Gilbert Melendez, 'Cyborg' Santos and the New Face of Strikeforce

Hogan was the key to the WWF’s success, then in the next boom period it was Steve Austin, Austin’s starpower was able to rub off on guys like Mick Foley, The Rock..etc.

Memphis was built around Jerry Lawler, Ric Flair was what made the NWA must-see..etc.

If “the brand” really sold that well then we would have seen the UFC take such a huge dip in overall PPV buys when their biggest stars got hurt.

Yes, you want the brand to be stable, but you need stars to sell.

I hate the WWE comparisons. WWE can plan exactly what they are going to do with their players a year in advance, even more, and direct the outcome. You can’t do that in MMA. The approach is completely different. Yes, you can tell a story with your fighters but you can’t direct their fights or even the quality of their fights. It’s in their hands from there. That’s why you make it rain as much as you can and as long as you can when a Brock Lesnar or Nick Diaz comes along or someone dominant like Anderson Silva has a run. If the cards fall right they can have a huge star in Ronda, I think. I think the build for a fight between her and Cyborg could be intense and if she gets Cyborg to tap she hits the stratosphere and WMMA reaches a new level. The only way it’s similar to WWE is building the rivalry. But, that’s true in all of sports. Those two fighters have to deliver to get the brand of Strikeforce’s WMMA to the next level.

“You are what you do. A man is defined by his actions, not his memory.”

How that man got so far in promoting is beyond me

It’s not about “building the promotion around a single star”

It’s about the reality that you have to have stars to sell events, and you have to sell events to stick around long-term.

And this isn’t about “promoting” anyone as anything. It takes more than telling people someone is great, it takes them having the right fights and style to make it happen.

Particularly in a sport like MMA, where even the best fighter in the world can lose in a single punch, it’s hard to put all your eggs in a single basket and and expect that to be a good long term strategy.

There is a reason why we critique cards on these forums, and I think it is a great thing. The nature of a UFC cards provides for many possibilities. How often has the main event sucked and everyone got excited about great matches lower on the card… or even the undercard? The big MMA promotions (PRIDE, UFC, WEC) have always understood this. A fight card should be an event. The best ones are ones that we get excited about head of time (“stacked” cards). Individual matches or personalities I believe are secondary. Just because I came for the high-wire act doesn’t mean I am not interested in seeing ten clown get out of a tiny car.

I do think moments make a statement. Pettis’ off-the-cage kick vs. Bendo is a lot more memorable than JDS’s victory over Cain. Major mainstream outlets picked that up and ran with it for nearly an entire news cycle. (I think the UFC didn’t do nearly enough with that footage. Probably because it was a WEC event, I imagine).

Personalities do matter. Lesnar’s fame, regardless of his chances in the fight (which I think are slim) will boost Overeem’s profile, especially if he wins in a decisive manner. But I bet the fight we will be talking about the next day will be Cowboy/Diaz. The UFC’s balanced approach is smart. And I think it will only get smarter as time goes on.

Star doesn’t mean “good.”

in his last three fights, he’s had ONE that did what would be considered good viewership and that was in part due to Diaz fighting in the main event of that card. His fight with Aoki was part of what killed the ratings on that show (not that it’s Gil’s fault, but that’s not a starmaking performance) and rematch with Thomson did 341,000 viewers on Showtime…now for perspective, the top 5 Showtime ratings for Strikeforce all did well over 500,000.

Add that he hasn’t been seen a lot to the fact that he’s fought sporadically at best and no…I don’t think it’s safe to say he’s a star.

But “W-Tennis” doesn’t just shine on its own but rather it is just coupled with the men’s and that’s that. It is a tradition, already, brought on by the format of the tournaments themselves and nobody expects anything else by now; the athletes are well paid to boot—extra monies if the girl is hot and very much into selling her image, just like in everywhere else.

It ain’t perfect, but it ain’t that bad. There’s plenty of talented girls competing and they can make a decent living doing what they love.

I don’t think that would be true with WMMA. I think women and girls will gravitate to WMMA because of the “girls kick ass” culture that has developed in the years since KIll Bill. If you’ve ever been to a roller derby match you know the appeal of women’s violence. It is a different kind of violence and that’s fine. But it’s organic. WMMA will have to develop along those lines. It will be slower, to be sure. And it will require a male audience. Men are the sports consumers in this culture. But that doesn’t mean that a young high school girl taking TKD after school won’t watch a match between Cyborg and Zoila Gurgel and not see herself there.