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Playing catch-up
By Zach Arnold | August 3, 2009
Lots of odds and ends to cover here…
The main headline coming out of the Sengoku 8/2 Saitama show was… Satoshi Ishii in the ring to announce his MMA debut on 11/7 in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan. It seems very likely that the 22-year old will make his debut against 39-year old Hidehiko Yoshida. With Barnett likely in the semi-main event slot, his options for opponents seems limited. “Bigfoot” Silva looks to be likely the next opponent for Barnett. It’s a tough fight to take because if Barnett wants to fight Fedor on 12/31 for K-1 on NYE, he would have to hope that he comes out the Silva fight relatively unscathed. Not an easy task.
BTW, Sengoku once again did not release an attendance figure for their Saitama Super Arena event. I’ve never heard of a Japanese promotion not releasing crowd numbers for any show in the past.
Antonio Inoki was in Seattle doing a photo-op with Bob Sapp to promote this weekend’s IGF show in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum. Barnett & Ogawa vs. Sapp & Takayama is the main event.
Other notes… I’m noticing a lot of search requests for our site are coming from users of Bing. It used to be Google that dominated, but now I see a lot of hits from Bing. Traffic-wise, 80% of our traffic is North American. For the sake of reference, the two most-searched terms that people used to discover Fight Opinion… Brittney Skye and Gina Carano. Well…
Traffic for July ’09 was about 25% higher than the numbers we normally get. Every site imaginable benefited from UFC 100. I can’t compete with the larger sites in terms of finding writers (nobody wants to do it) or getting indexed on Google News (don’t ask), but I certainly am trying a lot of grassroots marketing. We’ll see how it turns out.
I’m actually transcribing last Friday’s UFC conference call, if you can believe it or not. This is going a lot slower than I anticipated, but it will be worth it in the end in terms of content. As far as conf. calls go, the only time I ever was actually on one was a couple of years ago when The Fight Network had signed Big John McCarthy to a deal. Other than that, never got an invite to one. I have no idea the invites go out or work, anyhow.
Reading material
- The Philadelphia Daily News: Ultimate homecoming for UFC’s Burt Watson, event coordinator
- AOL Fanhouse: Frank Mir says Miguel Torres is the best in MMA but that Brian Bowles could beat him
- The Examiner: Dana White can deliver knock out blow to Mayweather and boxing for 2009 with UFC 103 on 9/19 in Dallas
- This is Nottingham: Paul Daley claims he has a big fan base in America
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bit strange for Sengoku not to even release a false number.
I thought Barnett wouldn’t do business with either FEG or DSE? Is he willing to overlook past transgressions in order to fight Fedor on NYE?
What’s the scoop?
[…] other Sengoku news, Satoshi Ishii announced his MMA debut for Sengoku’s 11/7 show. Hidehiko Yoshida is believed to be the front runner for his first opponent. Josh Barnett is also […]
How much longer can Sengoku get funding? If things were going well wouldn’t they release the attendence figures?
MMAJunkie.com reports Fedor signed with Strikeforce. Fedor is now a sideshow in my opinion. That really bums me out.
He’s still the best of all time. But should join Josh Barnett on the outside looking in of any Top 10 lists.
Fedor won’t fight anyone super unbelievable unless we see defections (anyone know Carwin or Cain’s contract status?), but it’ll be on Showtime, which I’ll already have. Can’t say I’m too bummed out.
Yeah, but Alan now we officially have Riddick Bowe/Lennox Lewis. That was the tipping point that killed boxing. I’m not saying that this will that negatively affect MMA. Mainly because Fedor has a tiny fan base compared to the fan base of the sport in the US.
I’m bummed because prior to this I’ve always held out hope he’d come to UFC.
The Russian stooges will probably bankrupt Strikeforce within the year and we’ll all go through this again.
The tipping point that killed boxing was Tyson/Holyfield II, far as I’m concerned. Bowe/Lewis was a fly on the windshield of that insanity.
I totally expect lots of alarmist “Strikeforce is sure to go under and be crushed!” stories, and maybe a couple completely batshit insane “Fedor:Strikeforce::WCW:Hogan” ones too. The sport is in a unique situation and if anyone can take advantage of having a guy like Fedor outside the UFC within reason, its Strikeforce. Now we just have to wait and see as to what happens when the free agent market opens up at some point down the line.
Catch up Zach.
Fedor is now with Strikeforce. The whole offer from Zuffa was a ruse. They never had any intention of getting him and pulled the stunt they did as a CYA manuver with the fans who know exactly who Fedor is.
Let’s see another probitive aritcle on the sham UFC offer & why the Strikeforce offer was serious and much, much better.
Great day for mma fans.
The UFC offered more money once PPV’s were taken into considering.
Fedor’s people wanted co-promotion. They used it for one of two reasons.
1. To funnel money away from Fedor into “investments” like M-1.
2. To have control over who he is going to fight.
It is highly likely to see the UFC go straight after Strikeforce now. I wouldn’t be shocked that within a year, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and a host of other Strikeforce guys will get very generous UFC offers….
