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Talk Radio: Can Scott Coker create more of a sense of urgency with Strikeforce?

By Zach Arnold | June 10, 2010

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From Jordan Breen’s radio show on Tuesday, a caller asks a simple but direct question about what is ailing Strikeforce now (which is a myriad of problems). If you’re looking at it from a positive spin, as Matt Lindland has tried to do it, you chalk it up to growing pains. If you’re looking at it from a negative spin, the promotion is not functioning at full efficiency because there’s chaos.

CALLER: “First of all, Strikeforce… do you see that more as a PR problem or a roster problem? You get a guy like Scott Coker who really I just feel needs to create some urgency with his organization or maybe even just get a better, certain more vivacious PR personality, someone to do it. You know, I don’t know if he is by deference have to be you know the docile guy compared to Dana White, but I don’t know. It just seems like he’s got to step it up.”

JORDAN BREEN: “I would say with Coker the big thing is simply that he’s relatively powerless. Ken Hershman is the problem with Strikeforce. Showtime is the problem.”

CALLER: “Really?”

JORDAN BREEN: “Yeah, I mean, like I laughed, I saw something on Twitter from someone who I can’t recall if it was a blogger or someone but I saw something post something like ‘Richard Chou is the worst matchmaker in the world. Step your game up’ or something like that. Richard Chou, I don’t even know what they let him do, but to call him Strikeforce’s matchmaker is absurd. I think maybe they let him like match up the undercards of Sho XC fights or something like that. The thought that Richard Chou, the thought that even like Coker or (Mike) Afromowitz and these guys have the ability to put together their own main cards with impunity is absurd. Ken Hershman micromanages this product to a point where Strikeforce gets irrevocably hurt and have been repeatedly. There’s a reason that when for instance Dana White when he critiques Strikeforce, you know, he’s getting a bit more liberal with it now just going ‘Strikeforce sucks entirely’ but initially his criticisms were very pointed. They weren’t ‘oh Strikeforce sucks’ it’s “they’re stupid for getting in bed with Strikeforce, these guys don’t know what they’re doing.’ Even Wallid Ismail who was on (the radio show) last week, you know, he singled out Ken Hershman and said you know I met with this guy, I came up with the business plan for Pro Elite, this guy’s a boxing guy and he has no idea what’s he doing. “You treat it like box, you fail!” So, yeah, it’s not fundamental that boxing people are bad, I don’t necessarily agree with that, but Hershman doesn’t get MMA and has shown repeatedly that his influence over Strikeforce is an undue one at this point in time. I think Scott Coker is someone who as we saw with Strikeforce prior to them ramping up, he likes just promoting fights, being able to make money at it, and putting on some good fights. I really don’t think in his heart of hearts Scott Coker wants to be a competitor for the UFC. I’m sure he would like to if it was easy but that’s not the goal that drives him and I think that at this point in time he’s sort of caught in this weird place where it’s supposed to be his promotion, yet essentially his baby is being thrown about the bath water by this lunatic who has no idea what he’s doing.”

This conversation passage is fascinating when you juxtapose it to that Sherdog article quoting Ken Hershman who basically put the entire ball (publicly) in Scott Coker’s court for being in charge of Strikeforce.

Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

20 Responses to “Talk Radio: Can Scott Coker create more of a sense of urgency with Strikeforce?”

  1. “Sense of urgency”? For what? What does Strikeforce need to act urgently about?

    Strikeforce wants to have world titles (it has all along) and it wants TV, but man, poor Scott Coker is being forced to compete with the UFC! Oh noez. He couldn’t possibly have seen that being a possibility when he signed the dotted line for high six figures per show.

    Part of Strikeforce’s problem is their own promotional model, which everyone else follows in the business and what makes MMA look like a totally disjointed mess. The other problem they have, which they will and can do nothing about, is the attitude of the internet fandom. Internet fans have zero interest in MMA as sport and only as entertainment (generally as compared to pro wrestling). They did better with those fans opinionwise when they were running live events on Yahoo headlined by Bob Sapp.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    Does Ken go on Internet websites, read what the fans say, and then matchmake accordingly? It reminds me of how the UFC acted from UFC 30 to UFC 51. Taking too much advice from online fans. They made all the fights they wanted like Uno/Pulver and Hughes/Sakurai. They even promoted Bustamante who had zero appeal.

    Online fans have no clue what is good for business. Strikeforce is off making deals with DREAM…. Signing JZ and Sergei…. And thy are dumb moves. They need to create their own talent. Stop listening to people on the UG who still think Sergei is relevent. Or JZ is some sort of threat.

    • Does Ken go on Internet websites, read what the fans say, and then matchmake accordingly?

      It could also be that people are taking what Dana says largely at face value. I seriously doubt that Strikeforce is booking all of Showtime’s cards for them. They are probably vetoing horrible, horrible fights, at very worst. That is what Strikeforce was really known for – horrible fights that made money.

      They even promoted Bustamante who had zero appeal.

      Bustamante won the middleweight title. Was the top guy at 185. Should they have ignored him instead? Why do you hate sports, 45?

      Online fans have no clue what is good for business. Strikeforce is off making deals with DREAM…. Signing JZ and Sergei…. And thy are dumb moves. They need to create their own talent. Stop listening to people on the UG who still think Sergei is relevent. Or JZ is some sort of threat.

      What’s “good for business” has traditionally been crap fights for them. You know – Maurice Smith/Rick Roufus, Gilbert Melendez/Tetsuji Kato, tons of Eugene Jackson and Anthony Ruiz fights, Tank Abbot/Paul Buentello, the entire career of Cung Le, and so on. Is that good for the sport? Good for the fans? I guess if you are a masochist or a blithering moron, it is wonderful.

