Strikeforce Going Out of Business

According to multiple high profile (and usually accurate) sources, Strikeforce will be closing it’s doors soon.  After two high profile fighters dropped out of the upcoming card, Showtime has decided to end the promotion.  This will be the second time Zuffa (owners of Strikeforce and the UFC) will have had to cancel a card.

Around 1.5 years ago, when Zuffa bought the majority stake in Strikeforce, UFC President Dana White claimed it would be “business as usual” for Strikeforce.  This lie had barely finished falling from his lips when Zuffa started taking all of the high profile fighters from Strikeforce and moving them to the UFC.  As Zuffa had already done with Pride Fc, WEC, and other (superior) promotions, they buy them and then work to dismantle them by taking all of their high profile fighters.

I have to say, my love of MMA is at an all time low.  Most of the promotions I loved have been dismantled and all that is left is a watered down WWE wanna be version that attracts the lowest common denominator in society.  The sport has become plagued with terrible reffing, horrible judges decisions and corrupt leaders.  I must not be alone in my feelings because UFC PPVs and TV ratings have been in the dumps for a while now (with a few exceptions here and there).  It’s sad that a sport which was once about skill and honor has become about over hyping a bunch of mediocre fighters and brainwashing fans.

I hope M-1 Global or some other organization can take Strikeforce’s place on Showtime.

Inside MMA ‏@InsideMMAaxstv
DEVELOPING @Strikeforce tenure on @sho_network potentially ending. Nov. 3rd event in jeopardy.
FrontRowBrian ‏@FrontRowBrian
Hearing @Strikeforce is being disbanded immediately. It is no more. Another promotion goes by the wayside.

@arielhelwani
Re: the Strikeforce rumors, according to a Showtime official in the know, as of tonight, 11/3 and beyond is a go for them.

FrontRowBrian ‏@FrontRowBrian
There was also a Facebook post from the wife of a Zuffa exec saying SF was shutting down. The post was then deleted. This was earlier todayFrontRowBrian ‏@FrontRowBrian

I got rumor from excellent source. Cross checked it with a high profile journalist who said he/she heard same thing from 4 excellent sources

ELO MMA Rankings

It’s hard to find good rankings in MMA these days.  Most Rankings come from websites catering to the UFC out of fear they will lose their press credentials…which is hardly a bias free system.  Some rankings, like those on sherdog, are so bad, it’s just a random collection of whatever the sherdog staff wants with almost no basis in reality or what a fighter has actually done to earn a rank.

These types of popularity contests are how you end up with Brock Lesnar (who was 3-1 at the time) becoming the #1 Heavyweight or Matt Serra going from being a Lightweight to passing everyone at Welterweight and becoming #1 there for beating Georges St. Pierre.  While beating GSP should count for a lot, it doesn’t make all of the years of hard work for all other Welterweights just disappear.  These types of systems are completely worthless and should be ignored.

One very good system (and it is actually a system, not just people’s random baseless opinions being thrown out there) are the ELO Rankings.  The ELO Ranking system was created by Arpad Elo and is used by virtually every major sport or game, including:  Chess, association football, American college football, basketball, and Major League Baseball.  It’s a mathematical system that takes human bias out of the equation altogether.  All that matter is what you have actually accomplished, not hype.

You can read more about the ELO System here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELO_ranking

Luckily for MMA fans, there is a website that keeps up with ELO MMA Rankings.  The only real problem with this site is it’s one guy running it so sometimes it isn’t updated often enough.  Fighters also tend to change weight classes a lot, and if the site isn’t up to date in certain areas, a fighter might be listed in the wrong weight class.  None of these problems come from the ELO Ranking system, it’s simply a lack of time from the site manager.  He does a great job, it’s just a lot to keep up with.

If you follow MMA, these are the rankings you should use.  I haven’t found any other ones that actually matter.  http://www.mma-elo.com/

I will be posting ELO MMA Rankings from now on (but I will correct them when a fighter is in the wrong weight class).

A Sad Time to be an MMA Fan.

Jon Jones on fighting Anderson Silva:  "It's not that he won't fight me or I won't fight him. To be dead honest, it's that we both have a lot to lose and we both respect each other a lot and we both are striving for personal greatness. I don't want to crack on his greatness and I don't want him cracking on my greatness.

"We're in completely different weight classes. We both have sponsor deals and things that are really important to us and a big part of that sponsorship package is being a winning-being a champion. Having us fight each other means one of our championships goes away.

"I respect Anderson Silva so much that I don't want to be the guy to beat him. I don't want to lose to him either. It's a lose-lose situation for me."

Source: http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/7/10/3150278/ufc-jon-jones-vs-anderson-silva-we-could-both-lose-sponsorships#storyjump

 My comments:

The UFC, where the best duck the best. Basically they are all (GSP, Silva, Jones) trying to build artificial legacies. They all want people to think they are the best and as long as they don't fight each other people will. Real fighters want to challenge themselves, not duck.  Before GSP got injured he would whine about moving up to 185lbs and what a big deal it is.  It's 15lbs!  Guys at HW sometimes fight guys 60lbs bigger than themselves.  Not to mention GSP is 194lbs when he enters the cage at WW. 

For years people have wanted to see GSP vs Silva and Dana never makes the fight.  He says the UFC is where the best fight the best but he is so afraid of losing a cash cow he never does what he claims.  Now people want to see Silva vs Jones and the UFC has no interest in that either.  This is not what martial arts is about, sponsorship deals and artificial legacies.  This stuff makes me sick.  Back in Pride guys moved up and they had top level 205lbs guys fight at HW and it was very exciting.  I suppose the days of real fighters who are looking for a challenge, not hype, is over.  It's a sad time to be an MMA fan when this is how the Champions think.

I suppose in the end I just hate the mindset fighters have these days. They should want to be the best and want to challenge the best. Dana says the UFC is where the best fight the best, great, I just want to see it if that is a true statement.  I can never call someone the GOAT who openly ducks challenges. All of these guys are talented fighters but their attitude on things made me lose respect for them.