on the same card is a perfect contingency plan for a Fedor loss (not to mention setting up a great PPV or CBS card if Fedor had won).
Why would they put 8 high paid HWs on one card when they could have put in on two and gotten two license fee checks from Showtime? Why get only one bump in subscription and viewers when you get people signing up for two cards plus the bump for the cards in between?
We shouldn’t be questioning why they broke it up, we should be questioning why people are questioning the decision.
“Why would they put 8 high paid HWs on one card when they could have put in on two and gotten two license fee checks from Showtime?”
Seems like a good question, but obviously we’re seeing the answer right now. And like I said, the boost you get for the next rounds (especially with a potential star-making performance from Overeem) will more than make up for it.
Just a question: Is Rogers and Kharitonov really making that much more than Rosario and Johnson? If so I can understand Rogers, but Kharitonov?
Also do you guys think Barnett is making over 50 to fight? I’m at work so I can’t look up the numbers even if they were on the net.
Well, time to dig out Daniel Cormier or Del Rosario to fight Brett Rogers!
But seriously, Strikeforce should just run the event in Iowa or Kansas or somewhere where they probably don’t care about a fighter doping a few times. I would say West Virginia because that was the state where Tommy Morrison (who is HIV positive) made his TRIUMPHANT comeback into boxing…….but WV actually has MMA BANNED by the state legislators. Makes total sense, amiright!
Even if SF wants to push back the Barnett/Rogers fight because some states might not let Barnett fight, SF could at least do the Overeem/Werdum fight in the meantime for April 9th.
Alan Conceicao wrote:
In a funny way, you are actually highlighting a point Ariel Helwani made in an interview with Jordan Breen when he was talking about the way Strikeforce live shows are set-up to look good on TV as opposed to concentrating on giving fans a good live experience. April 9th was what they advertised and now it looks unlikely.
Scott Coker likes to use NFL analogies for his HW GP tournament. OK, so let’s do that here. When the NFL has their rounds of playoffs, they happen on Saturdays and Sundays. You know what the date is and, based on which team wins, the location. The date doesn’t change. Why is it OK to be evasive on a simple matter like this if you are Showtime?
In a funny way, you are actually highlighting a point Ariel Helwani made in an interview with Jordan Breen when he was talking about the way Strikeforce live shows are set-up to look good on TV as opposed to concentrating on giving fans a good live experience.
I’m not disagreeing with him. But the “live experience” is secondary. Its probably always going to be. Its about Showtime’s money and nothing but. If they needed a venue somewhere, there are venues. They would book one because Strikeforce would make them.
Scott Coker likes to use NFL analogies for his HW GP tournament. OK, so let’s do that here. When the NFL has their rounds of playoffs, they happen on Saturdays and Sundays. You know what the date is and, based on which team wins, the location. The date doesn’t change. Why is it OK to be evasive on a simple matter like this if you are Showtime?
Zach, Showtime demands the shows and its Strikeforce’s job to deliver them. Strikeforce can’t just say, “oh, we want to do a Nick Diaz headlined show instead” and Showtime shuffles along with it. That’s not how it works.
So what happens if Diaz ends up headlining the April show? Dies it change the way things work? Or just make Showtime mad at Coker’s inability to do what he has promised?
They can’t just tell Showtime what Showtime is getting. That’s the whole point. Remember? Its why “Showtime is too powerful”. They pick the fights they want to air. If they want the heavyweight GP, they are getting the heavyweight GP. You are having a tough time understanding this.
So that’s why Nick Diaz is on standby? Because Showtime asked for the Grand Prix in April and are getting it?
Showtime cant force a promoter to get their act together….. Which seems like what could be the case right now….
And I get what you are saying.
If the Sugar Daddy is paying, he should get what he wants.
But they can’t force it to happen…. It could have further consequences for their business relationship but theycant force it to happen….
If Showtime wants the GP then, they get it. If they aren’t getting the GP then, its because they want it somewhere else on the schedule.
“In the case of Strikeforce, it feels like the majority of media coverage about them is what they do outside of the cage as opposed to what is going on inside the cage.”
