Herring In A Fur Coat - The purchase of Strikeforce only proved that if you get too big for your breeches, Zuffa will swallow you whole. :)
Strikeforce sold out my friend.... What happens when a promotion with a superior division to UFC's decides it aint for sale.... UFC is in the event business. If another promotion comes along and does a better job for just one show its trouble. There is no way to get stable traction in the fight game home slice. It aint the NFL that has thousands of athletes under contract... Its a one man show. One fighter against another...
not sure if serious
dead serious...Strikeforce won-ton patched up a heavy weight division that was perceived better than UFC's... You think they would have bought them out if that Heavy Weight Grand Pre wasnt a serious threat? You think someone else couldnt do the same thing? UFC stands on its fighters. It aint the other way around.
DarkReflection - If UFC assumes control of G4 they'll turn it around within 24 months and likely have it eclipse Spike.
Let's change your argument to Versus, a sports channel with over twice the average viewership of G4. The ratings the UFC pulled in on Versus are barely more than what Spike TV averages in primetime weekly. And events like that are supposed to be a programming tent pole. Spike will dip a bit with the loss of the UFC, but the UFC increasing G4's viewership above Spike's with 10 free shows a year plus TUF? Dear lord no.
Put on a few solid free events and begin showing the INTERNATIONAL TUF series' they could build an empire. Dana wants to have an international TUF Gran Prix...that alone could build the channel. Add a couple Beiber tweets and the new channel would be a monster.
They have an empire. Putting their empire on G4 is an excellent way to let it stagnate, International TUF Grand Prix or not.
Brian Rule - Is everyone assuming that if Zuffa buys G4 then they will operate it as the "G4" channel? It's a no-brainer (to me at least) that it would become the "UFC" channel, but it seems like a lot of you aren't taking this into consideration. Just sayin
Either way the plan is epically ill-conceived, to put it charitably.
More like their owner sold them. Coker was against it actually. Silicon Valley Entertainment sold Strikeforce and got out of the MMA business. I suppose you could say that the people who sold Strikeforce "sold out", but SF was just another property in SVE's portfolio and they were only in it for the money in the first place.
More like their owner sold them. Coker was against it actually. Silicon Valley Entertainment sold Strikeforce and got out of the MMA business. I suppose you could say that the people who sold Strikeforce "sold out", but SF was just another property in SVE's portfolio and they were only in it for the money in the first place.
and Bellator's owners are trying to sell it now. For some reason they seem to think this is the best time to get out while the geniuses here think they're gonna become some kind of force on spike.
We saw this before... the wwe left and tna came in. TNA still aint shit.
MMALOGIC - and Bellator's owners are trying to sell it now. For some reason they seem to think this is the best time to get out while the geniuses here think they're gonna become some kind of force on spike.
We saw this before... the wwe left and tna came in. TNA still aint shit.
I think going on Spike will likely allow Bellator to survive, and little more. They'll become minor competition to the UFC (instead of just competition for talent). Less so than TNA is to the WWE in fact.
Where did you hear Bellator is for sale? I haven't seen that anywhere. Are you thinking of MFC?
Like I said. I watch G4 a lot more than I watch spike. I could give a shit less about a CSI marathon or 1000 ways to die. The only problem is that if UFC buys out G4 and gets rid of AOTS and Ninja Warrior then this could be a bad thing for me.
MMALOGIC - and Bellator's owners are trying to sell it now. For some reason they seem to think this is the best time to get out while the geniuses here think they're gonna become some kind of force on spike.
We saw this before... the wwe left and tna came in. TNA still aint shit.
I think going on Spike will likely allow Bellator to survive, and little more. They'll become minor competition to the UFC (instead of just competition for talent). Less so than TNA is to the WWE in fact.
Where did you hear Bellator is for sale? I haven't seen that anywhere. Are you thinking of MFC?
Cmon guys...TNA, WWE and pro wrestling arent relevent. They arent sports.... The point here is this. UFC is required to buy well produced smaller promotions that start attracting comparible or superior talent. think here... Look what Fedor did to the heavy weight division. For YEARS he underminded UFC's entire heavy weight division and he was ONE guy. What if there was two Fedors who fought each other, refused to fight in the UFC but where attracting other top conteders under a different banner. It really isn't as stable as everyone thinks. It only takes one or two likable (or hate-able) characters that people are buzzing about...
BJJZONE - Cmon guys...TNA, WWE and pro wrestling arent relevent. They arent sports.... The point here is this. UFC is required to buy well produced smaller promotions that start attracting comparible or superior talent. think here... Look what Fedor did to the heavy weight division. For YEARS he underminded UFC's entire heavy weight division and he was ONE guy. What if there was two Fedors who fought each other, refused to fight in the UFC but where attracting other top conteders under a different banner. It really isn't as stable as everyone thinks. It only takes one or two likable (or hate-able) characters that people are buzzing about...
I've given up on spike. Just because G4 is the rumor does that necessarily mean that's what's gonna happen? I dunno.... There has to be other options out there for the UFC. If anything the UFC brass like money and if their brand isn't reaching just as many if not more people, thy won't make as much money.
BJJZONE - Cmon guys...TNA, WWE and pro wrestling arent relevent. They arent sports.... The point here is this. UFC is required to buy well produced smaller promotions that start attracting comparible or superior talent. think here... Look what Fedor did to the heavy weight division. For YEARS he underminded UFC's entire heavy weight division and he was ONE guy. What if there was two Fedors who fought each other, refused to fight in the UFC but where attracting other top conteders under a different banner. It really isn't as stable as everyone thinks. It only takes one or two likable (or hate-able) characters that people are buzzing about...
Ask Affliction how that turned out for them.
lol...you are smoking that good stuff eh? The only people that knew who Fedor was while he was in PRIDE were keyboard warriors on the internet...the casual fan and general public had no idea who he was..so he wasn't undermining anything.
BJJZONE - Cmon guys...TNA, WWE and pro wrestling arent relevent. They arent sports.... The point here is this. UFC is required to buy well produced smaller promotions that start attracting comparible or superior talent. think here... Look what Fedor did to the heavy weight division. For YEARS he underminded UFC's entire heavy weight division and he was ONE guy. What if there was two Fedors who fought each other, refused to fight in the UFC but where attracting other top conteders under a different banner. It really isn't as stable as everyone thinks. It only takes one or two likable (or hate-able) characters that people are buzzing about...
I keep forgetting how awesome Affliction's buyrates were. Oh wait...
The UFC obviously heavily valued Fedor because they knew they could market him as the baddest dude on earth (which he apparently was at the time). Outside the UFC brand he was only a second-tier draw in North America.
Fedor vs. Arlovski was considered by many to be #1 vs. #2 in the world. It was supported by a fairly stacked undercard. It drew 90,000 buys.
UFC is not required to buy shit. The only two companies left that are actually signing people to binding contracts that prohibit Zuffa from signing them are Bellator and DREAM. Neither of these companies have secured their long-term futures. DREAM is signing almost no one new.
Also, yeah, pro-wrestling totally isn't a good example despite the demographic similarities, the fact that they're both PPV products with free tv counterparts, and the fact that TNA moved on to Spike just as the WWE left and despite being a much more competitive product to the WWE at the time than Bellator is to the UFC, they never got more than a third of their ratings.
Fact is that branding is incredibly important. The UFC has incredible name recognition, and literally about ten times the elite talent that Bellator does, and about 20 times the credibility.
Yep..also..until Bellator or any other MMA promotion out there runs a PPV that gets anywhere close to 100K buys....they are not legitimate competiton...regardless of what TV station they air content on.
Brian Rule - Is everyone assuming that if Zuffa buys G4 then they will operate it as the "G4" channel? It's a no-brainer (to me at least) that it would become the "UFC" channel, but it seems like a lot of you aren't taking this into consideration. Just sayin
Either way the plan is epically ill-conceived, to put it charitably.
Tell us more of what it's like to operate a tv channel and what Zuffa needs to do to thrive.
Sure. They need to not fucking cut off their nose to spite their face. I seriously doubt they are actually buying G4 but whatever.
As for thriving, I'm pretty sure Zuffa is already doing that. To continue doing so they just need an outlet with viewership that is similar to or better than Spike to use for their free programming. Even though they do get rights fees for their programming, things like Ultimate Fight Nights and even TUF are above all things advertisements for their PPV product that is the core of their business.
As for operating a tv channel, I don't see why I should have to answer that one since this is something that the current people running G4 have proven highly incompetent at, so they can't really use the same people and hope for anything. Why Zuffa, who have never even run an On-Demand channel before, would think they can program a whole network themselves, I have no clue. Actually I should ask more why people are so convinced this is real beyond wishful thinking.
G4's viewership is horrible and many casual fans wouldn't know where to find the UFC (in addition to those who don't even get G4) and their interest would wane. Meanwhile they'd be out $200 million or whatever (the $600 million figure was a considerable exaggeration). In the end they would stagnate, not thrive under those conditions.
MMALOGIC - and Bellator's owners are trying to sell it now. For some reason they seem to think this is the best time to get out while the geniuses here think they're gonna become some kind of force on spike.
We saw this before... the wwe left and tna came in. TNA still aint shit.
I think going on Spike will likely allow Bellator to survive, and little more. They'll become minor competition to the UFC (instead of just competition for talent). Less so than TNA is to the WWE in fact.
Where did you hear Bellator is for sale? I haven't seen that anywhere. Are you thinking of MFC?
Cmon guys...TNA, WWE and pro wrestling arent relevent. They arent sports.... The point here is this. UFC is required to buy well produced smaller promotions that start attracting comparible or superior talent. think here... Look what Fedor did to the heavy weight division. For YEARS he underminded UFC's entire heavy weight division and he was ONE guy. What if there was two Fedors who fought each other, refused to fight in the UFC but where attracting other top conteders under a different banner. It really isn't as stable as everyone thinks. It only takes one or two likable (or hate-able) characters that people are buzzing about...
LOL... fedor put how many promotions out of business? comon son... think.
Let's delve even deeper. Fedor didnt just appear out of thin air... a certain set of circumstances needed to be present to produce a "Fedor"... namely something called Pride which was the biggest MMA org in the world at that time which also happened to have the best HW division for years.
Without pride and the stacked HW division that was sustain over years there would have never been a "fedor". Without a big nog who was considered the best HW at the time and Fedor beating him not once but twice there would have never been a "Fedor".
Think.
It's impossible for a "fedor" or a "GSP" or a "Anderson SIlva" or a "Bj Penn", etc... to be produced outside of Zuffa.
The best guys in each weight class is under Zuffa and the top contender in each division is under Zuffa. Moreover, 90% of the talent in each division is under Zuffa ensuring that the next top contender will always be in Zuffa.
People are always looking at the Brand monopoly Zuffa has which is next to impossible to break through... they almost always fail to see the Talent monopoly Zuffa has which is equally if not more difficult to break through.
Then there's a distribution monopoly Zuffa has which I wont even get into or the gate monopoly Zuffa has.
Zuffa owns every single major fight market. From Vegas, to toronto, etc... Forget about ppv, if you cant get access to markets that produce the "big fight" gates how on earth will you promote the big fights?
Affliction tried to get into las vegas and was bitch slapped out.
SF could barely do a 1 million dollar gate with Fedor who was the best HW at the time... Zuffa produces 2m dollar gates with it's worst ppv cards.
Zuffa owns the brand consciousness, Zuffa owns the talent, Zuffa owns the distribution, etc...
UFC is not required to buy shit.............It's impossible for a "fedor" or a "GSP" or a "Anderson SIlva" or a "Bj Penn", etc... to be produced outside of Zuffa.
The best guys in each weight class is under Zuffa and the top contender in each division is under Zuffa. Moreover, 90% of the talent in each division is under Zuffa ensuring that the next top contender will always be in Zuffa.
