They keep saying they are gonna run them as a seperate brand on SHOWTIME. DFW keeps saying the SF guys are under contract to Strikeforce only to appear on SHOWTIME. Which seemed all fine & good, I was looking forward to seeing howw they were gonna pull it all off.
But they dropped the ball.
Everytime I turn around I see another top SF talent signing to fight in the UFC. Overeem, Diaz, Werdum, Bigfoot etc ... all just uprooted from the SF roster & signed to the UFC. Then there was the whole Gilbert Melendez thing. I was uncomfortable watching Melendez try to answer questions after DFW said he was on his way to the 'show' only to change plans. Leaving Melendez stranded with no choice but to say he'd rather stay with SF instead of going to the UFC. No he wouldn't!
`It would beone thing if they had a talent exchange (like the one PRIDE & UFC had that never actually happened in 2003). That would make sence for both companies to keep both brands strong. But thats not what's happening.
UFC is raiding the SF roster & then expecting the public not to notice. Not a very good business move IMO
I don't think Dana really cares how it looks. People will forget or ignore it once they see these guys fighting in the UFC.
Regardless as how much certain fans want to see two orgs running side by side, it makes no sense from a business stand point to do it. Strike Force WILL be liquidated, it's important fighters signed, and the rest will be out on their asses.
Sucks but thems the breaks.
Yeah hasnt been handled well. The way they handled WEC was much better.
Especially with Melendez, they need to bring him over
You're reiterating what's already been said, but yeah. Poor business from our perspective. But from a corporate standpoint, businesses have always bought their competitors, claimed commitment to build side by side brands, then run them into the ground. Not uncommon, but very tragic.
At this point, its hard to say what's happening. Dana is pretty close fisted. It could be that he has a brilliant plan, but his ego dictates that he keep it close in an effort to purposefully get people mad and vent and then swoop in with his typical "see, you don't know shit" style antics.
Or it could be the typical thing of "let's see who is the best, who can endure, move them over later, flood Showtime with some other kind of content" etc etc.
Who the hell really knows?
In the meantime, Strikeforce is falling apart. And Coker is seeming like an ass for having sold a percentage of his company to partners who would eventually sell it to his competitor.
I think it has less to do with ego and more to do with what's the best course of action now to make more money in the long run.
It does not make sense to run a second business in direct competition to your main business. You buy it, steal its assets, and cut the rest of the "fat"
Happens to WEC, happened to PRIDE, and it will happen to Strike Force.
Good... whatever makes it possible for all the best fighters fighting each other and avoids the fragmentation.
I agree. They bought SF to prevent it from taking any market-share from them (thus overall stunting the growth of MMA to promote UFCs standing). It is my belief that they were scared of an anti-trust of monopoly suit, so they let SF operate as separately as possible to keep it out of the spotlight.
The UFC is getting a bit complacent, IMO. I wish a viable alternative existed. Ive been following this for a long while. If I have any read whatsoever on Dana, he wont be running the show in 5 years. His egomania is well documented and his skillset wont meet the challenges that are to come. Mark my words: Fox and the outside investors are signed in for a long haul and Dana will stick out like a sore thumb at some point soon.
OblongBox - They said that with PRIDE as well. They'll dissolve SF the same way. They have no interest in operating the SF brand name. They basically just want to own the fight footage in order to hype future UFC fights.
I think they also want to drag the Strikeforce name down in the process.
Strikeforce is contractually obligated through Showtime. The only reason Dana doesn't raid the entire roster and shut down SF is because of SF's obligation to Showtime.
What he's doing is perfect. He's signing the top talent at specific times and letting the organization die off, all while maintaining its contract with Showtime.
He's also trying to determine if he can use SF in the future as an asset; perhaps use it for lighter fighters, women's mma, or to redevelop UFC fighters who have lost on the big show
He knows what he's doing 
The public doesn't care about MMA, they care about UFC.
Keeping stars there made no sense if they're needed in the UFC. Maybe they'll keep it alive as a promotional tool, if guys like King Mo and Rockhold can go on a good run they bring them in and do champion vs champion. If Woodley keeps fighting the same way leave him there for 2-3 years and then hype up his wrestling when they need a title challenger.
Dana will also own all the content from Strikeforce, meaning he can rent out subscription type services to consumers who want to see fights from SF's history
CONTENT
'Wrongly'.
Tad Ghostal - Keeping stars there made no sense if they're needed in the UFC. Maybe they'll keep it alive as a promotional tool, if guys like King Mo and Rockhold can go on a good run they bring them in and do champion vs champion. If Woodley keeps fighting the same way leave him there for 2-3 years and then hype up his wrestling when they need a title challenger.
Hy if they wanna use SF as some sort of developmental system then thats fine. But dont call them equals & then raid the roster of it's top stars, all the while acting like nothing is wrong.
Dana raided the sf roster to play hardball with hershman during the showtime negotiations. Hershman was booted and then zuffa agreed not to take anymore fighters and Dana agreed to help promote strikeforce.
Why keep taking everyone and killing the heavyweights but strand Melendez?
I'd rather see Melendez in UFC than Bigfoot.
They should have done an invasion angle. After Ben Henderson won the #1 contender spot they bring Edgar in the ring for a face off. Suddenly, Cowboy Cerrone's music plays and he enters the octagon to confront Ben. Cowboy says he and Ben have unfinished business from their WEC days. Cowboy and Ben square off as Edgar watches but then out of nowhere Cowbay and Ben double team and attack Edgar. Edgar is left in a bloody heap as Ben and Cowboy celebrate. The WEC music plays and cage fills with WEC fighters; Faber, Pettis, Torres, Bowles, etc. Ben gets on the mic and says this was all planned by the true mastermind of MMA. A spotline shines at cageside and it is none other than Scott Coker! Coker grabs the mic and says the UFC is about to get Extreme!!! The crowd chants Dub-E-C! Dub-E-C! Dub-E-C!
JeffersonDArcyChoke - Why keep taking everyone and killing the heavyweights but strand Melendez?
I'd rather see Melendez in UFC than Bigfoot.
The 55 division in the UFC is already stacked, and had a huge injection of talent from the WEC roster. The HW division in the UFC was pretty shallow. That's why they raided the SF division.
Remember, Dana can sign Gilbert at any time. There's no concern about him going to another organization. Signing fighters is about timing fights,
TimeToCrush - I don't even understand what's happening with the whole thing. Just bring in the top guys from SF to UFC and keep SF as the B league for up and comers and guys working their way back up. imo
It's getting too confusing seeing some top guys go to UFC and others staying in SF.
It may not be feasible for this arrangement. Maybe they would lose money on the SF cards. We have no idea
Remember, allocating resources to SF would mean taking resources away from the UFC; because ultimately, Dana would never completely let SF run on its own as it had been.
I was going to make a similar thread. Really they just need to get rid of the titles. You are basically going to top out at rank 10, and probably even lower in stacked divisions. To expect guys like Luke Rockhold to stay and defend the Strikeforce title when he could be going to the UFC and working his way up the rankings is ridiculous.
There is no incentive on the part of the fighters or Zuffa to let good fighters sit in Strikeforce with a title. The fighters want to move up and fight for the UFC title, and Zuffa wants the best fighters in the UFC. Strikeforce needs to be treated like a development league or folded into the UFC. There's no point in having champions who defend once and leave, for either Zuffa or the fighters.