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Dana White on why he thinks the Strikeforce business model is flawed

By Zach Arnold | February 3, 2011

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I would strongly encourage you to watch the entire interview because he has some intriguing comments about what he thinks of HBO and the idea of doing business with them. His tone about HBO is the complete opposite when compared to what he thinks of Showtime. He basically says that HBO didn’t lose Bob Arum but that Bob Arum went to Showtime and that HBO is still #1. Also in the video interview, he talks about why he thinks Vitor Belfort is deserving of a Middleweight title shot and the art of the fighter stare-down.

With the announcement that UFC will air Kid Yamamoto’s fight against Demetrious Johnson on Facebook this Saturday night, it’s a fascinating announcement for sure. Everyone in the world except in Japan can see the fight on FB, which is somewhat of a role reversal to how Japanese streaming companies for years have treated foreign web viewers by blocking them out from “Japanese only” content streams.

(WOWOW will air the fight as part of a three-fight UFC 126 show package on the cable/satellite pay network, with the other two fights being Chad Mendes/Michihiro Omigawa and Anderson Silva/Vitor Belfort.)

While it is unique that Kid’s UFC debut will be on Facebook for fans to watch, it is kind of… strange… that someone who drew millions and millions of eyeballs on Japanese network television now finds himself as a ‘Facebook feature fight,’ but life changes quickly. Here is how Dana White assesses the current MMA situation in Japan:

DANA WHITE: “You know, I don’t ever sit around say, ‘Oh, Japanese MMA is done, it’s over, it’s blown up.’ The world is in a really weird place right now, you know, it doesn’t matter what business you’re in, a lot of people are struggling and… you know, I think the bottom fell out on Japan when PRIDE went away. I mean, when PRIDE didn’t work, it definitely upset the balance over there and I think it’s great right now that we get to see guys that people have heard about for so long in Japan finally fighting in the UFC.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Is the time now for the UFC to return to Japan?”

DANA WHITE: “Uh, we’ll find out, you know, we’re talking about going there this year, so we’ll see how it all plays out.”

Tying in the Japanese MMA business model with what else is happening in the MMA industry with organizations like Strikeforce going to run fights in Japan, Mr. White says that Strikeforce’s business model doesn’t make sense compared to the UFC business model. The starting point for this discussion is in regards to the upcoming Heavyweight tournament:

DANA WHITE: “Part of the problem is and, you know, you see all these guys on the Internet that always have this great advice and, you know, they (think they) know how to do shit better than anybody else, but the reality is that if you don’t have guys locked up to contracts to fight with you, how the hell are you going to get them to fight? You have other people offering them more money. When Japanese MMA was strong and, you know, you’re talking a year ago when there was still some money floating around and you got Strikeforce making an offer over here for X amount and the guys in Japan will beat them every time. Those guys are never going to come over here and fight. That’s why you have these big gaps and you can’t efficiently run your business. It would be like, first of all, it’s almost like, you know, when certain guys don’t want to fight each other. The thing about having a powerful league like the UFC is (that) we make fights that people want to see and the fans, you know, bitch about, you know, how the business is run some times. We’re able to put the fights we want to see because of how we run our business.

“Now, imagine if in baseball the Yankees said, ‘we don’t want to play the fucking Red Sox.’ You know what I mean, ‘we don’t want to play them.’ The Green Bay (Packers), these guys both make it and Green Bay’s like, ‘yeah, we don’t want to play Pittsburgh, we hate Pittsburgh’ or ‘they’re offering me more money to do something somewhere else. We just don’t want to do this.’ I mean, it makes no sense, right? The way that this thing is done makes sense. The way that they run their business doesn’t.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “If you’re not doing anything next Saturday night, will you watch Fedor fight?”

DANA WHITE: “Uh…. yeah, I guess so.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Are you interested at all is the question after his loss?”

DANA WHITE: “Here’s the thing with me is that, for instance, last Saturday I watched the boxing match (Alexander/Bradley) on HBO and it was horrendous. I mean, I can’t even believe they’re showing the replays.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Right.”

DANA WHITE: “I’m the type of person I would yank all the fucking replays and wouldn’t even replay that fight. Um, and then the problem with that fight is, it’s not ‘live’ live all the over the (States), you know, so you got to wait till 10 o’clock. I’m doing other shit, that’s why I didn’t watch it, but I did watch the replay last night. So, I will end up seeing the Fedor fight, for sure.”

I should note this interview Ariel Helwani did with Kid Yamamoto. Kid is very shy here and plays it conservatively in terms of what he says here (as opposed to what he has said in recent Japanese interviews). Nevertheless, a good interview to watch just to see what kind of mood he is in going into the fight. I chuckled when he said that he watched Mighty Mouse’s fights on the Internet. (What, no DVD from the UFC? They make DVDs all the time for fighters.)

