THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
Oct 5, 2009 - 8:50:22 AM By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Strikeforce will be going head to head with a UFC live event for the first time this December, and it's by their own doing. According to a report from Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! Sports, Strikeforce is tentatively locked in for an event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA, on December 12th, the same night UFC 107 takes place in Memphis, TN.
A report from MMAJunkie.com also states that in addition to the 12th, Strikeforce has the 5th locked in as a possible date for an event. Whether they're planning two events or just one for either possible date remains to be seen.
Should they run the event on the 5th, they would be head to head with The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, which comes live on Spike. That event will feature the finals of the heavyweight tournament in the highest rated edition of the reality series, as well as bouts between Matt Hamill and Jon Jones and Frankie Edgar and Kurt Pelligrino.
The UFC 107 event features a main event of B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez for the UFC Lightweight Title, along with Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida and Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo.
Penick's Analysis: If they're going to run just one event, they'd be best served going up against the pay-per-view on the 12th as opposed to the Ultimate Fighter finale on the 5th. Going up against the pay-per-view makes them the free fight option on a night when fans will have to pay to see the UFC. If they try to go head to head with a live event on Spike it will take away a ton of viewers who will watch the free UFC fights over those on Showtime, especially given the record ratings this season of the show has brought. Now the next step of that is what fights Strikeforce puts up in that spot, so we'll all be looking out for that. Strikeforce has a lot on their plate for the rest of the year, and I hope they can put a good run of shows together with the roster that they have.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP