(Now there’s a couple of guys you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark boardroom.)
What, you thought that Strikeforce could put together a stacked card on CBS featuring three title fights, one involving former UFC star Dan Henderson, and Dana White would just stand there and take it like a bitch? C’mon, son. As first reported by Dave Meltzer of f4wonline.com, the UFC is planning to set up a counter-programming show on April 17th — the scheduled date of Strikeforce: Nashville — which will likely air on Spike TV. No matchups are official yet, but a welterweight bout between Matt Serra and Mike Swick is in the works. While the Spike event would likely get blown out by Strikeforce’s CBS show in overall ratings, Meltzer explains the reasoning like this:
Good plan, right? There’s just one problem: Scott Coker might not play along.
As the Strikeforce CEO told MMA Junkie: "CBS had an opportunity to do the fight on the 24th and go after the WEC pay-per-view date, and they said, ‘No, let’s just do it on the 17th and be nice guys.’ Now that the counter-programming is coming their way, I think there is some fluidity in what could happen."
If you ask us, Coker and CBS should have seen this coming, and counter-programming WEC 48 should have been their plan from the get-go. Instead of waiting for the UFC to cut into their audience then gloat about how they beat Strikeforce in key ratings demographics, Strikeforce could enjoy an unqualified blowout over an overpriced WEC pay-per-view that will be lucky to break 100,000 buys. It’s still possible that Strikeforce will stick to their 4/17 date in an attempt to avoid a larger conflict with the UFC — which would be unfortunate, because this is the perfect opportunity for Strikeforce to go from being the nail to being the hammer.
Related: Scott Coker says that despite some "cultural differences," the relationship between Strikeforce and M-1 is still solid, and he expects Fedor Emelianenko to compete again in Strikeforce "sometime in the later part of the second quarter or beginning part of the third quarter."
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commentsWhen I first heard Zuffa was putting the WEC events on Pay-per view it got me pretty angry. Yes they put on free events on Spike,but all the UFC events charge the consumer $50.00 ( for sometimes sub par fights ) and now to make more money they are charging for WEC events. Don't you think that's a little greedy? Reel in the fans and now charge them.
Your telling me Zuffa as a company isn't making enough money already? I understand there is alot of overhead but all shows get sold out, great pay-per view buys, merchandising etc. Obviously they are doing just fine which is the reason why they never reveal any financial stats when Dana or Lorenzo are interviewed. Plus the 10% of the company that they sold to that Abu Dhabi media company for hundreds of millions of dollars will definitely help.
sorry for the rant but I am a frustrated fan that is obviously not happy that they are now charging for a WEC event. It's absurd in my opinion and I would think many other mma fans would agree.
An fan of MMA is a fan of UFC and Strikeforce.
A fanboy can only glom onto one or the other, and is not an MMA fan.
It may be true that the company as a whole doesn't want to counter program its boxing vs. it's MMA, but that's BS anyway...CBS is going after casual viewers, many of which may not even have Showtime. Not to mention, the quality of that Super 6 tournament is bogus anyway.
Not to mention, CBS/Showtime seems to think that boxing and MMA are the same (with the same audience), so they don't want to counter-program themselves.
While I would hope this isnt everyones opinion, Im sure its the majority one.
Just goes to show the difference between MMA fans, and UFC fans.
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