Meet the UFC's New Enemy: 'Strikefarce'

King TE · 08-06-2009, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMAWeekly.com

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

PHILADELPHIA -- The gloves came off a couple of days early on Thursday when UFC President Dana White took aim at fellow promotion Strikeforce following the UFC 101 news conference.

Previously White had been respectful toward Strikeforce despite frequently criticizing other shows. This week, though, Strikeforce signed Fedor Emelianenko, the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the world and one of the few elite fighters whom the UFC has failed to secure.

“They should have stayed the way they were,” White said of the move, apparently seeing the signing of Fedor as Strikeforce’s attempt to compete with the UFC.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has downplayed a UFC-Strikeforce rivalry. Whether he wants to fight with the UFC or not, however, White is swinging. At one point White referred to the promotion as “Strikefarce.” The UFC president also said Friday that Strikeforce signing Fedor was a major mistake.

“He’ll put them out of business,” White said. “They have no money. These guys have no money and they have no distribution. Four f---king people watch Showtime.”

White wouldn’t say specifically what a battle with Strikeforce could include, be it counter-programming or otherwise, but he issued several warnings.

“We’ll see what happens,” White said. “If they want to fight me, we’re gonna fight. We know how that goes, and we know how it ends.”

Can't say I didn't see this one coming. >.>

Tomas · 08-06-2009, 04:52 PM

it's interesting to see Strikeforce walking down the same path that WEC and Afflicition did just a few months prior by putting all their faith and money in one fighter

Necro · 08-06-2009, 09:42 PM

Quote:

UFC NEWS: Dana fires the first verbal shots to new opponent "StrikeFarce"

"They have no money, no fighters. They're a small-town show. Cung Le hasn't defended the title since like 1997. Josh Thomson hasn't defended the belt in like two years. Who's their other champion? Alistair Overeem? He hasn't defended the belt in like two years. It's StrikeFarce. It's a little regional show with no one in it." - Dana White, UFC 101 pre-fight press conference.

And Scott Coker thought there'd be no reason that his Strikeforce promotion and the UFC couldn't continue to get along after the signing of Fedor Emelianenko.

Dana White lambasted both Strikeforce and Fedor today at the UFC 101 pre-fight press conference, just shortly before Fedor, along with M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Showtime Exec. Ken Hirshman, began a conference call of their own in which much talking was done while nothing was said.

Dana White, as per usual, held nothing back in his feelings on the subject, stating that Fedor would put Strikeforce out of business. He said, "They have no money and no distribution. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight [on Showtime], 245,000 people watched that fight. That's nothing."

And after he swallowed the disappointment that came with Fedor signing elsewhere, it didn't take long for him to turn around on the subject. "[F]*** him. There was no way in hell that deal was going to happen. I offered him a great deal. I guarantee you the Strikeforce deal wasn't in the same universe with ours. it wasn't close. They probably didn't even pay him as much as Affliction was... It was completely obvious they didn't want to do a deal. He just didn't want to be in the UFC."

Source: PWTorch

Here's a similar story with a little more from Dana.

Meet the UFC's New Enemy: 'Strikefarce'

This is a discussion on Meet the UFC's New Enemy: 'Strikefarce' within the MMA - Mixed Martial Arts forums, part of the Sports Forums category; ...