Dana White on GSP-Silva: 'I Guess I'm Gonna Have to Do It

what a complete load of made up bollox,you live in a fantasy world.

time will tell,but you still won't have a clue if it smacked you in the face.


I,ve lived in america for the last 7 years and have worked here from Maine down to florida for nearly 15 years,and from reading papers to actually talking to all the people I've met who love MMA,i think that would give me a better perspective than you on how people from the country I live in perceive the sport,never mind all the negative press that is available for anyone to search and read about.
and are you really trying to tell me people had anything positive to say about Strikeforce after the nashville event.

Heres one for you

the UFC has come out on top of Strikeforce. Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery averaged 308,000 viewers on Showtime. Meanwhile, Spike TV aired an episode of “UFC’s Ultimate Fights” which drew an average of 894,000 viewers to counter-act the Strikeforce show.

The numbers that Strikeforce should be concerned about are the numbers of their most recent broadcast compared to the fight card that aired on Showtime in January. Strikeforce: Miami drew 517,000 viewers that saw title wins by Nick Diaz and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, as well as wins from Bobby Lashley and Herschel Walker. The numbers from Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery are down almost 41% from the numbers the drew in January.

The numbers are similar to, although less than the 341,000 viewers that tuned in for Strikeforce: Evolution that aired this past December. That show featured Cung Le vs. Scott Smith and a lightweight title unification bout between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson.

heres another

The UFC’s counter programming of Strikeforce at the weekend paid off big, with the special ‘Best of…’ show drawing more than twice the number of viewers that tuned in to see Alistair Overeem demolish Brett Rogers on Showtime.

Spike TV says the show, which featured fights such as Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir, Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Terry Etim and Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung, drew 894,000 at its peak. Most of those were males aged 18 to 34.

In contrast, Strikeforce on Showtime reportedly drew just 308,000 viewers for a card that featured Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski and Antonio ’Bigfoot’ Silva. The figures come via an MMA Junkie report citing “industry sources”.

The numbers and disparity will be very disappointing to Strikeforce, given that the heavyweight-heavy card featured some of its big guns (it was aptly entitled ‘Heavy Artillery’). The numbers also show the difficulty any MMA promotion has in rivalling the UFC, which has a massive archive of big-name fights to draw on any time it wants to put counter-programming together.

Strikeforce will also be perturbed by the number of viewers it has lost compared to its last Showtime-aired event. ‘Strikeforce: Miami’ featured Nick Diaz, Bobby Lashley and Cris ’Cyborg’ Santos, drawing 517,000 viewers at its peak. The difference is just over 40 per cent, a huge drop. The latest figures are also lower than Strikeforce’s December show (Smith vs. Le and Melendez vs. Thompson), which drew 341,000 viewers.
Why the fuck would I lie about this when it's easy to read peoples thoughts and any write up about strikeforce on any internet forum or any MMA site.

google it yourself and you will see that the numbers have dropped.


don't confuse the UFC to Zuffa,what are you talking about,the UFC is Zuffa's baby,what are you talking about?

Do the average unknowing fans refer to MMA as the UFC or as Strikeforce,Dream,sengaku,or even Pride,I think that will explain perfectly why the UFC have done far more than anyone in bringing MMA to the mainstream and making it a mainstream sport.
what have strikeforce actually done in bringing MMA forward?

So basicly No1,your talking out of your arse,all orgs give out freebies just like every football,ruby,tennis,well basicly any sport teams do,it's called promoting.I suppose strikeforce don't though do they.
Thousands of tickets,your off your head,so according to you they give away 10% to 15% of there tickets,about $200k worth,even though they always sell out where ever they go and they are charging on average $100 a pop.
Madalay bay holds 12K and most places that they fight at don't hold that much more,I didn't realise that the UFC was so fan friendly since you think they give nearly $200k worth of tickets away for free at each event(or maybe you have seen a few vids of Dana giving away a few tickets to lucky fans that turn up at a certain place at a certain time and thought you would add abit of your billy bullshit to it)

No2,have you actually seen the talent on a Strikeforce challengers event,does it come close to what the UFC are doing with TUF and Strikeforce do not have access to any Dream fighter or sengaku fighters,they can agree to the odd fight but thats it.

