Very shortly after a UFC announcement where Dana White, the organization's president, informed us that he couldn't facilitate a deal with Fedor Emelianenko, competitor Strikeforce has successfully pried Fedor away from the UFC.
Recent news has revealed that heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko will now joining the Strikeforce roster, with his first fight set to take place later this fall. Both Fedor and Strikeforce benefit, making this a clear win-win.
Strikeforce gets a huge PR bump by adding Emelianenko, regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, to their roster. In addition, they will also get their roster filled out by M-1 talent - something they desperately need for the slew of cards they have planned for the rest of '09 and beyond.
M-1 can only bring good things to the table for Strikeforce. Always outpowered by UFC, the household name in the industry, the cooperation of M-1 should help Strikeforce to gain strength in the MMA world. With UFC's alliance with Affliction, Strikeforce really had no choice but to give things a shot with M-1.
Fedor benefits in the sense that fighting on Showtime will give him access to a much larger potential audience than fighting exclusively on pay-per-view does. Strikeforce's partnership with CBS sweetens the deal even more, as exposure on a major television network is sure to score him some new fans.
From here, it's in Strikeforce's hands to use Fedor as a building block. If the organization can successfully recruit more top heavyweights to fight with Fedor (otherwise his matches may be boring), Strikeforce could easily gain a leg up on UFC in its quest to match the behemoth. While there are already a few talented fighters enlisted with Strikeforce (i.e. Brett Rogers and Alistair Overeem), Strikeforce still needs to add to the depth of its heavyweight division.
As for UFC? You can be sure they've got something up their sleeve. Dana White is a fighter, and is likely plotting his counterattack as we speak. White will never back down to a threat, and this is no exception here.
And that's not all. White will most definitely have some words for Strikeforce. While the relationship has been friendly on the surface in the past, things are about to get ugly from here.
Recent news has revealed that heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko will now joining the Strikeforce roster, with his first fight set to take place later this fall. Both Fedor and Strikeforce benefit, making this a clear win-win.
Strikeforce gets a huge PR bump by adding Emelianenko, regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, to their roster. In addition, they will also get their roster filled out by M-1 talent - something they desperately need for the slew of cards they have planned for the rest of '09 and beyond.
M-1 can only bring good things to the table for Strikeforce. Always outpowered by UFC, the household name in the industry, the cooperation of M-1 should help Strikeforce to gain strength in the MMA world. With UFC's alliance with Affliction, Strikeforce really had no choice but to give things a shot with M-1.
Fedor benefits in the sense that fighting on Showtime will give him access to a much larger potential audience than fighting exclusively on pay-per-view does. Strikeforce's partnership with CBS sweetens the deal even more, as exposure on a major television network is sure to score him some new fans.
From here, it's in Strikeforce's hands to use Fedor as a building block. If the organization can successfully recruit more top heavyweights to fight with Fedor (otherwise his matches may be boring), Strikeforce could easily gain a leg up on UFC in its quest to match the behemoth. While there are already a few talented fighters enlisted with Strikeforce (i.e. Brett Rogers and Alistair Overeem), Strikeforce still needs to add to the depth of its heavyweight division.
As for UFC? You can be sure they've got something up their sleeve. Dana White is a fighter, and is likely plotting his counterattack as we speak. White will never back down to a threat, and this is no exception here.
And that's not all. White will most definitely have some words for Strikeforce. While the relationship has been friendly on the surface in the past, things are about to get ugly from here.
About the Author:
Artie Sullenberger is an MMA addict. He immerses himself in both UFC and Strikeforce, and is thrilled to see both entities growing as they have. He consistently reports MMA news at his favorite sports forum at RootZoo, a leading sports community.
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