Overall, UFC 126 is a card that is really good on paper and I’m looking forward to watching it, for sure. Big house & gate and probably good business on PPV, too.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

27 Responses to “Dana White on why he thinks the Strikeforce business model is flawed”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    White knows what’s up. I remember even on this very website that people were saying I was being too negative by talking about how the IFL and Affliction werent going to last. That entire time White never seemed too worried. Because he knows everything that goes into this business. He knows when companies are over extending themselves. Which is probably why you get zero percent tone of worry when he is discussing Strikeforce.

    White knows MMA. He knows how to build fighters and stars. The rest he just waits to fall. At the beginning of 2010 there was….

    UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, DREAM, and Sengoku.

    WEC could get traction and are now part of the UFC. Looks like Sengoku is finished. DREAM might have had their last show. Bellator is stuck in standard def on a who cares channel. It’s only a matter of time.

    By the end of 2011 there will be 2 left. And the money marks aren’t coming back. What do you think happens to Strikeforce when they have no other company to pull talent from and the UFC only has to concentrate on one competitor? It’s going to be a sad day for the online fanboys. But that likely won’t happen until 2012…..

    • Paradoxx says:

      Better question: What happens to SF when the UFC really wants some of their talent besides the overpriced under-drawing Fedor.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        They are going to have to build a star before the UFC cares enough to do that. Gilbert Melendez is a very talented fighter but SF hasn’t built him up enough for the UFC to really care that much.

        Is it possible to build stars on Showtime when a superior product is free all the time on SpikeTV?

        • Paradoxx says:

          Possible? Sure
          Can they do it? Probably not.

          Seeing how they dropped the ball with most of their top talent… once they lose the premade stars they’re cashing in on, its all downhill

      • Chris says:

        Exactly, but the thing is I dont see UFC taking the SF prospects.

        See take someone like Tyron, he has one fight left on his contract, most likely unless Daley loses in UK then Tyron would get next shot, but if Daley wins he gets the shot, so would SF sit Tyron out for 10 months to make his last fight a title shot? This way he wins he is the champ and cant leave and if he lost then UFC would have no interest?

        If they dont and they give him a fight vs say Cyborg, he wins and is a free agent, think about his situation, what is he worth to the UFC? a prospect who hasnt beaten anyone, isnt exciting, and would be a mid level starter in the UFC, a guy who fights Story, Pyle, Hendricks, before even touching the top of the div, in SF he would be after one more win he would be not only the next WW title contender, he would be the ONLY title contender after Daley, so whose gonna offer him more?

        Go to the UFC, he is a nobody and would be a Fight Night mid level main card fighter at first before getting big fights vs the best, in SF he resigns and gets a title shot against a guy who cant wrestle, either Diaz/Daley, so which do you think he picks?

    • Fluyid says:

      “By the end of 2011 there will be 2 left.”

      The UFC and Gladiator Challenge forever!

    • Coyote says:

      Not 6 months like you say time ago.

      ¿? Man, decide please.

      I think Strikeforce and UFC have a lot of space in the world for their companies. UFC is doing amazing bussines, Strikeforce is doing good bussines.

      And i repeat, i feel like Dana and the UFC have a lot of respect for Strikeforce (not showtime), different than affliction and the other’s, the same, Strikeforce for UFC.

  2. Jim says:

    Where did you hear that UFC makes DVDs for the fighters all the time? I know several fighters who have to buy their own fight of UFC’s website if they aren’t shown on TV.

    • Brad Wharton says:

      Usually they provide a DVD of your opponent when the fight is signed. Never heard of anyone struggling to get one, although most guys I know use Youtube etc to get more footage.

  3. notthface says:

    Make no mistake Showtime is the UFC’s biggest rival/threat, and very little of it has to do with Strikeforce. Showtime getting Manny (easily the most popular person in all combat sports) , airing Camp 360 on Network TV, and putting a Chavez JR/Zbik fight on CBS, gives boxing a huge chance to recapture the publics’ imagination.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Just like Strikeforce on CBS was going to hurt the UFC?

      • notthface says:

        Your hopeless if you can’t see the difference between Pacman and Arum using CBS to push boxing and another MMA promotion. And it isn’t that they kill the UFC or wipe them out or any other silly storyline that people come up with, it’s that for the first time they’ll have to look at the possibility of a serious rival in the future competing for ppv dollars if their plan takes off.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Your hopeless if you don’t realize that both MMA and Boxing are fringe sports in the scheme of things and no CbS deal will change that for any company.

        • notthface says:

          They are both fringe sports, but pushing Manny and boxing on CBS is of a magnitude several times greater than putting Strikeforce or Elitx XC on CBS. And I for one never said having MMA on CBS was going to hurt UFC, but rather would actually help both promotions. The threat from Boxing on CBS is that it could easily capture the publics’ interest again meaning the UFC would have to worry about competing for ppv dollars from a rejuvenated boxing.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Manny won’t get mass appeal…. End of story…. It won’t catipulte public interest. It might get a few more PPV buys but that’s it. And it certainly won’t hurt the UFC very much. Boxing is ethnics and old people watching. MMA is young people watching.