I wonder why that is?
Because fans get excited for things that are promised and then concerned when they don’t work out to anything? Because it looks like the HWGP is collapsing and Strikeforce doesn’t have a single thing to the contrary to say about it?
I like this tournament, I want to see it finished. When we’re a month out from the next round, they don’t have a venue announced and are refusing to address the press? It sounds like they don’t have their shit together, and a legitimately exciting tournament is falling apart.
I can’t understand the leap in logic that “I am bummed that SF can’t put together fights with their fighters” means some sort of astroturf campaign for SF’s competition.
“I can’t understand the leap in logic that “I am bummed that SF can’t put together fights with their fighters” means some sort of astroturf campaign for SF’s competition.”
I’d say you’re in the minority of people if your reaction has been “I am bummed…”…
Go read comments here or other sites, they are FAR, FAR from the case you’ve laid.
Safari_Punch says ‘boards and media alike are going into a tizzy.’ LOL! It is indeed funny how a stream of no information from Strikeforce has overshadowed Saturday’s UFC show, at least judging by volume of comments on this site. Unfortunately, unlike the media savant Dana White, I know Coker isn’t yet sharp enough to have done this by design.
Also I see it pointed out that Showtime is not saying anything either. This makes me think Strikeforce is being as professional as is required…unless commenters now want to make the claim that Showtime is also a bush league media operation?
A t-ball game could overshadow UFC 127….
Scott Coker – such a genius…stealing all the oxygen from a UFC international ppv with his promotional savvy. And all done without twitter! What a savant. 🙂 lol
Wow, those are exactly the same…
One promoter interjects his companies name into the discussion of both a high profile boxing card and SF’s biggest card of the year.
The other is potential incompetence that just happens to be happening at the same time as a UFC card…. Which runs about every other week anyways….
That Coker is so smart!
It was tongue in cheek idiot.
Lol
The Internet does not do sarcasm well….
And honestly bud, your schtick is getting really old and played out. Seriously, for the last month every thread post you’ve done nothing but look for ways to spin each and EVERY newspiece as a negative for Strikeforce and Coker. Oddly in a way, almost none of your comments have had anything to do with the UFC – the actual leader in the sport – even when the topic is the UFC…and even then most of those were in the context of something to do with Strikeforce!
Not only that but a vast majority of your points are just tired old repeats of the same old talking points or parroting ideas from “mmalogic”.
Reading back you constantly contradict yourself (e.g. Coker is an incompetent/useless promoter…omg what will they do without a contingency plan for Coker?!; Constant back and forths on the Showtime deal), make blatantly incorrect statements of fact and try to call others out on them only to “run away” and never be heard from again whence call on them, use examples that make no sense (SF = Affliction, doomed to fail!) and quite generally just look like an agenda-whoring commenter who hopes that if they repeat the same thing over and over again people will start to believe you.
Where’s the schtick?
If it’s a UFC card topic I talk about the UFC. Zach has been posting more about Strikeforce lately.
Coker is incompetent. This current issue is a great example of this.
Are you just sick of hearing about how bad SF is dropping the ball? If that’s the case, then you should just ignore SF coverage all together….
And if you want to complain about somebody complain about Alan.
If you want to disagree with my view point that is fine. But at least I give a viewpoint and back it up.
All Alan does 90% of the time is come on here and just bash a portion of peoples comments and doesn’t add much to the discussion….
Hey I was one of the first people on here saying how I had little faith in them and this tournament…go look, facts check out.
But so far everything on this end has been BASELESS speculation…has anyone done any hard fact-finding on the second-half of the opening round? So far I’ve seen a couple of “we emailed two state commissions and they said no” and then an arse-load of rumours. The rumours are 2 days old? Maybe they’re preparing to give us an update but things aren’t finalized? I dunno – but they got the thing up and running with everyone signed on, which was more than I was skeptically giving them credit for – so I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Especially given that we complain that they won’t keep the media on target and they actually showed stones to keep them on target at a presser for an event and people crucify them for that now? Yes the tourney is important and that will attract a lot of attention, but do you expect UFC 127’s pressers to address other news items on their radar? Should they talk about the upcoming TUF? No they have separate pressers for those.
