# Is the end near?



## Toxic (Mar 1, 2007)

Hear me out rough times are a coming.In the last little bit, Diaz took off to cut to the front of the line to be GSP's punching bag, Overeem was cut and both Fedor (who may be retired) and Dan Henderson are without contracts,. Rough days for SF right now and its definitively not business as usual. On top of that you have Cung Le saying he only wants to fight in the UFC, Gilbert Melendez with hardly a credible challenger in sight and a burning desire to follow in Diaz's foot steps. A HW tournament that lacks any star power with the biggest names all gone. (Fedor and Overeem). The biggest name in the tournament is a repeat offender for steroids. The star womens champ (Cyborg) is gone SF is hurting more right at this moment than they have in years, they needed Fedor to rebound, they needed Dan to lose so they could resign him easier, they needed Overeem in that GP. They are just running on fumes right now and good fights won't help them they need names.


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## 420atalon (Sep 13, 2008)

The end was near when the UFC purchased SF. The happenings after this point have just solidified that SF's short future.


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## Bknmax (Mar 16, 2008)

I actually agree with you for once,some crazy shit is about to go down and it's not going to end well for SF.


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## No_Mercy (Oct 17, 2006)

All I can say is that SF made the right move to sell months ago. They knew the Grand Prix was the final straw. Their divisions aren't deep enough. The HWs have all fought against each other so they had no choice, but to run a tournament.

Expect a full assimilation and consolidation by the end of the year.


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## St.Paul Guy (Mar 8, 2011)

Yep. Strikeforce has been on life support since before Zuffa even purchased it, and virtually everything that could go wrong for them has. I really enjoy watching strikeforce, but I would probably rather see 15-20 of their guys go to the UFC. 

At some point they will just run out of fighters that can "sell" a card. Fedor, Reem, Diaz, and maybe Hendo and Gil are gone. I'm not sure they are a better overall org than Bellator right now....


End of the year is my guess.


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## JuggNuttz (Oct 5, 2006)

probably.... but i think i said this when i posted here more often during the purchase.... id like to see them keep te Challangers Series on Showtime, use it for the womens MMA too. absorb the champions to the UFC, but use StrikeForce as a tournament along side it. so you can still have a UFC champion, a StrikeForce GP winner who can then be next in contention for UFC title. Showtime gets the Challengers series it has so far, gets the GP fights with exception maybe of final.... just throwing that out there... Women can be on all the showtime cards, title fights on the GP shows to get views... and then when hyping a fight you can still say so-n-so was a StrikeForce Tourney winner.... Showtime get alot of the same fightes they got now, UFC keeps the PPV market they got.....


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## hellholming (Jun 13, 2009)

Strikeforce will keep going until their contract with Showtime expires.


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## _RIVAL_ (Mar 7, 2008)

Anybody picking up losses in Strikeforce will be out of a job soon... I see the axe dropping on this whole org..


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## The Dark Knight (Jun 29, 2008)

Thing's certainly aren't too bright right now, yeah. Still in awe that Henderson beat Fedor.


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## locnott (Apr 1, 2009)

I had a bad feeling as soon as Dana said " business as usual" knowing Dana.


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## hixxy (Sep 7, 2007)

I dont think we will see a Strikeforce event after 2011. 

But looking on the bright side, with the fighters that come over to the UFC from Strikeforce i can see a UFC event pretty much every 2/3 weeks next year.


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## _RIVAL_ (Mar 7, 2008)

I can see a good handfull of SF fighters making a splash..

OSP, Hendo, Melendez, Masvidal, Jacare, Feijao, Bigfoot, Mo, Gracie, and Cormier would all have exciting fights IMO...


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## AmdM (Apr 13, 2010)

I think keeping strikeforce would be good for Zuffa.
Imagine guys that they really like and don't wanna cut, but they have to due to their record (thinking of Dan Hardy).
They would have a place for then, besides that if they were in Strikeforce they wouldn't be in some other promotion helping the brand grow and that would be good business. In this pov they could get fighters that are making noise in other promotions but don't have quite the status yet to join the UFC, thus making those other orgs weaker.


