Zuffa delivered a serious "holy shit" moment when they announced the recent and extremely well guarded secret regarding their purchase of Strikeforce, their closest rival MMA promotion. These negotiations were better hidden than what actually happened on 9/11! No one, and I mean absolutely no one, in the MMA insiders circle, peeped even as much as a syllable about this going down. Given how small a community it is and how much everyone loves to drop a true scoop, it's amazing that this truly caught everyone off guard. At least that appears to be the case.
Now, on to what's important. What's important to the consumer and employee of any business industry is competition. It now seems that there won't be any of that "competition nonsense" in the North American MMA promotion business. Zuffa has now officially taken over the MMA business here in the States and Canada and seems hell bent on spreading their reign globally. You can't not be impressed with their aggressive approach to global MMA domination. That said, is it a good thing? I'd have to say no to that for a lot of reasons! Comparisons to the 4 major sports is completely irrelevant and non-applicable in this case because in those sports the athletes are part of a union, have a CBA (collective bargaining agreement), and each team is owned and managed by different ownerships. With Zuffa, we're talking about a single owner controlling a huge bulk of a sport. The two aren't analogous in any way. Zuffa is a total dictatorship! No one has any say in anything except for the few people at the top of theIr hierarchy. That's just the way it is and will remain for the unforseeable future.
Before you go worrying about yourself, the fan, and thinking how great all the potential match-ups will be, think of the fighters for a second. If a fighter falls out of grace with Zuffa, they have NOWHERE else to go to make a decent living. Bellator is still afloat but not near the level of the UFC and Strikeforce. And who knows, Bellator might be next on Zuffa's shopping list? Not only that, the rear naked choke hold Zuffa will now have over fighters salaries will be taken to a whole new level. They can pay any fighter whatever they want because they have nowhere else to go. On a serious note, once his current contract is up, they can tell GSP that they will only pay him 10K a fight. What's his alternative? Japan? There's a tsunami right here in America and it's name is Zuffa. I'm not saying that Zuffa will do that, but it's well within their capabilities to operate that way. They have complete control!
Think of the sponsors as well. Zuffa strictly controls what companies are allowed to sponsor fighters as it is. That side of the business will get tighter than a Fabricio Werdum triangle choke. Companies that rely heavily on the business they do inside the UFC and Strikeforce cages can potentially be shut out just because Zuffa feels like it. Just like GSP, TapouT seems to be in a great position. Everything might remain status quo, but Zuffa can decide they don't like TapouT's new ownership and tell them it's time to bounce. Most fighters make a large percentage of their income from sponsors, without that they can't be full time fighters. Without a solid #2 promotion, these companies and the fighters they sponsor have seriously limited opportunities.
What about the future of woman's MMA? It looks dead in the water to me. Zuffa has long taken an anti-woman's MMA stance, I don't see that changing any time soon. Then again, if it proves to be profitable, they might change their minds. There has to be a hell of a lot of nervous female MMA fighters out there right now.
Dana White (pictured above) can say all he wants about Strikeforce continuing on as a separate entity and conducting business as usual, we all know that's nothing but bullshit! The dude is the king of bullshit, always has been. He said the same thing about the now defunct and legendary Pride. The separation of church and state will last as long as it takes for any deals in place to run out. Once that happens, all bets are off. Strikeforce will merge into the UFC or becomes a feeder organization for Zuffa to groom and develop fighters. The days of seeing top level talent in Strikeforce are numbered. The writing is on the wall as clear as a tag from a New York City graffiti artist. Visible, plain as day!
If you know anything about business and economics, monopolies are not a good thing. There's reasons why there is legislation against it and it is also closely regulated. The definition below sums it up and basically describes Zuffa at this point in time.
Definition: A monopoly is when a business, usually a large corporation, is the only provider of a good or service. Monopolies are usually bad for an economy because they restrict free trade, which allows the market itself to set prices.
Since monopolies are the only provider, they can set pretty much any price they choose, regardless of demand, because they know the consumer has no choice. They can also supply inferior products. They are also bad for an economy because the manufacturer has no incentive to innovate, and provide "new and improved" products.
Monopolies were made illegal in 1890 by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. It was called Anti-Trust because that was the form that monopolies held in those days. A group of companies formed a trust to fix prices low enough to drive competitors out of business. Once they had a monopoly on the market, these trusts would raise prices to regain their profit.
The MMA landscape has forever changed, there's no doubt about that.
Is it for the better? I say hell no!
You decide for yourself!
A great rread Monopoly is a very apropos depiction of what is to come from this purchase, IMO. I have no idea what all is going to come of this but I don't like it already. I always want what’s best for the fighters.. if they had freedom of speech, it would be interesting to know what they really think. Time will tell and this sport is to darn addictive. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteThx, Sherry! The fighters really need to somehow form a union, without that, they are in trouble. Zuffa is holding all the cards. We'll see what happens, you know it will be interesting.
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