In Praise of Strikeforce's Scott Coker
by Luke Thomas on Aug 28, 2008 1:53 PM EDT
in MMA News
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PrintKevin Iole has a very favorable piece on the Strikeforce mastermind. What's interesting to note in the piece is Dana White's praise of him:
Unlike nearly every other major promoter, he hasn’t incurred the wrath of the UFC or its outspoken president, Dana White.
White, who was 16 when Coker began promoting kickboxing, was effusive in his praise of Coker.
“This sport needs more guys like Scott Coker,” White said. “He puts on a good show and I think if you talked to his fighters about him, they’d all have good things to say.”
Those words are in sharp contrast to his comments about other promoters. He derisively refers to Affliction’s Tom Atencio as “that t-shirt guy.” He says, “I thought Elite XC was the (stuff) Anna Nicole Smith was taking when she died.” And he simply chortles at the problems the IFL has endured.
“It was a stupid concept that I told you would never work,” White said of the IFL’s team MMA plan.
What's notable is how long the two organizations will able to peacefully coexist. Dana White has gone on the record as saying he wants to sign Strikeforce superstar Cung Le. The dilemma of the mid-majors like Strikeforce is that they don't incur the wrath of Dana White by geographically narrowing their area of operation and by willingly serving as both feeder organizations for up-and-coming talent as well as homes/rebound opportunities for struggling or uninspiring UFC talent. However, eventually the upper echelon Strikeforce fighters are going to be coveted by White. He will want their services for his promotion and his endeavors. One wonders how a friendly relationship will be maintained amidst business necessities.
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now that's an interesting angle
but would UFC want to get tangled up in their ultra-low rent NBC deal?
They’re probably not going to renew it… It’s only for one year.
Right now Coker needs to make a decision – either go crazy trying to continue maintaining a feeder league and lose his stars as he builds the next one or sell out and have use your love of the sport to work for Zuffa.
Zuffa in turn likes the San Jose homebase that coker has built and it would be easier to just take over cung’s, josh thompsons, etc… contract than to outbid on them.
Plus Coker and a few others would make for a really good asset for zuffa’s expansion.
I don’t think Zuffa will by them. There is a void in the MMA market and more demand that Zuffa can make. Adrenaline and Strikeforce are the answer, they can be profitable and do good things by trying to be a minor league type org. Everyone that’s tried to go up against Zuffa has failed.
Starting small and working big has a better chance of working than jumping into the deep end, but Strikeforce isn’t broken, why should they try to fix it and get bigger. I know there’s the allure of more money, but they seem to be doing fine the way they are right now, they should just stick with it.
The UFC needs Strikeforce...
… in a way, at least. The UFC is hardly the place for beginner fighters. The talent is so deep, that only a few really thrive right out of the gates. The UFC needs well-run, stable promotions like Strikeforce that work regionally, building local stars, and are no threat nationally. Business-wise, Strikeforce has been doing well, opting not to be the UFC (as so many other promotions mistakenly do) and instead work well in the regional MMA system. Fighters grow and develop there, then the UFC snaps them up when they’ve reached a level of fighting maturity. It works very well for the UFC.
Strikeforce can’t afford to pay the top fighters once they get established. These guys need bigger promotions that have more revenue, so they can get their shot at big bucks. Also, having your stars move on to bigger exposure, impact positively on your org and it’s archives/library.
There is a need and place for regional, mid-level and other shows out there, and Strikeforce has shown the way to fill some of those areas. They have been smart, keeping their costs down and riding the momentum of the sport. Their other option, is to try and get big immediately, like Affliction, and incur the wrath of Dana. probably not the best idea for success.
"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"
Strikeforce can afford to pay their top guys. This is because they only have a few fighters who have hefty price tags (only Cung Le, Shamrock, and Baroni come to mind). They put those guys in a big fight to draw attention and then the rest of the guys on the card make exactly what you would expect. With the current market, a guy like Cung Le can’t afford to not be in the UFC. In Strikeforce, he’s a big fish in a small pond. In the UFC, we can all agree he’ll be a big fish in an ocean filled with other big fish. This maybe true, but Le can still make the same type of money PLUS a much bigger marketing machine behind him, bigger endorsement opportunities, and the chance for an athlete of his caliber to test himself against the best.
I don’t think this will cause a huge problem unless Zuffa tried to snatch Cung Le away from his Strikeforce contract which wouldn’t really benefit them in any way. If Cung Le fulfills his contract with Coker and then the UFC comes along and gives him a good offer and he takes it, it’ simply business. It’s up to Coker to offer a guy like Cung Le a reason to stay with his company instead of jumping ship.
Also, it’s in the UFC’s best interest to let companies like Strikeforce and EliteXC turn Cung Le and Kimbo Slice into legitimate superstars. The UFC gets guys who already have a legitimate following without having to do any of the leg work or investment to turn them into stars. After all, the UFC did all the investment to get this sport where it is now meaning Strikeforce and EliteXC wouldn’t be able to run a business if it wasn’t for them in the first place. Cung Le vs Anderson Silva? Kimbo Slice vs Brock Lesnar? Sign me up.
Lesnar would demolish Fergi.
Now that I got that out of the way, promotions like Strikeforce are the perfect system to use, combined with TUF, to generate UFC-ready MMA fighters. It makes perfect sense for Zuffa to buy Strikeforce, not for the purposes of consolidation, but for alignment of talent and ensuring they can have long-term options on these guys, just like it works in baseball’s minor leagues.
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
by misterjonez on Aug 28, 2008 11:12 PM EDT up reply actions
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