(Vid: HDNet)
To hear Scott Coker tell it, the story of Strikeforce is one of a plucky little regional promotion battling its way out of the shadows into the national spotlight, then cashing in its chips at the height of its popularity. At least that seems to be the rhetorical strategy Coker employs in the above video on HDNet, as he makes his first significant public appearance since Zuffa, LLC. bought his company 10 days ago. Coker allows his new employers plan to do with the MMA organization he built almost singlehandedly.
Coker says he is excited that the UFC will now use all its assets to “explode the (Strikeforce) brand” (we assume he means that in a positive way), while declining to say how much debt Strikeforce was in before the UFC stepped in to bail it out (“I don’t know if the UFC would want us to talk about [that],” says Coker, a real team player!). The former SF boss also subtly reveals what a farce the whole idea any kind of Strikeforce vs. UFC competition was all along, when he relates the story of Zuffa bringing its 15-member PR department to their initial meeting, while Coker brought his lone “marketing person.” Shit, Coker even employs the phrase “business as usual” a few times here.
“I’m sure there’s some shock – everyone is in shock,” Coker says about the sale. “But (then) I went to the Zuffa offices and saw the amount of resources that they have and their 200 employees focusing on the growth of MMA and all eager to help Strikeforce basically take it to the next level. They have a tremendous amount of resources that we’re going to be able to tap into now. I think it’s going to help us get much quicker where we want to go.”
If you’ve got the time, the vid is worth a look.
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@cabj1905 – not true, he banned any of his employees from using the “Cock Smoker” joke. But I heard Dana likes to refer to him that way now…