On March 12, 2011, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White declared that the UFC's parent company Zuffa, LLC, has officially obtained its closest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) rival organization Strikeforce. Although the UFC have stayed the top MMA league for many years, Strike force, owned by Scott Coker, has threatened to seize UFC's stranglehold being the best MMA promotion in the world. In that time, Strike force was you will find stars for instance Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, and heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, among others.
Ahead of the acquiring Strike force, the San Jose-based promotion was dealing with its peaks and valleys which has a number of unforeseen events. After a decade of dominance, Fedor was submitted within the first minute of the fight by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Fabricio Werdum; the Strike force's deeper Heavyweight division began its Grand Prix, and Jake Shields' upset over Dan Henderson instigated a post-fight melee between the Diaz brothers and Jason "Mayhem" Miller.
This unexpected event raised a lot of eyebrows in the MMA community, and produced mixed reactions to fighters and fans alike. Four years ago, the UFC bought arguably its biggest threat, Japanese fighting promotion Pride Fighting Championship. From 2003 to 2006, Pride FC showcased the top fighters in the world, including Mirko Cro Cop, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, in addition to Strike force contenders Henderson, Emelianenko and Overeem. The acquisition of Pride was an exciting time for fight fans, once we take a look at interesting match-ups. We finally get our answer as to who is the ideal dominant fighter worldwide: Chuck Liddell or Wanderlei Silva. Unfortunately, Pride's operation being an independent organization ceased in October of 2007, and just a number of Pride fighters were relegated to the UFC. In 2010, the world Extreme Cage fighting (WEC) merged together with the UFC, presenting exciting stars at the lesser weight classes displaying the ir skills in the Octagon. Champions Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz, and household name Urijah Faber, have made their mark with impressive wins in their UFC debuts.
With the WEC, Pride and Strike force mergers getting mixed results, some Mixed Martial Artists are concerned with regards to their job safety. Dana White had previously feuded with top caliber fighters like Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, BJ Penn, and even Emelianenko. He went so far as calling Fedor "a can crusher". While some of those went back and settled their differences, others had their judgments think otherwise, and refused to return to the organization where most of them begun to grow their legacies. Exactly the same list of fighters was also critical of White's subjective approach which people ought to keep their jobs. We had international stars Dan Hardy and Yoshihiro Akiyama on losing slumps, but get to remain in the UFC. Where there are also fighters who lost two in a row, and were immediately considering the pink slip. Recently, fighters from Dutch stable Golden Glory were all released by Zuffa, due to business differences.
You will discover positives and negatives with the UFC's purchase of various deals. Since Strike force is currently a sister company of the UFC, the much-anticipated match between Strife force's welterweight champion Nick Diaz as well as UFC counterpart Georges St-Pierre will now be official at UFC 137. There have been rumors that Overeem might sign a deal with the UFC. And Henderson might possibly return within the Octagon either to unify the Light Heavyweight title, or a rematch with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Then again, concerns about fighters who lay it all on the line is probably not back from a string of losses. In exchange, a lot of these professional combatants fight conservatively and make use of their strategy to a tee. The outcome is less exciting fights, because they prefer to not risked getting knocked out or unexpectedly submitted.
The fantastic thing about UFC's takeover of numerous MMA promotions could be that the elite fighters get to be in the spotlight, causing all of them possesses the opportunity to win the supreme goal: to be an Ultimate Fighting Champion. Many people have stated that UFC dominates every division of Strike force, except the heavyweight division. Although Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar have ruled the scene in the UFC heavyweight class, Strike force has a deeper pool of talent, with Josh Barnett, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, and Sergei Kharitonov in the lead. With the acquisition of Strike force, fans reach witness a greater standard of fighting, and getting their money's worth for each pay-per-view event. The most effective fighters obtain the spotlight and gain the excitement they deserve. And all fighters are regulated for their safety and long-term protection. Though the Octagon eventually becomes a shark tank, where you should always bring your A-game to be long in the UFC. The purchase is really a strong message there are nowhere for cans and posers, only true warriors and contenders.
The downside of the through an MMA monopoly is a more conservative approach by fighters. With limited promotions to choose instead, professional Mixed Martial Artists tend to save their jobs by fighting to not lose. It is obvious that the bright lights are in the UFC, plus they pretty much pay the most among all organizations, with fighters gaining as much as tenfold due to fight bonuses and pay-per-view revenues. Others who fight in smaller organizations who pay their bills with their day jobs affect their performances due to lack of proper training for upcoming matches. Because they are more afraid to give up, we obtain to determine more lay and pray and lesser action. As I mentioned earlier, they don't battle to win; they fight not to lose.
There'll always be two sides of every coin, also it would be up to every individual on which side they will take. While I firmly believe that the monopoly may lead to less carnage that may result in dull exchanges, it may actually improve MMA like a mainstream sport and recognized as a significant professional sport over time. The UFC has come a long way, from being type casted as human cockfighting using the old Vale Tudo approach, to an arena showcasing true professional superstars who are just naturally gifted being a fighter and as an athlete. Cynics have described to more decisions and declining finishes in recent times, but boxing currently has got the same problem also; and MMA is known as more dynamic than the traditional combat sport. But there shouldn't be reason to be concerned for MMA fans, as the UFC will simply improve with an ever evolving style of fighting. MMA is a very young sport, and that we currently have a good share of iconic moments already. Zuffa's efforts to keep the UFC, and MMA in general, will prevail, and fans could have the ability to witness more renowned fighters, classic fights, and memorable MMA moments.
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