      As for their recent slate of signings – who else are they going to sign to exclusive deals? They might as well get JZ. He had talent once. Otherwise they’re stuck with only people who are branded UFC rejects.

      I can tell you I as an actual Showtime subscriber am much more likely to keep a subscription and watch MMA programming if they can offer me lightweight fights with JZ Calvan for their major shows rather than lightweight fights with some random guy I’ve never heard of in their attempt to “build their own stars.” Hell, its funny enough to think that JZ Calvan was built into being a star in the US by anyone already, and that Strikeforce is somehow “stealing” from whoever the hell supposedly did it.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “They even promoted Bustamante who had zero appeal.”

      LOL – seriously? He the 185 champ and one of the best in the sport at the time. Seriously stupid.

      • Mr. Roadblock says:

        We used to have this smoking hot Dominican receptionist where I used to work. I mean drop dead gorgeous. She was a fight fan and we used to talk fights. She had a huge crush on Bustamante. Thought he was sexy. She also loved Vitor.

    • Fred says:

      What are these internet websites that are clamouring for these boring-ass matchups Strikeforce keeps throwing at us? Like there are all these internet people saying, “Yo dawg, give us that Cung Le/Scott Smith rematch. That first fight was raw.” Or “you know what bro, what I really want is more title fights. if you could give me a whole card that was nothing but title fights that’d be raw!”

      • Mr. Roadblock says:

        I think he is referring to Aoki and the other jobber who everybody hyped up from Japan that lost to Diaz, Zamoraskisaskaskisassis or whatever. Also the way Mousasi was billed as the second coming of Fedor.

        SF definitely books with the mindset of a crazy internet fan. It’s how Ring of Honor is/was (are they still running shows?) booked in Pro Wrestling.

        By the same token they are ‘promoting’ Fedor vs Werdum in a couple weeks and the only stories you’ll find are about Fedor’s next fight. It is already assumed he will defeat Werdum. Which he should or be dropped to about #8 in the rankings based on JDS murdering Werdum. But that’s not how you sell a fight. If you make a fight that is so bad it’s predetermined by everyone that one guy will win, you’re doing bad matchmaking.

        • I don’t think anyone hyped those guys up very much. Alternately, I’m not sure what Strikeforce should have done instead that would have been as interesting. I keep hearing about them “needing to build their own stars”, but no one cares about their burgeoning stars. There’s nothing they can do to make people care about Lyle Beerbohm or Jay Hieron. I mean, christ, if we’re gonna complain that Aoki is too boring, what does that mean for Hieron?

        • The Gaijin says:

          “Which he should or be dropped to about #8 in the rankings based on JDS murdering Werdum. But that’s not how you sell a fight. If you make a fight that is so bad it’s predetermined by everyone that one guy will win, you’re doing bad matchmaking.”

          I HATE how they do that…I mean I understand they have few “marketable/marquee” names, so they’re kind of forced to do it. But they’re continually setting themselves up for a disaster if the guy they’re “pushing” and marketing for 3 fights into the future gets upset.

          This is why Noons-Bennett was dumb. Le-Smith was dumb. And about 70% of the other fights…I mean sometimes you play the cards you’re dealt, but when you put 99% of the marketing towards one guy in a sport with no pre-determined outcome you’re playing with fire.

        • Fred says:

          What Strikeforce can do is make compelling stylistic matchups instead of meaningless ranking matchups. I mean, everybody complains that Jake Shields is a boring fighter, but what the hell kind of fight do you expect when you match him up against a grappler with excellent submission defense like Mayhem Miller? Or an experienced wrestler like Henderson? You put him against an aggressive striker like Paul Daley or Robbie Lawler, and Shields comes away looking like a badass. This is not complicated stuff here.

  3. Wolverine says:

    Let’s say Sergei is still valuable for Strikeforce with his recognition among hardcores but can someone explain it to me why they signed Valentijn Overeem?

    • Who knows. Must have been as a favor to Golden Glory. Maybe to help get Alistar to come back for a fight with Fedor later in 2010.

      • Wolverine says:

        So Strikeforce not only has to sign M-1 guys, but also Golden Glory fighters now?

        • The Gaijin says:

          Is this really any different from the UFC keeping Jon Goulet around for 6 KO losses to “appease” GSP. I’m sure there’s a litany of other examples where even the UFC has brought guys in for something like that. I don’t really regard the GG thing being like M-1 at all.

        • So he’s their Tiki Ghosn. Does it matter?

        • Wolverine says:

          there is a difference between a fighter who has 50-50 record in the UFC and fighter who has a 50-50 record outside of the major promotions.

          For God’s sake I saw Valentijn Overeem tap to strikes live in Poland after he took one semi decent shot from Rafal Darbowski.

          In the recent months UFC signed HWs: Chad Corvin (6-0), Travis Browne (9-0), Karlos Vemola (7-0) & Christian Morecraft (6-0). At the same time Strikeforce can’t even book fights for their best up-and-coming heavyweight Shane Del Rosario.

  4. […] Showtime for basically screwing up Strikeforce’s bookings. Now Zach Arnold has transcribed another good rant from Breen about the situation: JORDAN BREEN: “Yeah, I mean, like I laughed, I saw something on Twitter from […]

  5. […] of what he said on his radio show previously. If you want to know what got Showtime pissed, it’s this passage from Jordan that I transcribed which related to Showtime calling the shots for Strikeforce and how Rich Chou has little […]

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