New filings from the UFC anti-trust lawsuit detail some of the hardball tactics Dana White used to buy and shut down competitor Strikeforce.
Nice promotion you got there. Would be a real shame if something bad happened to it.
That’s the vibe we’re getting from court documents coming out of the UFC anti-trust lawsuit regarding the UFC’s 2011 purchase of Strikeforce. These filings are giving us some serious insider information on how the UFC was run from 2005-2015, and we are not shocked at confirmations that cut-throat business tactics were often used.
“In November 2010, the Strikeforce owners met with representatives of the UFC concerning the potential acquisition of Strikeforce at the offices of WME,” a filing detailed. “At the meeting, Lorenzo Fertitta reportedly stated that he thought ‘Strikeforce is building a great brand, but Zuffa feels there should only be one brand, so Zuffa would like to buy Strikeforce.”
“For it’s part, Zuffa’s internal correspondence in 2012 indicates that the UFC sought, by its Strikeforce acquisition, to eliminate it as a competitor.”
Based on these documents, Strikeforce president and founder Scott Coker wasn’t enthused about the idea of selling to UFC.
“If you can’t battle these guys it’s over for the MMA industry,” Coker said in a deposition. “UFC will be the only one left. We’re the last chance. Otherwise, fighters’ purses will go down if the UFC is the only one — is the only one, period. We’re Luke Skywalker and the UFC is Darth Vader and the Death Star.”
As usual, it was Lorenzo Fertitta with the carrot and Dana White with the stick.
The document states “Coker testified that after negotiations stalled, Dana White threatened that he would ‘come after Strikeforce’s fighters, and he would make our life hard, and, you know, give us a bad time.’”
History tells us what happened next: Strikeforce sold to UFC in March 2011. The UFC shut down the promotion and swallowed their roster. In a paper on the Obama administration’s anti-trust policies, the Strikeforce sale was noted as a clear failure.
“Fighters who had received 45 to 63 percent of Strikeforce revenue prior to the merger now reportedly receive roughly 20 percent,” it read.
Ufc is fucked
Just posting the link works.
I wonder what were the tactics zuffa used to buy Pride rip.
STFU KKM
are you actually compering ufc2022 revenue to Strikeforce’s 2011 revenue ?
All I have to say Strikeforce was awesome. Liked it better than UFC at the time.
lots of banger fights, no 2 years talks about how and when they gonna fight
WME’s lawyers and connections will have this thrown out or at worst they’ll receive a slap on the wrist. No different than Joe Bidet’s son.
When you have money and power you get to play by different rules. The lawyers will work a deal with the judge and that’ll be that.
I loved it when UFC, WEC, Pride and Strike Force were all putting on PPV and televised events.