In the end maybe they will totally drop the ball here, but I’m willing to give them more than 2 days to answer a RUMOUR. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, they aren’t the UFC, they don’t have a huge office staff, so don’t expect them to come at everything like the UFC would.
And go look at the last 15-20 threads and tell me how many of them do/don’t have you as one of the first commenters providing a “numbered list” to the following effect:
1.) Negative point re. SF
2.) 2nd negative point re. SF
3.) Minimizing positive point re. SF
4.) UFC is genius
5.) SF is going out of business by 2012.
And I apologize for calling you an idiot…that was uncalled for then and any time. Clearly you aren’t an idiot, but you certainly can raise my pulse from time to time…I guess that’s just the sign of a good “adversary”. 🙂
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m on one side of the spectrum of MMA fans. I really don’t care to see multiple national promotions. Even at this point I watch the UFC as the sport and the rest I catch for the “drama” that will unfold. Like them collapsing such as the IFL, EliteXC, Affliction, Sengoku and others.
It’s inevitable for the most part. It’s just interesting to see how each one fails differently….
Ad honestly, watching a company like Sengoku fail is great. Their top fighters are moving over to North America to really be tested. Only makes those leagues stronger….
Also – SCORE! Just got hooked up with floor seats to UFC 129 in my old stomping grounds. I just hope for bang-for-my-buck sake that GSP and Shields put on a hell of a performance and not another GSP “Mayweather” impression.
From a professional fighter’s point of view I cannot fault him if he does the smart thing, and I don’t need a “just bleed” fight, but I would like to see him pour it on and finish (or Shields pull out a massive upset) and not do a dominating but safe 5 rd shutout. Either way the crowd will be insane, but, ya’know…
GTFO! Have a blast man, and don’t get too hammered! I know you canucks are crazy sometimes.
I actually think he finishes Shields (because of the style match up), but I thought the same thing against Hardy too soo…
Yeah – I think he can finish Shields as well. Shields has pretty terrible striking and I just don’t know if I can see him getting GSP down here. Problem is, will GSP jump into his guard/on the ground with him and pound him out…it’s not like hanging out on the ground with Kos or Hardy.
Re. hammered – not at this thing I won’t…I expect Canada’s “bridge and tunnel”/”Jersey Shore” crowd (see – Mississauga, Brampton, Woodbridge) to be out in full force on daddy’s plastic mean mugging it all night. Hopefully the tickets were too expensive for that type of crowd, but I think the prospects of spending their parents’ cash and/or saving up their “bar promoter” salaries (fyi – I have nothing against the idea of having this particular job, but it attracts a certain type for the most part) for 8 months will rule that out for a lot of the non-floor seats patrons. The city will be fun, but if it is anything like the Vancouver show, I will be embarassed these people are from Canada.
Gotcha.
I never really understood the job actually. A bunch of my friends have that job now, and seem to do pretty well. Personally I don’t know because I don’t go out to bars anymore, but to me it seems like these guys are making money while the bars are selling themselves. It’s seems like: “Hey, I get paid 50 grand a year to post links on Facebook and go party afterwards!”
My understanding was that generally you get a cut of the door and bottles sold @ events you promote. More cutthroat deals have multiple promoters per night and you have to hustle to get paid based on the people/bottles you personally bring in (including hitting people already in the club or at the door for bottle service/drinks). I think they usually get a bottle or two free for themselves.
From what I’ve seen in most places, less so in NYC but still there too, it’s a crappy/shady business to be in unless you’re in the top 1% and even then most of these people are $25k millionaires who don’t want a day job and live off credit card ponzi schemes (paying off one credit card with another) and overdraft that like to creep on girls.
All makes sense. It just seems like creating a whole bunch of meaningless jobs, but again I don’t know the business that well.
Definitely nothing that I would ever do, and good for whoever likes the lifestyle.