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## Intermission (Oct 1, 2009)

Strikeforce folding will be the best thing for us fans. UFC will get all of Strikeforce's promising fighters, and Bellator will get the ones who can put on a show but just cant make the UFC cut. Bellator will grow into SF's place. Thus giving us free awesome events on MTV.


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## vilify (Mar 23, 2010)

SF is a walking corpse.


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## Squirrelfighter (Oct 28, 2009)

OP hit the nail on the head. As I was waiting for the page to load I was thinking, who does Strikeforce have left? 

The answer: Gilbert Melendez, Big Foot Silva, and Barnett. The only real fantastic fight the organization has will be the tournament final: Silva vs Barnett (IMO). 

Other than that, they'll just have to feed cans to Melendez to keep him fighting until his contract is up. 

Guys like Lawler, Jacare, Kennedy, Woodley, Griggs, Kharatonov, Gracie may fill a card but lets face it, aside from maybe Jacare and Kennedy, no one really gives a shit.


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## St.Paul Guy (Mar 8, 2011)

Squirrelfighter said:


> OP hit the nail on the head. As I was waiting for the page to load I was thinking, who does Strikeforce have left?
> 
> The answer: Gilbert Melendez, Big Foot Silva, and Barnett. The only real fantastic fight the organization has will be the tournament final: Silva vs Barnett (IMO).
> 
> ...


I was with you until this statement. All those guys and a handful of other fighters not mentioned could be solid UFC caliber fighters if they aren't already. I would think most fans would, indeed, give a shit.


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## Soakked (Feb 5, 2007)

For a sec there I thought the thread was about 2012...

SF is indeed done, unless somehow there is a merger with bellator (which is not going to happen).


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## Squirrelfighter (Oct 28, 2009)

St.Paul Guy said:


> I was with you until this statement. All those guys and a handful of other fighters not mentioned could be solid UFC caliber fighters if they aren't already. I would think most fans would, indeed, give a shit.


Well, maybe I'm just weird then. (I know I am, just arguing to argue)


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## Ape City (May 27, 2007)

Toxic said:


> Hear me out rough times are a coming.In the last little bit, Diaz took off to cut to the front of the line to be GSP's punching bag, Overeem was cut and both Fedor (who may be retired) and Dan Henderson are without contracts,. Rough days for SF right now and its definitively not business as usual. On top of that you have Cung Le saying he only wants to fight in the UFC, Gilbert Melendez with hardly a credible challenger in sight and a burning desire to follow in Diaz's foot steps. A HW tournament that lacks any star power with the biggest names all gone. (Fedor and Overeem). The biggest name in the tournament is a repeat offender for steroids. The star womens champ (Cyborg) is gone SF is hurting more right at this moment than they have in years, they needed Fedor to rebound, they needed Dan to lose so they could resign him easier, they needed Overeem in that GP. They are just running on fumes right now and good fights won't help them they need names.


To be honest I hadn't really put all the pieces together. They really have lost nearly every big name that drew numbers save an unsigned Hendo. It seems like unless something changes they may fold by the end of the next fiscal year.


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## astrallite (Mar 14, 2010)

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_y...ug=mmaweekly-44741671977aa1f4a816c62bcf260d99

Fedor and Henderson combined for $2.3 million. That's more than the entire UFC payroll for PPV events. Strikeforce has bigger salaries, lower revenue...

When the Showtime contract is up...Zuffa's gonna knock on Coker's door.


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## Dr Gonzo (May 27, 2010)

JuggNuttz said:


> probably.... but i think i said this when i posted here more often during the purchase.... id like to see them keep te Challangers Series on Showtime, use it for the womens MMA too. absorb the champions to the UFC, but use StrikeForce as a tournament along side it. so you can still have a UFC champion, a StrikeForce GP winner who can then be next in contention for UFC title. Showtime gets the Challengers series it has so far, gets the GP fights with exception maybe of final.... just throwing that out there... Women can be on all the showtime cards, title fights on the GP shows to get views... and then when hyping a fight you can still say so-n-so was a StrikeForce Tourney winner.... Showtime get alot of the same fightes they got now, UFC keeps the PPV market they got.....


