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By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor
[This article was originally published last March, but with today's statement by Dana White that he expects a new deal between Strikeforce and Showtime, it brings back to the forefront how to make Strikeforce relevant under the parent ownership of Zuffa. Here's Wade Keller's proposal that he wrote back when news of Zuffa's acquisition of Strikeforce first broke last March.]
Today's big news is has so many potential ramifications, it's difficult to digest the pros and cons all at once. But there's one major issue that cannot be ignored - Zuffa is not going to want to fund decisions by Scott Coker it feels aren't good for business or could hurt their first-born favorite brand, UFC. They can try to convince themselves they'll be hands off and, as Dana White said repeatedly in his interview with Ariel Helwani, "business as usual," but I don't think it'll happen for long, if at all.
Zuffa isn't going to get into a bidding war with itself, driving up the price for a fighter contract. There's just no way. Fans are going to see a disparity between how Zuffa treats and presents UFC and Strikeforce. They're not going to want to support a secondary inferior product that, by design, features a phony premise of "even competition."
That is not to say this cannot work - that is Zuffa keeping Strikeforce alive and making it a viable, profitable brand. I just don't think it can work as Dana White presented it in his interview today.
Here's what I'd suggest would be one avenue to take to make Strikeforce relevant. Overtly acknowledge that Strikeforce is the "AAA league of UFC." Make Strikeforce the place where fighters ranked roughly 11-20 in their weight division fight to earn a chance to get a UFC contract.
There's nothing about fighters ranked no. 13 and no. 14 fighting each other that inherently means the fight will be inferior in terms of excitement as a battle between no. 3 and no. 4 or between no. 1 and no. 2. So MMA has an advantage there over what a relative mess a minor league pro football league is compared to the NFL.
As long as the fight has real ramifications - a win gets them one step closer to getting into UFC - the excitement level and name value of the fights in Strikeforce could be as appealing as the standard UFC PPV. Strikeforce would never feature something as buzzworthy and relevant as Anderson Silva vs. George St. Pierre or most major big-name title fights. However, Strikeforce doesn't need to reach that level to be relevant, compelling, and profitable.
What Zuffa has to do, if they were to follow this plan, is get better about telling stories. They've never had to be good at telling stories because for the most part big fights sell themselves. But if they presented Strikeforce as a much better version of what Strikeforce itself did with the "Strikeforce Challengers" series, and they were able to tell stories of aspiring fighters climbing the ladder to earn a UFC contract fighting a former UFC contender fighting for relevance after a few losses in a row in UFC, that's a compelling story. If UFC gets better at being up front about what losses mean to fighters and explains more articulately and in more detail what the big picture is in each weight division, they can create a whole storyline for Strikeforce fans that could fill in the gaps between UFC shows.
UFC can market their brand as being so prestigious, an entire other brand or promotion exists just to determine the few, the proud, the elite who get UFC contracts. UFC can literally market fights on their PPV events as "loser get bumped to Strikeforce." Don't be shy about promoting it that way. It's no different than in sports when a player loses their position in the starting line-up or a pitcher gets moved to the bull pen. It's just part of sports. The benefit is UFC becomes a home for only the most elite of fighters who have earned a position on UFC shows - in front of the eyes of the fans via Strikeforce fights.
Strikeforce, meanwhile, benefits because it has a concrete, believable reason for existing - as the place where people fight to enter UFC. Since nobody's ever going to believe Strikeforce is the "equal" of UFC or a "true autonomous separate entity" no matter how much Zuffa thinks they can pull that off (assuming that's even a genuine goal, which I'm skeptical of), instead carve out a niche identity that makes it relevant.
Would Showtime want to be affiliated with what it might see as "the minor league of MMA"? Maybe not. But if the ratings go up, would they care that much? Perhaps. If so, then when the deal comes to an end and Strikeforce moves to Versus or Spike, no big loss. Heck, Dana White is probably looking to do that anyway. Their current TV partners aren't going to love Zuffa treating a product for a competing network as the equal of UFC anyway.
This set-up would prevent the UFC brand from being watered down with too many "Fight Night" style "take it or leave it" line-ups, build a more concrete picture of what wins and losses mean to fighters, and create a separate brand that covers all weight divisions with a specific purpose and often fights as exciting as any in the MMA world.
If Mac Danzig or Stephen Bonnar or Keith Jardine have a losing streak, rather than get cut and disappear into the MMA indy circuit, or hang out on unaired UFC prelim fights, Zuffa can take advantage of their name appeal and fan base and move them to Strikeforce where fans can continue to follow their story of trying to regain traction and earn a spot back in UFC. Or, perhaps act as gate keepers to the next up-and-coming sensation and make a good living doing so.
READ ANOTHER ARTICLE I WROTE ON THIS SUBJECT AT MY BLOG, WADEKELLER.COM:
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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