If guys like Diaz and Shields get big contracts as a result of this, then awesome for them. In the meantime,. hopefully they end up fighting each other sometime soon.
Fedor has siad two things…
1. He wants to fight the best.
2. He wants to please the fans.
He has gone on record with both of these things. Here is were the problem is. The best fighters are in the UFC. ranked #2-#6 are all UFC fighters. And if you look at every single website, the hardcore fans want him in the UFC at least 3 to 1. So he is talking out both ends of his mouth.
Compare that to Tito Ortiz. Listen to him on the conference call… And trust me, I’m not Tito Ortiz fan. In fact I can’t stand him. But he said Dana White made good on his likeness. On the money. And he was a man of his word and apologized.
Tito has said all along he wanted these things, and when he got them, he signed. Fedor on the other hand has said one thing, and completely done another. The co-promotion BS only came out when it was obvious he was getting everything else he publically said he wanted.
Zach,
You can’t blame the UFC for not co-promoting with M-1. Years ago you were shocked that they made a deal with the Yakuza to purchase PRIDE. You were also afraid Caesar’s Palace might lose its license promoting with PRIDE, because of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
What about Coker co-promoting with mobsters?
Trying not to be too emotional about this. Really sucks though. Lesnar, Carwin and Velasquez are not leaving UFC anytime soon. Barring a string of losses that would make them irrelevant.
People need to stop pretending that Overeem and Werdum are high quality heavyweights. Brett Rogers is ready for a shot I guess. Lashley could be built up. But this is total crap.
45 Huddle’s entirely predictable outrage is awesome. Can’t wait to see “mmalogic” come poking out of the woodwork to announce that the UFC will undoubtedly file a lawsuit or something.
Regardless of whether or not you think Fedor signing with strikeforce is a good thing or a bad thing, I think the question becomes will fedor equate to PPV buys for strikeforce?
If Fedor had established himself with the UFC and THEN left for strikeforce, I believe it would equate to PPV buys. But outside the hardcore MMA fan, nobody really knows who Fedor is.
I think the closest thing to compare would be Hulk Hogan leaving the WWF for WCW in the 90’s, and the success he brought to WCW. The only difference however, is that Hulk Hogan had built up his name in the WWF first before bolting to the rival promotion, and Fedor is still relatively unknown.
It will also be difficult for strikeforce to market fedor without access to his fight footage.
It will be very interesting to see the details of the deal with strikeforce. I think strikeforce’s best bet is to have a well known UFC heavyweight leave ( lesnar, couture, mir) to fight Fedor in strikeforce, and hope fedor remains unbeaten until then.
I’m sad to see that Fedor will not fight in the UFC, but I will still watch him fight. I don’t know if I would be willing to dish out $50 to see him fight though.
Its a gamble by strikeforce to sign Fedor, but its a gamble they had to take.
Conversely, I still believe that this is not in Fedor’s best interest to sign with strikeforce
It depends if Showtime wants to run PPVs. I’d assume they want to eventually. Time will tell how smart or foolhardy a move this was. Either way, Fedor is on my TV in HD for the future.
Here is my full prediction on how the UFC will handle this…
1. They will counter program. This includes if Strikeforce tries to put on a PPV, the UFC will put on on the same day with a Lesnar, Ortiz, Couture, or Rampage.
2. The UFC will start poaching Strikeforce’s talent.
3. The UFC will start signing up a few Heavyweights outside of both organizations as a way to throw fuel to the fire that Fedor doesn’t have anybody to fight.
Watch, remember…. That will be exactly what is happening in 6 months.
Not to mention that every organization who has co-promoted with M-1 has failed. And every organization that has gone up against the UFC is out of business. This might have been the worst move for Scott Coker. He just put a bullseye on his back. That isn’t a UFC vs. Strikeforce thing… That’s how the UFC has done business since TUF1 started. They are ruthless businessmen.
“Either way, Fedor is on my TV in HD for the future.”
And not fighting one of his next top 5 challengers.
“I think the closest thing to compare would be Hulk Hogan leaving the WWF for WCW in the 90’s, and the success he brought to WCW. The only difference however, is that Hulk Hogan had built up his name in the WWF first before bolting to the rival promotion, and Fedor is still relatively unknown.”
Not even a legit comparison. Hulk Hogan made Pro Wrestling. Fedor isn’t even known the majority of fans.
Alan,
I think it’s pretty predictable that anything helps anything outside of the UFC you will cheer for. For me, not seeing Fedor fight his next 5 legit challengers (based on the rankings) is ducking competition.
And Showtime has never been a big PPV entity since the Mike Tyson days. It is highly unlikely they will have the muscle to make a profit on a show that features a guy who does no interviews, speaks no english, and doesn’t look tough. I’ve even said he would show no difference in PPV buyrates if he fought Lesnar. He just is a non-factor.
45, how do you KNOW that co-promotion is all a ploy to funnel money to M1 and its shady ownership? It seems like people are assuming a lot of knowledge when in fact the real details are not known to us.
