Strikeforce standing ground on April 17:
[CEO Scott] Coker said he wasn’t surprised to hear of the UFC’s rumored efforts to create a rival April 17 event.
"Was it done to create some confusion in the marketplace in Nashville? Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sure," said Coker. "Is it good for mixed martial arts? I’m not sure. I don’t think so. I don’t think that when a company’s trying to counter-program you just to impact your ratings, it’s-- and this could go back and forth. One day, when CBS says, ‘Alright, we’re going to go head-to-head against your pay-per-view date and you can watch Fedor (Emelianenko) or Dan Henderson for free on TV or buy a pay-per-view,’ people are going to have choices at that point. But that’s something they’d never do. CBS went out of its way to make sure there was nothing else on April 17."
"The irony of it all was that even for the WEC, we all said, ‘Let’s not have the fight on that date with (WEC general manager) Reed Harris. Let’s support him and move it to the 17th," said Coker.
Full interview at sherdog.com
-- photo via sports.sho.com
Strikeforce: Nashville on CBS coverage
almost 2 years ago
Nick Thomas
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I like Scott, and I’m not sure that the counter-programming thing is the coolest thing in the world to do, but he’s sort of telling a guy at the bar he doesn’t like him, but making sure he doesn’t do so in a way that’ll get him punched in the face. I’d rather he continue to be his regularly diplomatic self, or raise his sword and fight. Riding the fence isn’t a good look..
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
And are we supposed to believe they’re keeping Reed Harris’ best interests at heart? Just weird…
by Kwisatz Haderach on Mar 13, 2010 1:56 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, it’s a little whiny.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
more like, "let's not counter-program our partners at showtime."
who is this guy fooling?
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 13, 2010 6:21 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
This segment brought to you by Frank Mir:
Was it done to create some confusion in the marketplace in Nashville? Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sure. Is it good for mixed martial arts? I’m not sure.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Poor Coker.
Strikeforce was king of the mid-tier promotion. They knew how to bring in big crowds in the San Jose area, and they made a good profit for what they were doing.
But ever since they tried to step up and go head to head on the same level as the UFC they signed their own death warrant.
they are trying to grow their organization, are you saying they should never have any kind of
expansion plan in the works?
They are not capable of expanding at the rate they are trying to in order to compete with the UFC.
They don’t have the money or the fighters. There relationships with their key star (Fedor) as well as they key partner (CBS) are tenuous at best.
how do you know? do you have access to their financial statements?
and exactly which part of their expansion plans do you feel is beyond their capacity at
this time?
I know because I've seen the cards...
they’ve been putting on and I’ve read enough blogs about Fedor. To think that they compete is delusional.
I’m not sure whether to feel sorry for Coker or kick him in the ass and tell him to stop being a p*ssy. Give the guy props for trying to be a good sport but he really needs to get his shit together. Trying to play nice with a guy as douchey as Dana is only going to end up with Strikeforce going out of business. Whether its Ubereem or M-1 or counter-programming, Cocker appears, at least the public eyes, to be quite the scatterbrain. It’s all well and good to treat your fighters and the competition kindly but give them enough rope and they will hang you and your organization with it.
There’s something about Scott that makes me think he’s not cut out for the fight-promotion game. He doesn’t seem to have that cold-blooded killer instinct that guys like Dana, Bob Arum and Don King have. If I was an up and coming fighter in Strikeforce, I’d be pleased with the smaller locker-room (and thereby more face-time for myself), but I’d definitely feel like I need a promoter who wouldn’t apologize for the counter-programming.
Not cut out for it? You do realize that he founded Strikeforce way back in 1985 and he has been promoting fights for a quarter of a century right? If he wasn’t cut out for the fight promotion game then he probably would have figured like 20 years ago.
What I think is going on is that he is trying to play face to Dana White’s heel. And for the most part he’s succeeding there.
www.mmalinker.com
by exsanguinator on Mar 13, 2010 6:32 PM EST up reply actions
Coker is being nice so when SF implodes hopefully he can get some sort of a job as Danas bitch or something. With a man of the experience Coker has surely Dana has a place for him.
and by your words you are looking forward to seeing SF implode,
as a fan of mma, which i’m certain you are, why would you want that to happen?
I think we’re already just about there. And the UFC doesn’t have enough room for everyone yet. I don’t mind there being another place for fighters to get some exposure, and I don’t really see them as a threat to the UFC either.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Mar 13, 2010 3:05 AM EST up reply actions
i have no problems with having another promotion. But the fact that guys like fedor, mousasi and hendo are fighting in the B leagues is thereason strikeforce needs to go away.
And going away is the only option they are past the point of no return.
