The UFC has purchased Strikeforce. Okay, that's not exactly breaking news. But how does the promotion plan on running its former San Jose rival? "Business as usual," according to UFC President Dana White and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
Right down to the pink slip.
Former WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby has been tasked with pairing up Strikeforce fighters for upcoming events, relieving Bob Cook and Rich Chou of their duties, according to a report from MMA Weekly. That's not to suggest that Cook and Chou, who are no longer employed under the Zuffa umbrella, were doing a substandard job.
In fact, quite the contrary.
While Strikeforce has continually faced criticism for its haphazard approach to event scheduling, in the end it always delivered a night of entertaining fights.
That has a lot to do with the effort of its talent, which more often than not delivers when the cameras begin rolling. Of course matchmaking was a fairly easy task, considering the depth of the Strikeforce roster (or lack thereof).
The Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament, for example, was simply a matter of assembling every heavyweight on the roster for one big scrap -- and bringing in a few hired guns to fill in the gaps where necessary.
Most of the MMA community expects Zuffa to fold Strikeforce into the UFC much like it did with World Extreme Cagefighting earlier this year, and it's hard to envision a scenario where White and Fertitta insist on keeping it a separate promotion after its contract with Showtime expires.
There just may not be enough names to draw from the San Jose hat to keep this thing afloat.
In the meantime, Scott Coker went from CEO to Executive VP and General Manager. Chou and Cook went from matchmakers to sandwich makers. Well, not really, but they're no longer a part of the world's largest fight promotion. Nothing personal, just business.
No comments:
Post a Comment