In any case let me just say this:
Fedor is the GOAT, and a hell of a fighter.
That said I do think he will have a hell of a time competing with the new breed of super heavy weight. While I would consider him the favorite in any fight at HW I think that he is better suited for LHW in the new era of MMA. For whatever reason the Eastern Europeans seem to consider cutting to be beneath them and I have a feeling this will catch up to Fedor. I really hope it does not, but there it is.
If Fedor dropped to LHW it would also open up so many awesome match ups, it would be a total fan dream.
As for Strikeforces HW’s, I love how Lesnar, Cain and Carwin are suddenly considered better seasoned and more legit fighters than Werdum, Overreem, and Rogers. I believe that Cain is 6-0 with his best win coming over busted ass Kongo. Rogers career has progressed along the same lines and AA is a bigger win than Kongo. Werdum has better wins in his career than Carwin and more experience (although I think Carwin could well have moer upside and in fact eb the next HW champ) Lesnar might well be the pick of the litter but I want to see him fight a big ass experienced striker on the way up or at the top of his game. Somebody like Overreem.
Basically those three guys are totally legit, just as legit as the UFC’s Hw’s. Of course the UFC has a deeper talent pool and will very likely have the next big thing (next that is after Lesnar) but it is not as if Fedor won’t have any legit fights outside of the UFC. And of course there is always Barnett.
I like how 45 Huddle pretends that UFC hasn’t already gone after Strikeforce pretty aggressively and that the main sticking point between UFC and M-1 wasn’t always co-promotion.
If Fedor keeps winning (not certain, but fairly likely given the much weaker Strikeforce heavyweight division), I don’t see this being a foolhardy move, as the UFC money will always be on the table.
Seems like a questionable decision by Strikeforce, but long term they need more star power to be able to draw on PPV and get on CBS. Hopefully the large price tag Fedor comes with won’t backfire on them like it did for Bodog and Affliction.
Let me also add this, Fedor’s managers are not stupid. As a fan it sucks that Feodr is not in the UFC. And as a fan I can’t help but wonder if Vladim is not getting up to some shady gangster shit with Fedor. Maybe a few late night visits or not so subtle threats.
But on the other hand they might know exactly what they are doing and Fedor might well be totally happy with it. Fedor is rich, Fedor has total control over his career, and Fedor can pursue other options like the EA sport video game. Additionally 45 and others take it as gospel that Fedor’s stake in M1 is a worthless sham but what if its not? Quite often it is the random secondary investments that pay off in the long term. Like a gym or a fight promotion. Or a video game. I do believe that George Forman made more $$ off his grill than he ever did fighting.
Also Fedor has this huge value as long as he is winning. By getting to pick his fights and have more control over the direction his career goes, that is to say staying away from the UFC, Fedor can continue to cash huge checks. So again, maybe its not such a bad idea for Fedor to stay away from the UFC and maybe his managers are not in fact screwing him.
I notice that a lot of other fighters are quite happy being independent. there are advantages to being able to do whatever you want. Matt Lindland and , Nick Diaz come to mind.
Of course none of this really matters. As a fan I just want to see Fedor Zulu Brock.
And not fighting one of his next top 5 challengers.
Rogers and Overeem are on the lower end of that scale IMO. Maybe someone else will defect? Who knows? I don’t and neither do you. In the meantime, I guess I’ll watch Fedor fight on a network I don’t already have other than, well….
The rest of the incredibly predictable response I’ll let Ivan Trembow reply to or something.
“I think strikeforce’s best bet is to have a well known UFC heavyweight leave ( lesnar, couture, mir) to fight Fedor in strikeforce…”
Great post, but I just thought that I should point out that that scenario didn’t save Affliction nor cause UFC to skip a beat. In fact I think their HW class has grown after getting AA and Sylvia out of the way.
Fedor is prefering to swim in shallower waters and ride the former glory and uncontested mystique train ala barnett at this point IMO.
45 Huddle,
I probably should have stayed away from the pro-wrestling comparison. What I was trying to say is that if Fedor had built his legacy in the UFC as opposed to Pride, he would have been an easy PPV draw if he left the UFC for another promotion. Then again…maybe he would never have been able to leave the UFC with the way their contracts are set up.
Instead Fedor had built his legacy in Japan, outside of the American fanbase. It would be like a famous Japanese Pro Wrestler trying to sell pro wrestling ppvs in the American market during the 90’s. (sorry I’m not that familiar with the Japanese pro wrestling scene..only Japanese wrestler I know is the Great Muta, but I think you should get my point.) This hurts his drawing power and ability to sell ppvs in the United States.
Strikeforce’s ability to promote top level talent will be tested the next few months, especially without access to prior fight footage.
[…] other Sengoku news, Satoshi Ishii announced his MMA debut for Sengoku’s 11/7 show. Hidehiko Yoshida is believed to be the front runner for his first opponent. Josh Barnett is also […]
Thanks for answering my question!
Kudos
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