Clearly, Strikeforce brass left the the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida last weekend quite satisfied with their “Strikeforce: Miami” event. Despite their success, UFC president Dana White reiterates that the San Jose-based promotion is nothing more than MMA’s minor leagues.
“Strikeforce is a lower-level show where younger fighters and guys who aren’t fighting in the UFC can go and make some money,” White matter-of-factly stated at the UFC 109 pre-fight press conference. “It will never be anything else — ever.”
White did admit that, although his plate is full with this weekend’s UFC 109 event at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, he just can’t seem to get his bitter rivals out of his mind.
“I worry about Strikeforce all the time,” White sarcastically said of the countless nights MMA’s junior varsity program has kept him up.
However, White wasn’t a complete hater as the brash Prez took the time to give props to former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker for his less than spectacular mixed martial arts debut against an even less spectacular Greg Nagy last Saturday.
“He’s one of the greatest athletes ever,” White said of the 47-year-old. “He’s not one of these former NFL guys who blew up and weighs 400 pounds. He took care of himself. Do you want me to take him seriously in this sport? I can’t. What’s he ever going to accomplish? The guy he fought had no athletic ability, no stand-up, no ground.”
Obviously, this isn’t the first time White has bashed his MMA counterparts. As recently as last August, the modern day Don King referred to his rivals as “Strikefarce” after they were able to sign top MMA free agent Fedor Emelianenko, something the UFC and Co. have not been able to do.
“He’ll put them out of business,” White stated after the signing. “They have no money. These guys have no money and they have no distribution. Four (expletive) people watch Showtime. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight - 245,000 people watched that fight (on Showtime). That’s nothing.
“They should have stayed the way they were!”
At this point in time, if not forever, White is correct in stating the UFC is the standard when it comes to MMA. However, “Strikeforce: Miami” surprisingly turned out to be an exciting night of fights and with an impending CBS show in April, Strikeforce is clearly doing all they can to try and chip away at the UFC’s monopoly.
Best of luck …
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Walker was better than I expected. White rips SF when he has Kimbo!?! Did Dana watch his own Kimbo-HA fight. Now THAT was a joke and not in funny HA-HA kind of way. More in the tragic we are lost without Brock kind of way. DW isn’t a fan of MMA just a fan of his pocket book. How about a Walker-Kimbo fight.
kona commented on February 6, 2010 @ 10:27 am
Dana can his head in the sand! He put 2 pensioners in the cage tonight….and he is so proud of his old fighters..ha ha ha
bill barber commented on February 6, 2010 @ 9:50 pm
if Dana keeps charging $45 PPV bucks to see 2 old vets for a main event he’s not going to stay the monopoly forever.
stevieB commented on February 6, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
kimbo has nothing to do with anything. that fight was a joke i must say but that really doesn’t have anything to do with what you are getting at. plus if i were in dana’s shoe, there’s no doubt that i’d be all about the pocket book especially with the situation he’s in. thats what business is all about, but it’s not like he is ripping any of the ufc’s fighters off.also, bill barber you would get your a$$ handed to you by mark coleman or randy couture so shutup.
roflcopter commented on February 6, 2010 @ 11:56 pm
kopter, you missed my point. no problem with going for the $. but white is obviously ripping SF because he doesn’t want competition NOT because of the quality of the fights/fighters. that’s why I mentioned the Kimbo-HA fight. i have nothing personal against kimbo seems like good enough guy from TUF. but every fight i’ve seen him in has smelled. the latest being the worst. every other fight i’ve seen HA he was a beast but suddenly he’s scared to fight…bottom line, SF is making strides to compete and competition is always good for consumers. i like getting SF fights since i get showtime now. Fedor is a beast, Diaz is solid, as well as a few others. I am routing for SF maybe we’ll get more free UFC fights while they battle each other.
Kona commented on February 7, 2010 @ 9:22 am