This is an awesome idea. Thought about what they could do with Strikeforce and never considered this.


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## gwest40 (Jul 31, 2011)

420atalon said:


> when the UFC purchased SF.


UFC didn't purchase Strikeforce, Zuffa did.


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## 420atalon (Sep 13, 2008)

gwest40 said:


> UFC didn't purchase Strikeforce, Zuffa did.


Same difference...

Edit: And to add to this thread now, the one thing that SF ever had that made them remotely worth watching was a strong HW division. Now their only HW's worth noting are Werdum and Silva.


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## METALLICA_RULES (Feb 12, 2011)

I have a feeling that Strikeforce will be finished in a year.


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## Fine Wine (Aug 30, 2010)

astrallite said:


> http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_y...ug=mmaweekly-44741671977aa1f4a816c62bcf260d99
> 
> Fedor and Henderson combined for $2.3 million. That's more than the entire UFC payroll for PPV events. Strikeforce has bigger salaries, lower revenue...
> 
> When the Showtime contract is up...Zuffa's gonna knock on Coker's door.


And there is the 'bottom line'.


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## FrodoFraggins (Oct 25, 2009)

I think Fertita is making the changes necessary to make SF profitable. Things are probably going to look a bit worse for SF before they improve. 

I think the goal is to keep SF as a feeder league with some decent names to help market it. They aren't going to be held hostage by M-1 or GG.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

Yeah, but I agree that Strikeforce is going to be shut down cause it isn't something ideal to Dana. Showtime gets to call the shots for their shows and that isn't ideal for Dana White. He is going to want to shut Strikeforce once the contract is up and Showtime is probably going to look for another promotion, I'd say probably like Shark Fights or something.


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## khoveraki (Jun 28, 2009)

I agree. Strikeforce has looked desperate with their title contenders being so awful, Diaz being switched over, Overeem being cut or whatever, their best women's champ inactive for ages, the HW tournament falling apart miserably... who knows.


All I want is Mousasi, Big Foot and Werdum in the UFC. Ready go.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

I don't agree that the heavyweight tournament has fallen apart. There is a reason why they have alternates for things like this and Cormier is a legitimate rising star. If he beats Bigfoot then he will have earned his finalist position.


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## limba (Jul 21, 2009)

Yup.

Just look at the whole situation:

*HW* division - the champ was released, for strange reasons
*HW* Grand Prix - full of controversy
*LHW* division - the champ has no contract signed
*MW* division - the champ has onely one worthy opponent to fight: Tim Kennedy
*WW* division - the champ left the organisation.
*LW* division - the only division that seems to make some sense atm
*Women's FW* division - the champ has no contract
*Women's BW* division - the previous champ was released, for strange reasons


Like others have said: SF will run until the best fighters' contracts expire and the Showtime contract expires.

I see the best fighters making the switch to the UFC after their contract with SF expire.
And that will leave SF wit a lot of cans...and honeslty...who wants to see them fight?!

And i agree with Juggz - they should keep the SF challengers series, in order to find new, young, talentend fighters.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

Yeah, I knew that business as usual would only last so long. Now people have been getting cut right and left and other kind's of Dana White BS. We all knew it was only a matter of time before Strikeforce was shut down and it's only a matter of time before their Showtime deal expires and Showtime will just go with M-1 Global.


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## BWoods (Apr 8, 2007)

I think the term "business as usual" is actually a metaphor for "lets watch this thing crumble and we'll catch the useful bits before leaving it a broken heap on the ground"

It's not like they went in and tore the place to shreds, it was already on it's way out, Zuffa just isn't going to do much to keep it from dying out. They really just want the first crack at all of the fighter's contracts, considering how many guy's contracts were running out at around the same time.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

Well that is basically what they did with WFA and Pride. Affliction they just allowed them to become sponsors if they gave them their fighter contracts. WEC was to beat out the IFL on Versus.


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