The UFC is in the process of laying the groundwork for an April 17 show to counter the Strikeforce on CBS offering, MMA Fighting has learned.Though the company has not officially announced the event and it should not be considered a done deal, two separate sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the promotion has begun to ramp up its efforts over the last several hours and that Spike TV -- the likely broadcast outlet for the show -- has been informed of the decision.
When reached by MMA Fighting on Thursday night, UFC President Dana White would not confirm or deny the possibility of the event.
More Coverage: CBS Keeping 'Options Open'
Though several possible matchups have been buzzed about in recent days, MMA Fighting could not confirm the rumors of a Mike Swick vs. Matt Serra matchup. Swick has been out of the country on a trip to Thailand, just returning yesterday, and might need surgery on an injured arm. Serra, meanwhile, fought just one month ago and would prefer a return to action in the summer.
Another alleged rumor pitting Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama seems unlikely, as sources close to Silva told MMA Fighting that he is hopeful of a chance to fight on UFC 116 because the event takes place on his birthday, July 3, and in his new hometown of Las Vegas.
The UFC would have just six weeks to put an event together, but it is not without precedent. In July 2008, The organization put together an event in just over one month to compete against an Affliction pay-per-view offering. That show was headlined by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva making his debut at light-heavyweight. Silva wound up knocking out James Irvin in the main event.
Strikeforce's show is planned for the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and will feature three title bouts, including a middleweight championship main event pitting current titleholder Jake Shields against former UFC star Dan Henderson. The show could reportedly be moved back a week to April 24 -- which would result in a head-to-head battle with WEC's first pay-per-view offering -- but tickets sales for the Strikeforce event have already begun, and a change would also require a shift in the CBS programming schedule.
Comments (Page 1 of 4)
The article sounds at first like big trouble for Strikeforce, UFC counter-programming any offering would be bad news. But, UFC countering the April 17th show and forcing Strikeforce to push back a week would be disastrous for Zuffa. Strikeforce with 3 legit title fights for FREE kicks the crap out of an over-priced WEC PPV offering. Come on Dana, do it...
It is about time that we all stop paying for these UFC PPV events. There is no reason that they should not be on tv for free. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey and others thrive on free tv, why not the UFC? There are two reasons why; Dana's greed and fools paying for what should be free. Let one or two PPV events go by without people handing over their hard earned money to Dana and then they would all be free on tv for all to enjoy. Boxing went to crap because of this greed. MMA will never be the biggest sport on earth until is is on free tv like football. It is a slap in the face of MMA fans to extort money from us to watch a fight! Stop paying and we will get them for free.
I agree 100% if UFC threatens to counter program on the 17th , Strikeforce should threaten to counter program WEC on the 24th...I think SF would destroy WEC's PPV debut.
I'd pay to see the UFC up against an inmate or a prison guard. Now THAT would be interesting.
i hope this makes the mainstream casual mma fans just turn away from ufc more. hey, it is what it is. i'm gonna do my best not to get involved in the ufc vs sf thing, cause i think its just ridiculous. really ridiculous. i'm watching sf. whoever else watches cool. whoever watches ufc instead, cool. do whatever you want. dana says he doesn't care about sf, obviously he's losing sleep over it.
Agree 100% there is enough fish in the sea for everyone. Both UFC and Strickeforce can survive, live and expand. The more MMA events are shown on TV, the better for the sport. More exposure, allows MMA fan base to grow, hence in the end more money. Dana, please, compete with OTHER sports not against another MMA! GREED is not that Good! Ask the Banks, the Insurance Co's etc. Is that why UFC is now in the portfolio of the Arabs?
Ok....in this world of dvr and Tivo, how many ppl are going to record and watch both? That's what I'm going to do. Also, the UFC would have a hard time putting together a better card than what strikeforce is going to show, esp on such quick notice. But if SF ends up going head to head against WEC, well then I guess the war would be on bc I think that would kill the already stupid idea of a WEC PPV.
i'd love it if they started giving him false dates... did we say 17th? we meant the 10th, sorry.
There are enough fans to support multiple organizations Dana stop being such a DOUCHEBAG....
If he doesn't do everything in his power to make sure ufc is #1 all the time then he should be fired.
They will probably just re-air the Abu Dhabi PPV from the week before. That way its a no lose situation for the UFC. If they beat Strikeforce then Dana gets to brag about how strikeforce got beat by a re-run. If its doesn't beat SF then Dana can just say that's because everyone watched it already. I would be a bad move to air a live fight because there is no way they can compete with 3 title bouts.
Whats the big deal with a company trying to compete against a rival company? They do it all the time out in the real world. Try going outside and taking a look around. You got fast food chains going at each other, retailers going toe to toe in the same demographics. Dana's just trying to bring the casual fans to ufc instead of sf. He knows most mma fans will either watch one or the other and dvr the other.....but for some of you to say "I'm just going to watch SF thats it", are lying to yourself.
And why does everyone always complains about fighter's salaries, the ppv $$$$ helps increase salaries. Do you really think fighters are going to get paid hugh amounts if organizations only have contracts with Spike or Versus? When the networks can pony up the kind of $$ they get in ppv's, the ufc will be there. It's Coker's business plan for SF to be on PPV within a year.
I consider this as a win for MMA fans we get an extra event that we were not expecting...as said this is the day of DVR and UFC is broadcast live in the UK and Strikeforce on a 16 odd hour tape delay.
When they aired the very first "Affliction" payperview, UFC of course retaliated by having a free fight on the same night. We watched both at the same time, it was great. There is always a party every month to watch the UFC payperviews, but we like them all, but UFC is still the best and always will be. They are where they are today for a reason.
i agree with ammunition,
i think this i great news, especially if the ufc does do a live fight.
we get to see another fight for nothing.
but, make no mistake i will be recording whatever fight the ufc puts on and be watching the sf event.
i still can't believe that zuffa is going through with a wec ppv.
it should end up being a financial disaster for them.
unless of course they only need like 10k buys to make a buck.
seriously, is there anyone here or that anyone that anyone knows that is actually going to buy that?
and that is coming from me, a huge wec nut-hugger.
if anyone would watch any of zuffa's counter over what sf is putting on, then they are complete morons and obviously not a true mma fan.
swick/serra over three awesome title fights????
really???
this isn't really even a discussion here.
This is also a big diss to all the fighters on the Strikeforce roster that are fighting that night... Dana White is taking potential fans, endorsements and ultimately money away from these SF fighters. I could see this as a reason why people would not like to fight for him, even though the UFC is considered the "pinnacle" of MMA, his disrespect and non concern for these fighters lively hood is a direct smack in the face...
good point. especially dan henderson. go figure. not classic dana white. the new dana white. money is evil.
The thing is, it will be very difficult for StrikeForce to move this event again. They are using CBS's production crew, so they can't just keep moving it around willy-nilly.
And the WEC doesn't need huge numbers to make a profit. 50K would do fine for that PPV.
You're joking right? 50,000 buys nets them 2.25 million plus a gate of $550,000 (WEC's highest to date, and also in Sac) gets them less than 3 Million for the event. Ok so they don't pay their fighters squat, the production costs, ppv distributor costs, promotional costs, legal costs, etc will cost much more than that $3 million by themselves. Add in all of the incidental costs involved in putting on these shows that we aren't aware of and 50,000-100,000 buys will make this show an epic FAIL.
and add that the wec ceo probably wants a few ferrari's in his driveway too looking up to his daddy. huge fail if sf conters.