UFC buys Strikeforce

UFC buys Strikeforce [url]https://mmajunkie.com/news/22807/ufc-purchases-strikeforce.mma[/url] Not really surprising, not necessarily good for the fighters or fans in the long run. Likely good for bettors of the sport in the long run.

This is good news. Strikeforce has super talent and we'll benefit from some fabulous matchups between the two. Imagine the winner of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship vs the winner of Cain Velasquez and the TUF coach champion either Brock Lesnar or Junior Dos Santos. Lesnar or Cain vs Alistair Overeem would be the biggest fight in MMA history! and then the winner gets Fedor! Gotta love it....and now come to think of it, they could never sign Fedor in the past, here they have controlling interest.

[url]https://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/12/zuffa-purchases-strikeforce/[/url] No cross promotions. 2 plus years on the Showtime deal for Strikeforce. It will change little in the near future. Yes better fights may come in the future but how many more PPV's will occur? Fans will be forced to shell out addition money for more fights in the future. Two years is forever in the life of an MMA fighter. In two years Fedor will be gone. Overeem, Lesnar and Cain likely will be gone or not the top level guys. Hard to tell what this brings. I think this is a short term play to control fighters. Imagine this... Dana needs more HW's. He will be negotiating with himself for fighters as their contracts expire. So it would seem the fighters will have less options hence a reduction in pay will happen. White can claim that they are separate business but collusion will be a nature byproduct. White calls Coker and says I want Overeem so don't offer him as much as you could. I'll offer him 5 percent more and I'll get him. It will happen. I wouldn't be shocked if Showtime moves to void their deal with Strikeforce if they start to get a diluted product. Only the top guys sell tickets. What about Henderson? He has one fight left on his contract. I'd bet that Strikeforce keeps him because he's a major draw and his issues with UFC. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

[url]https://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Top-15-fighters-acquired-in-UFC-deal-with-Strike?urn=mma-wp113[/url]

Yahoo, Steve Cofield and Kevin Iole all do a solid job and I agree with Cofield that the Strikeforce TV deal and contracts are in place "for now" but it's all about the money and getting the biggest names for PPV and Overeem and Fedor are the ticket that the UFC is buying. Just a couple of big UFC fights with them on it will pave the way.