I know it, but they could all be with the UFC if they wanted. I think Mousasi will come around pretty soon and we’ll get to see if he’s top five at LHW or not. He’s really the only one I’m concerned with. Hendo I can live without at this point. I’m glad he has a place to go earn and get some exposure as he ends his career. And Fedor? Yeah, I want to see Fedor, but there’s no guarantee he’ll come to the UFC anyway. He’s had plenty of fat offers already, and who knows how much more he wants to do in the sport. If Strikeforce goes down soon, wouldn’t it be a bitch if Fedor went to Bellator for a heavyweight tournament? I guess I don’t really see Strikeforce being such an obstacle in this regard. It’ll all play out soon enough…
by Kwisatz Haderach on Mar 13, 2010 3:29 AM EST up reply actions
Maybe we should ask those guys if they think “Strikeforce needs to go away”.
by John Nash on Mar 13, 2010 5:38 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
you are talking about a monopoly, which is a discredited practice,
and there are numerous examples of which can be gleamed from socialist societies, not surprisingly i might add
Reed Harris better watch out or Coker will have his job! Honestly, I don’t feel like I have a dog in this race, we just get two dogs for the price (PPV) of one. And I’m just a simple caveman who likes his MMA. However, what the shit IS this shit? If I owned stock in a company and it’s CEO was trying to be “helpful” or “gentlemanly” to our main competition, I’d probably flip out. Does Scott want points for being nice? Is he unaware that we could also take that to mean he didn’t want to risk losing share to the WEC card? So I’m not really buying any of this. Scott seems like a nice enough guy, and I’m glad to have Strikeforce around for kicks and all, and I hope they can keep it going a while, but I can’t see why they’d be “nice” to a Zuffa company, or why they would state it openly if they were?
by Kwisatz Haderach on Mar 13, 2010 2:59 AM EST up reply actions
I think we all know the real reason they didn’t go after WEC date, it’s Super Six on Showtime and necessity of hiring another production crew. It’s just promoter talk, Coker is playing a good guy, while Zuffa is the evil empire.
http://www.mmarocks.pl
https://twitter.com/mmarocks_pl
Yeah, you’re totally right, it’s just a very strange statement. Like playing a side game for fake chips (i.e. Who is the nicer guy?) Is anyone going to watch Strikeforce over the UFC because Scott might be a nicer guy? The actual high stakes game he’s playing is still all about the product.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Mar 13, 2010 3:33 AM EST up reply actions
april is a good month of mma
especialyy with belator an sf free that month sweet
I’m surprised no one mentioned the fact that it looks as if Strikeforce won this round. Dana threatened to counter with a live show and nothing has happened yet. Apparently the April 17th Fight Night is (unfortunately) off. Now maybe Dana was bluffing, and did this only to row confusion. It doesn’t matter, because true or not now it looks like he’s the one who has blinked. And on top of that reports are that he’s riled up CBS to where they are committed to promoting this card and greenlighting another show in May or June. If his plan was to get Strikeforce of CBS, it has backfired for now.
by John Nash on Mar 13, 2010 5:52 AM EST via mobile reply actions
And just I post this they announce Franklin vs Chuck for April 17th. Way to make me look like an ass Dana. Scott would have never done that to me.
by John Nash on Mar 13, 2010 5:57 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I think I’ll wait til the ratings come out before I declare SF a winner here, something tells me they aren’t gonna be real happy with the numbers even if the UFC doesn’t counter.
by ufc4 on Mar 13, 2010 4:17 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Strikeforce had a nice warm place set up on April 24th but Showtime didn’t want to compete with HBO Boxing that night, so Strikeforce got left out in the cold.
They should just go after WEC now, just for their own protection.
We all know Dana is a douche and doesn’t care about MMA.
right, dana hates mma, that’s why they’ve spent millions lobbying to get it legalized everywhere. And pays more people to do mma than anyone else in the world. And puts on more fights than anyone in the world….
He cares about UFC don’t get it twisted. He has to get mma legalized so they (UFC) can put on cards there. Dana is just being an asshole by countering. It’s that part of him that I hate. Everything else about him I love.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Mar 13, 2010 8:56 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Dana is the president of a company, it is his job to do what is best for his company.
If a card on Spike can beat a card on CBS at the same time, with the same product, that is great for his company.
Dana doing that does not preclude him from caring about the sport. No one says Burger King hates the fast food industry when they are saying the Whopper is better than the Big Mac, I don’t get why Dana doing what’s best for his company is interpreted by morons as him hating the sport.
I never said Dana hates MMA…
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Mar 13, 2010 9:32 AM EST up reply actions
Well, looks like they’re screwed. Fighters Only sez Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell are fighting and Liddell/Ortiz 3 isn’t happening. Oh, and Ortiz has some sort of mystery problem that could affect his ability to fight. Who wants to start up some betting lines on which STD it is?
Sounds to me like CBS
runs the company not Coker. Coker says when CBS decides to do X or Y it makes it look like he isn’t in control of his own promotion.
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