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Fedor vs. Brett Rogers in Fall of 2009 on Showtime

By Zach Arnold | August 27, 2009

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An entirely predictable fight to book and good for Brett that he will make his first big pay day in the business.

Setting the line for this fight… I’d say Fedor -1000, Rogers +800. -1000 means a 90% chance of winning, for the record, which is a completely fair odd to lay on this fight.

Bonus observation: Behold the power of the Sherdog fighter rankings for Rogers being selected? Rogers is ranked #8 in the Independent World MMA Rankings.

Update: New York Daily News report on fans at the New York PR event yesterday:

“They didn’t organize it well,” said Doug Brown, a warehouse manager from East Meadow. “I’m not too happy right now.”

Organizers for the public workout admitted they were “overwhelmed” by the turnout and were dismayed that some fans left unhappy.

“We didn’t know how many people were going to show up,” said Scott Coker, founder and CEO of Strikeforce, which works with Emelianenko.

“If he had the UFC behind him, he’d be a lot more popular,” Brown said. “And the event would have been run smoother.”

Between the Nick Diaz fiasco and the way the Fedor situation has been handled (from the infamous conference call to this event), the media storyline on Scott Coker is now being established — he’s not ready for prime-time and he finds himself in situations not totally prepared. Is this a fair media storyline?

Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 70 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

70 Responses to “Fedor vs. Brett Rogers in Fall of 2009 on Showtime”

  1. Alan Conceicao says:

    As for Strikeforce… If Coker fails…. Who is going to replace him? While I think he is in over his head, at least he seems like an honest guy. I don’t get the sense that he is out to hurt the sport or do bad things. He is 100 times better then Gary Shaw.

    People bill him that way because he’s A) not from outside MMA (like being in boxing or whatever Tom Atencio did) and has been around awhile, so he’s not thought of being a shyster. But, you know, the wisest thing I ever heard about the BIZ~!!!! came from a dude I talk to on the internet about boxing. He said that part of the application process for being a promoter is to sign your soul away. You know what? He’s been right about that every time. I don’t see Coker as different.

    When Mike Kyle fought for him originally, he argued that it was EXC putting him on the show to squelch the anger from fans. They bought that and didn’t even ask when he booked him two more times. No one cares whether or not Cung Le is a complete fraud who’s opponents just so happen to completely abandon their strengths against over and over and over with. No one was upset that he brought Bob Sapp over to headline a show against a 2-5 freakshow kickboxer. No one asked any questions at the time, and those who did were “trolls”.

    It wasn’t until they did what they were called up by Showtime to do and signed Fedor and made some sort of challenge to the UFC that people had anything critical to say because, hey, Strikeforce sells tickets! Strong regional following! Building stars!

    Its all a joke. The only guy that you can argue they “built” was Cung Le, and even then he already had a huge regional following after years of being a successful international kickboxer. He just happened to be available at a time late in his career when he was willing to abandon San Shou, and he’s since taken a walk. Frank was already built and had a name. Carano was built by EXC, who they watched fall apart after doing dumb crap like paying millions for King of The Cage. Fedor’s been built by all the people who lost millions on him, and regardless of what people say about his drawing potential, I expect some surprised looks when the ratings come in that week. Well, until they post that a UFN replay had more overall viewers or something.

    So yeah, who can replace them? MFC can, XFC can, M-1 can, Mainstream MMA can, Art of Fighting can, and most importantly, a UFC that does more than 2 fight cards every 45 days can too. Scott Coker is just another guy selling fights. Big whoop.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    The UFC & WEC mergining and the UFC getting potentially on Network TV are the same story as far as I’m concerned.

    The UFC/WEC merger makes all the sense in the world if the UFC gets on Network TV. It will give them 8 Champions, and around 20 title fights per year.

    We won’t be seeing title fights like GSP vs. Swick/Kampmann on PPV. At least I hope not. Those should be shown on Network TV, and then the PPV’s are for the better title fights.

    At least that’s how I would do it. It would easily give the UFC enough showcase fights between 8 champions and former champions. Not to mention high level contender type fights.

  3. Alan Conceicao says:

    Let’s be realistic: The WEC has had more than its fair number of chances now to make an impression in the minds of fans, and has failed to. It has no real stars now that they can rely on to draw eyes, and their ratings are about what ESPN gets for boxing…except at like 5 times the cost. It fills no gap anyone wants that the UFC itself cannot occupy. No one needed these crappy world titles in the redundant divisions, and those crappy titles devalued the guys at 135 and 145. It was pretty clear pretty early it wouldn’t work.

    Now, if they actually have a long term network deal and not merely a one off, hey, great. Hell, a one off is great too if it means that we get Penn/Sanchez for free from a mystery location. I’m not holding my breath though.

  4. Kid Nate says:

    Thanks to your rec Ivan I went back and read mmalogic’s comments on the Rogers vs Fedor post.
    I don’t care who he is, he’s smart and says some interesting shit I hadn’t heard or thought about before and I really believe he has some inside info.
    Saying “Black doesn’t draw on PPV” is an opinion, not a factually false claim — especially when you realize he said that blacks didn’t BUY PPVs not that blacks didn’t draw on PPVs. His (offensive and possibly false) claim was that Rogers wouldn’t be a draw because he wasn’t the sort of ‘gangsta’ black fighter that is loved by suburban white boys who love Rampage et al.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    Alan,

    I agree the Scott Coker really hasn’t created a star. And I don’t think he is capable of doing it now. He just thinks he can co-promote and have random unheard of fighters come onto Showtime and people will watch it. That’s not the way it works.