          Hispanics or Philopino fighters being hyped up on a bad ratings day ain’t going to change that.

          Not to mention that if they do the hype show the Saturday before the PPV card…. All of the young fans will be watching GSP. I think I have my dates right on that. Either way doesn’t matter. You are asking for cultural shifts to happen that just won’t because CbS randomly gets involved in boxing. And don’t forget CBs is the most popular station in America. Cutting it there is hard….

        • Chris says:

          Are you serious?

          Manny isnt fighting on CBS, he is fighting on Showtime PPV, the same thing like with HBO PPv, it does nothing to the UFC. Its o ne fight, one fighter, Showtime is no threat in anything to the uFC.

          LOL battling for PPV dollars? You for real? How are they competing for PPV dollars? Manny is one fighter who has how many fights left in his career?

          How exactly are they battling for PPV money?

          Manny fights two times a year if that, two nights, wow real big comp for UFC, didnt Manny and Floyd both fight on HBO PPV yet the UFC just did 9 mill PPV buys last year, real competition right?

          And maybe Im’ wrong but I heard this was just one fight, Showtime bought the rights to this fight, meaning his next fight cant HBO buy that fight?

      • Jonathan says:

        If it is not the UFC 45 Huddle, then why do you even care to post about it?

        We know that it is not the UFC, so we know it sucks and we know that it will fail.

        • Fishbowl says:

          You post the EXACT same thing all the time. If your aim is to police 45 and “call him out” then you’re doing a horrible job of it. How about some modicum of effort in your posts?

        • Jonathan says:

          Honestly I don’t care what others think of me.

          45 Huddle is a UFC-shill who is going to say the same thing every time and trash anything everything that is not the UFC.

          So every time he does that, I am going to be there to rebuke him.

          If he stopped posting crap, then I would do.

        • The Gaijin says:

          @Jonathan – dude if you are going to follow him around and “call him out”, how about you actually rebut something he says rather than act like some kind of Chris Crocker-esque commenter.

          You can say what you want about his opinion(s), but at least he backs up his statements with something to support it…you just sound like an idiot.

  4. Nepal says:

    To Notheface: saying “Manny and boxing on CBS is of a magnitude several times greater than putting Strikeforce or Elitx XC on CBS. The threat from Boxing on CBS is that it could easily capture the publics’ interest again meaning the UFC would have to worry about competing for ppv dollars from a rejuvenated boxing.”

    is just not realistic. There is zero suggestion that boxing’s glory days are coming back. Manny is popular but boxing is not. Boxing will likely for a while yet put on big big fights but as the older boxing crowd gets older, there will be fewer and fewer. The demographic needed to continue high levels of interest in boxing just isn’t there. It really does not exist. You can see the change happening year by year, MMA gyms all over the place, do you see multitudes of new boxing gyms all over? Boxing has its place but UFC/Dana understand it is going downhill in terms of popularity and no big Mayweather or Pacman fight is going to change that slide. Boxing rejuvenation? How would that be realized? What market triggers could make that happen?

  5. MK says:

    “What market triggers could make that happen?”

    Maybe the growing Hispanic pop in the US.

    But I actually agree with 45 Huddle, fighting sports are always going to be fringe sports in the US outside of a few big events. The sports market in N.A. is too big for boxing to become dominant again like it was decades ago and there is a lack of patriotism which boost boxing worldwide.

    This also applies to the ‘MMA is gonna take ova da world’ talk. It’s gotten as big as it will ever be, which is fine all things considered. ZUFFA just has to try to maintain these numbers which will be tough.

    • cutch says:

      MMA can easily get bigger, they just need to connect with other markets outside of NA. It’s not going to be the biggest sport in any country but they can become much bigger in Europe & Asia, than it is now.

      I think MMA in NA can grow a little but you are right, it’s never going to become mainstream (and Boxing isn’t getting back there either)

  6. Joey says:

    Nothing wrong with SF’s model. It’s just their execution.

    Also, a Pacquiao fight is always bigger than the vast majority of UFC cards, but I don’t think boxing much less one promoter can sniff what the UFC is doing right now.

  7. Texasbadboy says:

    Most of the time I respect what Dana has to say but I hate it when he constantly roots for the other leagues to fold.
    He wants to be “god” so when they cut a fighter after a poor performance or 2 that’s it, their career should be finished then right Dana? No other options right Dana? Think about the fighters for 1 second Dana.

    • IceMuncher says:

      Nah, he wants the other promotions to stop trying to become competitors, and instead settle into a modest niche market to build/rebuild talent for him to use. This is also what 45 Huddle wants, just so you have context when you read his posts.

  8. Chris says:

    Why do pepole think they will put Manny’s fights on CBS, its SHowtime PPV, manny will NEVER fight live on CBS, and even if he did that will do what? Capture the public for one night?

    I swear mma fans seem to get dumber everyday.

    UFC is the PPV king, nothing is changing that, and what Manny does in boxing is one or two nights a year, and SF if they go to PPV will fail.

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