With the string of cuts we have seen with Fedor and Overeem, it is clear that co-promotions are not on the Zuffa agenda, With Zuffa owning the major MMA events in NA, will these great fighters be seen in an octagon again?
Fedor, no, we wont. The other 3, yes, dont see why not. Overrem is more doubtful than the others, but he'll get the the UFC eventually imo and the other two with strikeforce
Well the Octagon is the UFC...so Fedor is a definite no, Overeem is possible but unlikely. The others no chance - Valentine and Olaf aren't up to the standards and we'll never get women's fighting in the UFC. Will we see them in the US? Well Bellator will probably get a big boost when they take the UFC's place on Spike in January but the promotion's setup is all wrong for snatching establish stars (they missed out on Marquardt for that reason). If Showtime and Zuffa part ways its possible that we get some sort of M-1/Golden Glory event bankrolled by television money but I doubt either camp wants to take the kind of hit that the likes of Strikeforce and Affliction suffered.
Being on Spike should be a big boost for Bellator as many UFC fans already watch that channel, but can they keep their star MWs and Alvarez in their camp?
If it happens it keeps them alive but I wouldn't overrate it. Without pay per view money Spike isn't going to make Bellator any serious money to reinvest in big contracts. And when WWE left Spike most of the pro-wrestling audience left the channel, no reason the same won't happen with MMA.
Thats my worry, Aoki is tight with Dream, I mean, he flipped off Hirota because they asked him to "Kill him" And I doubt Zuffa will be accommodating to him considering what happened with Fedor after Pride
I think DREAM will need to fold to see Aoki in the UFC, and I doubt Zuffa will do a Co-Pro, but I dont know if they have a contact to honour in that regard
I don't know, was there a wrestling replacement? I'm sure most UFC fans, even the ZZs, wouldnt mind free MMA shows, the challenge for Bellator is keeping their stable and finding the next guys.
I think Aoki may have one more fight on his SF deal, but even if that were a fact the situation is still sticky
Yeah it's called TNA. It does about a third of what the WWE was doing on Spike. You look at MMA in the US - the problem hasn't really been getting television. IFL had network television in UPN, EliteXC and then Strikeforce had Showtime/CBS, Bellator's had FSN and now MTV2. The problem has been getting television companies to pay enough so promotion's aren't losing their ass on shows and putting together shows that attract a fanbase. And ultimately ppv is the only business model that makes sense.
Ya I think youre right, MMA is still not one of the big sports anywhere except maybe Canada and Japan
Canada its filled the vacuum left by the decline of WWE, which used to be much more mainstream than in the US. As we've talked about before, Japan is a sad case. Its still much more popular in terms of television ratings there but there just isn't the infrastructure to convert 9.2ratings into a sustainable business model for the sport.
I am one of those thankful the WWE 'declined', although I still come across it on tv here once in a while, I hated WWE, I love MMA