    However, I do think promoting is tougher then you make it out to be. A lot of it is about building relationships with the fighters, managers, and fight camps. There is a lot of groundwork that goes into it. Coker cornered San Jose very well. I don’t think he has a clue on how to tackle America or the world.

  6. Zack says:

    I’m pretty excited to see Fedor vs Rogers, especially since it’s not on PPV. If they do the card within a few hours of me, I’ll buy a ticket too.

  7. Chuck says:

    I take it the Rogers/Fedor fight will be for an October card? Fun fight to make, but I think Fedor will win handily, unless Rogers can rock Fedor like Kazuyuki Fujita did to Fedor that many years ago.

  8. Chuck says:

    Here’s some odd news; Houston Alexander, who is still under a Zuffa contract, will be fighting on the Adrenaline IV card against Sherman Pendergarst (11-14). When was the last time Zuffa allowed something like this? So Zuffa isn’t open for co-promotion of any kind (which is understandable, but we all know they would if they weren’t the biggest fight company in the world. They were close to doing it with PRIDE) but they will allow a fighter of theirs, who is on a three fight losing streak by the way, fight a fighter with a sub .500 record on a small fight promotion’s card. I believe Tim Sylvia is fighting on the card too.

  9. Michaelthebox says:

    Chuck: they’ve done that sort of thing before. I suspect they would let most lower level fighters coming off a loss do it, but not many are willing to risk their position in the UFC.

  10. klown says:

    How can we bait mmalogic to start posting on Fight Opinion? For entertainment, if nothing else. I wonder if they would pay him more or less than $3,000 an hour to do that…

  11. Alan Conceicao says:

    How can we bait mmalogic to start posting on Fight Opinion?

    That is precisely what I’m hoping to do.

  12. Alan Conceicao says:

    However, I do think promoting is tougher then you make it out to be. A lot of it is about building relationships with the fighters, managers, and fight camps. There is a lot of groundwork that goes into it. Coker cornered San Jose very well. I don’t think he has a clue on how to tackle America or the world.

    I’m not making it out to be easy. I just think putting these guys on pedestals is dumb. I don’t think Coker is somehow better ethically than Dana White. In fact, I don’t think he is at all. He does things that are equally hypocritical and frankly a bowl of “not good” for the sport because they make money. The most damning thing about Coker to me is that every time I think about one of his big charges, I think back to a fight that I (and I know I’m not alone) thought at the time and still suspect was rigged. There’s been questionable decisions in the UFC, but I’ve never thought to myself, “Jesus, it looked like that guy was out there to take a dive.”

    In short, I don’t care if there’s a war, he “wins”, “succeeds”, or whatever. His failure definitely wouldn’t bother me.

  13. Steve4192 says:

    LOL at all you guys (especially Ivan) getting your panties in a wad over the nonsensical ramblings of entry-level Zuffa drone who moonlights as an astroturfer on Bloody Elbow.

    The whole mmalogic gimmick and the righteous indignation he inspires is one of the greatest troll jobs I have ever seen.

  14. Kid Nate says:

    I have to concur with Steve4192 with the caveat that I think mmalogic is paid to shill at BE. There are numerous companies that do nothing but astroturf blogs, it’s good business strategy to go where the customers are. But I thnk 45 Huddle has FO covered.

  15. 45 Huddle says:

    And yet my check keeps getting lost in the mail!!!!

  16. Steve4192 says:

    I don’t think he is a paid astroturfer. If he was, he NEVER would have touched on the race issue. Paid astroturfers are usually a pretty bland variety of troll.

    I think he works a low level job where interesting memos/paperwork occasionally cross his desk, and he runs to the internet to crow in an effort to compensate for his feelings of powerlessness and inadequacy. As is always the case with these types, he then embellishes his own position/status/wealth/penis size to outrageous levels in order to garner a response.

    If I had to guess, I’d say the guy is a mail room employee or some mid-level manager’s administrative assistant.

  17. Zack says:

    “45 Huddle Says:

    And yet my check keeps getting lost in the mail!!!!”

    Could be that your mom keeps intercepting it before it gets to you since you’re 2 months behind on your basement rent.

  18. 45 Huddle says:

    I do assume that most people on here think I live in my mom’s basement.

  19. Ivan Trembow says:

    It’s not so much the actual posts by the person who is using the “mmalogic” alias, it’s the fact that when he makes these posts on Bloody Elbow, he’s not regarded as a fraud who shouldn’t be taken seriously. His posts are responded to as if he’s a great insider whose words should be given great weight and importance. Furthermore, he is consistently defended not just in Bloody Elbow comment posts, but also in FightOpinion comment posts.

  20. The Gaijin says:

    Please let’s be honest here – as annoying as 45 can be – he’s obviously a pretty intelligent and seemingly educated person, who while having a pretty obvious pro-Zuffa slant, does so in a coherent and full sentenced manner. So I highly doubt he “lives in his mother’s basement” playing MMORPG’s and watching 24-hr loops of Zuffa footage.

    Wait – did I just defend 45?!

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