The rich get richer. The big get bigger, and any other cliché that you want to throw in about growth. I’m sure you’ll be hearing any of them over the next couple of days if you happen to read the UFC has purchased its biggest rival, Strikeforce, and all of the fighters that fight in that promotion.
Dana White continues his torrid pace of eliminating would-be opponents to him by simply suffocating them in any way possible and then putting the final nail in the coffin by purchasing them from desperate promoters that are losing money in a brave attempt to offer up some competition against the juggernaut.
Some people will have a problem with White being so Napoleon-like when it comes to the MMA world because they hate the idea of one person/group controlling anything there is to do with a sport. For me, it’s just another example of how cut-throat business really can be and all I can do is applaud the people at Zuffa for being so successful at what they do.
I’m not going to dwell on the financial and social ramifications that come with a non-competitive marketplace for MMA fans, but instead, I’m choosing to look forward to what kind of fights could be in place that could never have been put together before because of the competition between promotions. I’m also curious to see what will happen to former UFC fighters that were banished to the lesser promotions for various reasons.
Fighters like Paul Daley and Josh Barnett were told that they would never fight in the UFC again for different reasons. Daley punched his ticket out of the UFC by sucker-punching Josh Koscheck after their fight a couple of years ago in a vain attempt to get some revenge for a pitiful performance. Barnett failed a drug test several years ago ahead of a major fight and was given his walking papers.
Other fighters left on their own terms or never fought for the UFC because of financial constraints. The last time we saw Dan Henderson fighting in the UFC, he had just finished off a destruction of Michael Bisping. Fedor Emelianenko never fought in the promotion because he had managed to create his own promotion company, M-1. The relationship between M-1 and Dana White has never been friendly.
Strikeforce does have some talent coming with it though and the possibilities for great fights are endless if all the talent does come to an agreement to fight in the UFC. Imagine a fight between Alastair Overeem vs. Cain Velasquez or Fedor vs. Brock. How about a Hendo-Bisping rematch?
I think the UFC-Strikeforce merger of sorts gives MMA fans another breath of fresh air and could give us some tantalizing matchups over the next couple of years. There may be a lack of competition, but we’ll figure out what to do about that once we need to. I’m fine with forgetting about that for a little but as I daydream about what could be.