03-13-2011, 11:21 PM
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1st Four to Final Four
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Basketball Capital of the World
Posts: 13,154
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MiddleEasy.com Sunday Morning Rumor Mill
Tis weeks rumors are entirely centered, surprisingly, on the big news from yesterday:
Quote:
Hey, I've been out the entire week in the Yucatán mountains doing one of these Peyote spirit journeys. Now that I'm back from my celestial voyage, I'm happy I didn't miss anything in the world of MMA. It was a relatively slow week -- until the planet flipped over. Sengoku collapses, Japan essentially collapses, Strikeforce collapses, and it all happened within a 48-hour period. Thankfully, the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill is still intact.
- So you're probably wondering why Dana White announced the Strikeforce buyout on a Saturday morning. It's rumored that Dana White wanted to ensure that the NFL player's lockout was official before announcing the UFC purchasing Strikeforce. Dana's plan is to literally undercut the NFL fanbase by providing UFC/Strikeforce in a time slot that would be endemic to NFL fans. Now that the 2011 NFL season is essentially displaced, it's heavily rumored that Dana will work with CBS to host weekly fights that will air on Sunday morning/evening.
- Once the Showtime contract with Strikeforce is up, ZUFFA will let the Strikeforce brand die and select which fighters they would like to accept into the UFC. There is simply no room for brand confusion in such a young sport.
- However, another rumor states that Dana White will keep Strikeforce around, but the organization will be used as a 'lower-tier' promotion and the 'top' guys will be absorbed into the UFC. In this scenario, ZUFFA would own UFC and Strikeforce and each organization would use the other as competition, sort of like how Starbucks owns Seattle's Best Coffee.
- The ZUFFA bumper will be shown at the beginning of Strikeforce broadcasts, starting with the April 1st Strikeforce Challengers show.
- Don't expect to see anymore Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand-Prix fan-made promos or any highlight reels for that matter. Much like how ZUFFA has already snuffed out all YouTube videos that use content from the UFC, they will also seek to expunge any copyright infringing videos that use intellectual property of Strikeforce.
- Elbows will still not be allowed on the ground in Strikeforce.
- As of right now, Sumner Redstone is the most powerful man in MMA. He's the majority owner of CBS Corporation, Viacom, and MTV Networks -- essentially the guy owns MMA. It will be interesting to see what, if any, plans he has for mixed martial arts.
- Apparently the UFC/Strikeforce deal was discussed in Abu Dhabi.
- If ZUFFA lets Strikeforce die and handpicks fighters from their roster, women's MMA is essentially finished. Dana White has no intention on accepting women into the UFC.
- Apy Echteld and Dana White had a phone call yesterday. Not sure what they were discussing, but one can only assume Dana is going through Apy instead of Vadim Finkelstein to see what's actually going down with Fedor's contract.
- As mentioned before on the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill, Fedor's contract is with Showtime, not Strikeforce. In about nine months, Showtime's contract will be finished which also denotes that Fedor's contract will be terminated. Should be interesting to see what happens with The Last Emperor.
- Showtime still plans to go full-force with M-1 Global in 2011.
- It's rumored that Scott Coker made an estimated $15,000,000 - $20,000,000 on the Strikeforce buyout.
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