The Port Arthur News
April 18, 2009 10:00 pm
—
The face of MMA continues to change. In the past decade there was competition for supremacy between the American UFC and Japanese PRIDE organizations. They competed for top fighters with their pocketbooks and very rarely cross-promoted with each other.
In 2007 the UFC's parent company bought PRIDE. Several months later PRIDE went defunct after not being able to secure a Japanese television deal. "They didn't want us over there," exclaimed UFC president, Dana White.
The balance of MMA power shifted to the United States with the UFC on top. Other national MMA promotions such as HDNet Fights, Affliction and EliteXC started to take root to rival the UFC.
Mark Cuban's HDNet Fights were originally conceived to be an MMA promotion that held its own events. Soon after its introduction, HDNet Fights changed course and became exclusively a broadcaster of MMA events on the HDNet television network. They now broadcast overseas shows and smaller regional MMA events.
Affliction came on the scene with backing from Donald Trump. They gobbled up several top-ranked fighters such as Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and Fedor Emelianenko. They paid top-dollar to sign these names which is rumored to be hurting their bottom-line.
EliteXC under the guidance of ex-boxing promotor, Gary Shaw busted onto the scene and signed a television deal with Showtime. They were the the first to bring MMA to major broadcast television with CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights.
EliteXC went under as well shortly after their main draw, Kimbo Slice, was exposed with a loss to a legitimate MMA fighter, Seth Petruzelli.
With HDNet Fights and EliteXC bowing out as national level MMA promotions, there just stands two powers in the US -- the UFC and Affliction. That is until now.
After buying the assets and fighter contracts of EliteXC, very successful California-based Strikeforce is now jumping onto the national scene. Strikeforce founder and president, Scott Coker drew accolades from Dana White years ago for running such a great promotion in the California region. They'll now be competitors.
Strikeforce already has a fighter roster including Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Josh Thomson, and Gilbert Melendez. It'll now infuse the likes of Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, and of course women fighters Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos and Gina Carano.
More importantly, Strikeforce landed some superb television deals. They'll air many of their fights on Showtime and MMA will return to CBS in the fall, this time the right way -- with legitimate MMA fighters across the board.
Last weekend featured Strikeforce's first event on Showtime. In the main event ex-UFC fighter, Nick Diaz knocked out Frank Shamrock. It's assumed next that Diaz will next fight Strikeforce middleweight champion, Cung Le.
With the inclusion of yet another national level MMA organization, it's nice to have variety. The UFC is by far ahead of everyone else when it comes to talent and popularity, but it's a delight to see MMA in America is a multiple-horse race.
David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. He can be e-mailed at
DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.