Your missing it....MMA fans are fickle.... MMA is fickle. The UFC is ONLY AS STABL AS ITS TOP TALENT IS PERCEIVED. Kimbo Slice was out marketing the UFC making youtube videos fighting guys in back yards. Where did kimbo end up?...oh yeah in the UFC.... What if Kimbo started knocking guys out in a devastating fashion in Strikeforce? UFC stands on its fighters...not the other way around...UFC can be outdone in just a couple promotions with just a couple fighters.
MMALOGIC - Without pride and the stacked HW division that was sustain over years there would have never been a "fedor". Without a big nog who was considered the best HW at the time and Fedor beating him not once but twice there would have never been a "Fedor".
Think.
It's impossible for a "fedor" or a "GSP" or a "Anderson SIlva" or a "Bj Penn", etc... to be produced outside of Zuffa.
Before Fedor there was Rickson Gracie. He didn't need a big name opponents, big promotion or the UFC marketing machine to make him be considered as one of the best ever. All he needed was Royce saying he was 10 times better than him and the family champion and the legend was born. He made ridiculous amounts of money just based on his name and image.
Look at Kimbo, he created a huge hype train just based on some backyard videos and a unique look that got people interested. He didn't even need the skill to back it up, it was all image and marketing.
It's not easy, but you can create a star or big draw outside the UFC.
And I don't understand the importance people are putting on the individual network. If there is a free UFC event on tv people are going to say "what channel is it on?" and turn to that channel. They're not going to debate whether G$ is better than Spike and refuse to watch an event because it's on a certain channel. This is nonsense. If Strikeforce is on Showtime then people turn to that channel and watch it if they have it. If it's on CBS then they turn to that channel and watch it. They don't give a shit about the particular network anymore than people cared when the NFL went from ABC to Fox. They just want to watch the show.
Your missing it....MMA fans are fickle.... MMA is fickle. The UFC is ONLY AS STABL AS ITS TOP TALENT IS PERCEIVED. Kimbo Slice was out marketing the UFC making youtube videos fighting guys in back yards. Where did kimbo end up?...oh yeah in the UFC.... What if Kimbo started knocking guys out in a devastating fashion in Strikeforce? UFC stands on its fighters...not the other way around...UFC can be outdone in just a couple promotions with just a couple fighters.
I agree MMA fans are fickle..but if Kimbo started knocking out guys in SF...fans would just remember how his fights in the UFC went...forget the fighters...if a promotion doesn't have brand recognition...it will not out perform the UFC...and it's vitually impossible for another promotion to compete brandwise with the UFC...we are talking almost twenty years of branding here...and Zuffa would have to have something catastrophic happen for another promotion to make headway brandwise.
Your missing it....MMA fans are fickle.... MMA is fickle. The UFC is ONLY AS STABL AS ITS TOP TALENT IS PERCEIVED. Kimbo Slice was out marketing the UFC making youtube videos fighting guys in back yards. Where did kimbo end up?...oh yeah in the UFC.... What if Kimbo started knocking guys out in a devastating fashion in Strikeforce? UFC stands on its fighters...not the other way around...UFC can be outdone in just a couple promotions with just a couple fighters.
I agree MMA fans are fickle..but if Kimbo started knocking out guys in SF...fans would just remember how his fights in the UFC went...forget the fighters...if a promotion doesn't have brand recognition...it will not out perform the UFC...and it's vitually impossible for another promotion to compete brandwise with the UFC...we are talking almost twenty years of branding here...and Zuffa would have to have something catastrophic happen for another promotion to make headway brandwise.
In team sports yeah... NFL,NHL ect. But this is sport fighting. One on one....You control the more marketable cast of characters and you win...Peroid....
ZUFFA has created its entire uninverse and people only think on their terms. Do you really think Wandy isnt good anymore all of the sudden? ..No he is the same guy, but MMA is fickle... You make a reality show that is 6 weeks long about Wandy and Kimbo. Then you let Wand massacre him at the end of the 6 weeks, put it on prime time SPIKE TV and guess what you have....
