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From MMATorch.com Penick's Take
The proposal will set up events co-promoted by all three brands wherein they will pit fighters from each promotion against one another. Fights Coker threw out as ones he was interested in the possibility of setting up were Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef and Shinya Aoki against anyone as long as the fights in the U.S. to name just a couple. The potential for some major fight events not run by the UFC is there with the best of the best of all three companies facing off. But how long can that relationship last, and even with all three would it be enough to crack the landscape of fans on a large scale? Coker, on the program, described what this co-promotion with M-1 is like, saying: "The type of relationship we have with M-1 is more like a boxing relationship. De La Hoya promotes Ricky Hatton, Bob Arum promotes Manny Pacquiao, so one guy doesn't lend his fighter to the other guy for a paycheck, what they do is they do a co-promotion. So Pacquiao fights Hatton and it's promoted by De La Hoya and Bob Arum, and somebody is the point person for the casino deal and basically produces the fight, and they work with HBO and there's a revenue split there. That's really what this M-1 deal is." So what we've got here is three promotions that are now going to move forward in a boxing model to set up some events. While there's no doubt that for fans of the sport, in the short term, these new partnerships will bring some great fights and fighters together, this is a situation that cannot hold on for a long period of time. Outside of hardcore fans, there simply aren't enough of the "best fighters" in these three organizations that are going to draw enough interest to end up making this a truly viable endeavor. Sure, we're all salivating at the prospective fights that could be coming our way with the Strikeforce and DREAM pairing, as there are just some awesome fights to be had in many divisions, but the fact will remain that DREAM is seen only by a tiny fraction of the MMA audience. Strikeforce is still in it's infancy as a #2 promotion, and M-1 has Fedor. That's it. The average fan couldn't tell you who Joachim Hansen or Shinya Aoki are, and the appeal of those fighters facing off against Strikeforce talent will be highly overrated in the coming months as this partnership gets closer to reality. Quite simply the boxing model is not going to work when the UFC will still lay claim to the best fighters in almost every division. The boxing model hurts fans in the long run for the simple fact that fights like Lesnar-Fedor get clamored for but don't come to fruition because of too many promoters unwilling to work with each other. It's a problem that has pundits constantly wondering aloud about boxing's downfall. There are far too many promoters in boxing and the top talent is spread far too thin for any argument to be made that it's a good model for MMA to follow. Granted, this is only three organizations, and again in the short run it will provide more depth to some cards and help set up some more major cards in the future, but again it can't last. Eventually it will come down to the majority of fans not caring if it's not the UFC. The UFC will run even more counter programming to combat the rise of a competitor, which is exactly what Strikeforce is making themselves, direct competition, to the point that even if some of these great fights come to fruition, it won't end up being enough to sustain major shows for Strikeforce and/or M-1. Again I say, this is a great thing for fight fans right now, as we'll get some very intriguing fights that we wouldn't otherwise have had the opportunity to see. But, if you'll notice, this talk all seems very familiar. While Strikeforce isn't bludgeoning themselves and blood letting themselves monetarily to the point Affliction was doing, this is the same type of thoughts that many had about what Affliction was doing. Yes they're putting on some great fights but it's not going to last. It can't when even the combination of the talent in all three organizations does not add up to a roster of stars and the level of show that the UFC is able to put on, both on pay-per-view and free television. I want to be clear that in no way am I hoping for the end of Strikeforce, or DREAM for that matter. There's room for what Strikeforce was, and perhaps still is, a regional #2 promotion capable of putting on good to great cards for the fans that desire more MMA than the UFC. That said, as they try to take on the giant, there will be casualties along the way. Plus, the way Coker threw out that they are essentially in a boxing style set up for promoting here does not have me optimistic on the prospects here. I hope that they can be a healthy company capable of bringing fans the best alternative to the UFC product, I just fear that they're setting themselves up for a big fall with unrealistic expectations as to what the mass MMA audience wants to see and an attempt to break out into a global scale themselves, territory the UFC has been deeming their own. It's now going to be even more of an interesting stretch do to the end of 2009. © Copyright by MMATorch.com |
