Zuffa Buys Strikeforce: What to Expect

By now, you may have heard that Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, has purchased Strikeforce. If not, go ahead and take a second and let that sink in. You good? Okay, let’s move on. Speaking in an exclusive interview with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, Dana White announced the purchase to the world in a video that was posted just this morning. Already, MMA fans heads are spinning. What does this mean?

Well, many fans don’t seem to know, actually. Though in all fairness, White was pretty vague on a number of issues, it seems that many are just reading the headline and not actually watching the interview. If you can’t be bothered to watch it, either (but really, you should), here are some things you can expect now that Zuffa has added Strikeforce to its list of purchases along with Pride, the WEC and Affliction. While we’re at it, I’ll tell you a few things that aren’t going to happen as a result of this development.

What to Expect

–The prevailing theme of the interview with White was the phrase “business as usual”. Scott Coker will continue to run the promotion for the forseeable future, as Showtime still has a contract with Strikeforce for the next couple of years. White did say that certain aspects of production and other elements may be tightened up due to the UFC’s expertise in those areas (I suppose it’s too much to ask that part of that would be a different announce team), but again, don’t expect it to look like a UFC show the next time you watch.

–You can expect Paul Daley, Josh Barnett and others that have run afoul of Dana White in the past to keep their jobs in Strikeforce. As White repeated over and over in the interview, they will honor all contracts. Now, when the contracts of these guys and others who have been on White’s bad side end, all bets are off. That’s me talking, not White: he insisted that these roster decisions will be up to Coker, not him.

–You may see some fighters go from Strikeforce to the UFC (and to a far lesser extent, vice versa), but not as much as you’d expect. These changes will only occur when fighters’ contracts end, and there won’t be any switching back and forth in the meantime. If you ask me, the UFC will be snatching up the best Strikeforce fighters whenever their contracts are up. There’s no sense having Strikeforce’s best fighters stay at home instead of coming into the Octagon.

–You will be seeing advertisements for Strikeforce shows on UFC broadcasts and other cross-promotional marketing techniques. Don’t be surprised to see someone like Overeem or Robbie Lawler get pointed out by Mike Goldberg at a UFC event or Georges St. Pierre chilling at a Strikeforce show, though White chuckled at the prospect of himself actually attending one. Again, though it will be strange at first to see this kind of stuff, it won’t really change the in-cage product of either organization.

What Not to Expect

–Don’t expect fighters to hop back and forth between Strikeforce and the UFC. While fighters can change from one organization to the other when their contracts end, that aspect will likely be no different than it was before the sale. Of course, while White may insist that he and Coker will compete for free agents as they would have before Zuffa bought Strikeforce, I’m not ready to believe that. Am I to think that when Alistair Overeem’s contract is up, Zuffa will let him resign with Strikeforce instead of putting on the full-court press to get him in the UFC? Come on, now.

–There won’t be any “super-cards” or matchups between Strikeforce and UFC fighters. White explicitly pointed that out in the interview, again returning to his mantra that Strikeforce will continue to be “business as usual”.

–Given all of that, don’t expect to see the Fedor-Lesnar or Fedor-Couture fights you’ve been drooling over. Neither Brock Lesnar or Randy Couture is going to Strikeforce, and that’s the only way those fights could happen. After all, Fedor would have to sign an all-new UFC contract to appear in the Octagon, and that puts him right back at square one with the organization that couldn’t sign him in the past, and probably won’t be able to now. Furthermore, Fedor has lost a lot of bargaining power, but his crazy managers are no less likely to make exorbitant demands that the UFC will be even less likely to agree to now that Emelianenko is no longer the unbeatable champion he once was.

–Don’t expect the UFC to adopt women’s divisions as a result of the purchase. This would seem to be obvious since Strikeforce is going to continue to run separately, but White reiterated his lack of interest in the UFC having their own women’s divisions in the interview. He says that he is not so much opposed to the idea because of any of his own personal hang-ups regarding women competing, but because there isn’t enough depth in any women’s weight class to justify inclusion in the UFC at this time.

–Finally, don’t expect Strikeforce to be around for a whole lot longer. The writing is on the wall here, and one of White’s main things he kept repeating was that the UFC needs more fighters. Now, if Strikeforce was to run as a separate organization permanently, how would that add to the UFC’s roster of talent? No, we’re going to see Strikeforce continue until their deal with Showtime is over or until something can be worked out with Showtime and/or the other parties involved to absorb the organization.

White wouldn’t officially say one way or another what the long-term future of Strikeforce is, but after the WEC was absorbed, why should we expect anything different? White and the Fertittas have spent years building the UFC brand to where it is, why would they waste money and potential income by running a separate organization that doesn’t have that recognition once they no longer are contractually obligated to do so?

That’s when things will really get interesting. Once Strikeforce is done with, we’ll find out what fighters are really going to end up in the Octagon for the long term, what kind of future women’s MMA will have (going from being on Strikeforce to being back on international or regional shows is a big step back), and so on. In the meantime, the UFC will continue to plan for further expansion around the globe, with its only major North American competitor gone, and its counterparts in Japan in dire shape.

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Tags: Dana White, Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce, UFC, Zuffa