Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta steps in to help negotiate Emelianenko vs. Henderson

Well thats pretty close anyways

 

No. They were bought by Zuffa because their parent company grew tired of funding them. Successful companies don't get sold to their biggest rival. And it would be very odd for the UFC to buy Strikeforce to sign Fedor when he still won't sign an exclusive contract.

And yes Kimbo. Crap fighter but the guy is box office gold. Just look at the TUF rating for his TAPED fight against Roy Nelson or how those ratings stayed over the entire season.

They should have brought Kimbo in for two CBS specials and then use the extra eyeballs to get over their new stars. Kimbo-Walker for example could have been a huge deal.

 

No its not. You said Dan Henderson was in line for a title shot when in fact he had been screwed out of a title shot he had been promised.

In any case the reason for Henderson trying to drive a hard bargin with the UFC is well known. He found out how much Tito Ortiz was being paid and basically decided that it was bull**** he was earning less than a light heavyweight was washed up. Harsh words were apparently said in the talks and that made him willing to consider Strikeforce, especially as Strikeforce was selling the angle that he would get to debut on CBS and the network exposure would be good for his clothing line.

So tell me...how does any of this prove your point that Henderson is difficult to neogiate with? Especally as the guy has already agreed to fight at heavyweight - two divisions up from his optimum weight class at 185Ibs

 

UFC was a rival but also a much bigger company. Why do you think SF events are still being held? Why would UFC buy SF if they were losing so luch money on theses events.


Kimbo at SF would fare just like he did at UFC, once he faces someone who is not a can, he would gas out in the middle of the first round and get his ass kicked. And you see two CBS specials in this?

 

You are hopeless atsch

 

This is hopeless

 

Strikeforce events are still being held because of the contract with Showtime. This is frankly bizarre. Every report of the buyout has clearly stated that it was Strikeforce's owners who made the initial move to sell the company because of ever increasing overheads. If you have some evidence to dispute that please share it with us.

Kimbo had been 'exposed' before he had even got to the UFC and yet still his drawing power remained undamaged. Even after the disaster of the Petruzelli fight he still drew over 6million for a fight against Nelson and 5.2million for a fight against Alexander. Compared to that Fedor/Rogers on CBS only got 5.4million - and that was an overrun rating that would be buttressed by the viewers of the next show waiting for it to start. I am baffled that anyone could argue against his drawing power.

They've been able to give Walker two victories over scrubs I could easily seem them being able to get both a win over some no-name and then pair them up.

 

That would be dishonest, and not good for their reputation.

 

It would be dishonest but the UFC got away it and so could Strikeforce. And its not like Strikeforce's matchmaking showed any great integrity in any case - Shamrock/Diaz, Overeem/Rogers, Walker's two matches etc etc.

They key would be not to make the same mistake EliteXC did - don't pretend he's the best heavyweight in the world. Just use him as a special attraction to get people watching the show so you have a bigger audience to promote your real fighters to.

They had first refusal on him due to the EliteXC buyout but baulked at his demands. The fact that the UFC swooped in to sign him as soon as they could tells you everything about how valuable he still was in 2009.

 

The history of UFC lets the get away with more. They pretty much rode out Kimbo as far as they could. There would always be the risk that you put a bum with him that actually owns him. SF does not have the quality of fights on their cards that they could risk such a disaster. They made the right move by passing on him because they saw what they saw. Where is Kimbo now?

 

They only would have needed him for a couple of fights. And for the millionth time they have been doing it for the past two years with Herschel Walker. Hell they were in serious discussions with Dave Batista!

 

Ya, Walker, I am not sure he brings so much interest. Maybe because I am not interested.

 

He doesn't interest me either but both events he's been on showed spikes for his fight. And that's on Showtime - if the timing had been right for a CBS fight he'd have been a lot bigger. And Kimbo would have been the perfect opponent.

 

Interesting, well, however it would have turned out, I can sleep well knowing it will never happen.