No3,first I've heard about a womens tourney in strikeforce and even if Gina comes back,who is she going to fight?Cyborg again(who wants to see that,and I don't for a second think she would want a rematch),maybe larosa but thats it.Gina makes more money outside the cage,thats why we haven't seen her since she got battered

No4,they didn't allow Overrem to fight elsewhere,they had no chioce because they had zero controll over him,this is a very weak and stupid thing to try and make a point.
what Org loses there Champ for that long without defending his belt,oh yeah like that was planned for a future Fedor clash even though at that time they had no clue what Fedor would be doing.yep your deluded

No5 Hendo is an all time great,but his relavence in todays MMA took a huge knock after being dominated by Shields for 4 rds,as well as getting easily beat by Silva and getting a very close and lucky in alot of peoples eyes SD over franklin,never mind the fact he's 40 years old and his best days are well behind him.

No6
M1 take 50% of the profits on all events that feature M1 fighters,even though M1 don't put out any lay out,so they make fuck all on them.CBS put on how many shows a year and don't forget how many of them Fedor will be on and as for there main revenue of money,Showtime,they only reach an audience of about 12 million,while Spike TV reach out to about 98 million.

No7 Who says they will co promote more and more except you.
It's not profitable,they all have signed to differant TV networks,so financialy it's bad business for one of them to cut out there own major TV networks.(don't tell me they we all live happily ever after and all agree to share broadcasting rights)

No8 Strikeforce cards are Quallity over quantity,that explains why most of the strikeforce rosta are guys that were cut from the UFC.yeah theres loads of mismatches in the UFC isn't there but none in strikeforce,again your full of it.
The UFC makes money where ever they go and even if they make a loss in India,they can afford to and atleast they are bring the sport to a new stage,developing the sport and bringing it to a wider audience,but shit I forgot,the UFC are doing fuck all for the sport.

No9 there is a split in talent outside the UFC in the HW division,unfortunately for your weak argument they are also split between other Orgs and strikeforce only have about 5 that belong to them,while the UFc can boast about 15 of the top 30.

No10 same goes for the MW's

No11 Diaz is top 20,but again Askren and hornbuckle belong to Bellator not strikeforce and it's another one of your fantasy if's,if they will ever fight on a Strikeforce card.

No12 yeah and Coker,rebney are in it for the fans and don't care about the money,Wow what is it actually like on your planet.

I don't want one big Org,I like the big Org we have at the top at the moment,it's your feeble arguments that have to keep including fighters that don't even belong to Strikeforce to try and even make a comparison.

hah de dums back to pride,boo hoo
I think you will find that the last UFC events that had Okami and yoshida on,did good numbers on that Japanese online site,but don't let facts get in your way since they never have seemed to bother your bullshit before.

wasnt that the Gomi card?
lots of japanese mma fans want to see Gomi fight wherever. I think its more likely that he was the one to draw the numbers rather than ufc groomed japanese fighters.

Lets not forget that strikeforce have a bigger audience than the ufc in the usa (cbs vs ppv) and over here (bravo has more viewers than espn im assuming).
So saying that they are not doing anything for mma is wrong, they are broadcasting mma to a bigger audience to anyone else. They are also sacrifiding profits to allow fedor to fight.

first of all,I'm sorry anfeild,i feel i was a little out of order in my attacks on you,I enjoy the banter with you but should keep it at that and not make personal remarks about you,when I don't agree,it's a weak excuse but i shouldn't post at 2am after a lock in and I took the liar comment personally,when of coarse I shouldn't.

payneNglory1 wrote:what a complete load of made up bollox,you live in a fantasy world.

time will tell,but you still won't have a clue if it smacked you in the face.


I,ve lived in america for the last 7 years and have worked here from Maine down to florida for nearly 15 years,and from reading papers to actually talking to all the people I've met who love MMA,i think that would give me a better perspective than you on how people from the country I live in perceive the sport,never mind all the negative press that is available for anyone to search and read about.
and are you really trying to tell me people had anything positive to say about Strikeforce after the nashville event.

Heres one for you

the UFC has come out on top of Strikeforce. Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery averaged 308,000 viewers on Showtime. Meanwhile, Spike TV aired an episode of “UFC’s Ultimate Fights” which drew an average of 894,000 viewers to counter-act the Strikeforce show.

The numbers that Strikeforce should be concerned about are the numbers of their most recent broadcast compared to the fight card that aired on Showtime in January. Strikeforce: Miami drew 517,000 viewers that saw title wins by Nick Diaz and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, as well as wins from Bobby Lashley and Herschel Walker. The numbers from Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery are down almost 41% from the numbers the drew in January.

The numbers are similar to, although less than the 341,000 viewers that tuned in for Strikeforce: Evolution that aired this past December. That show featured Cung Le vs. Scott Smith and a lightweight title unification bout between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson.

heres another

The UFC’s counter programming of Strikeforce at the weekend paid off big, with the special ‘Best of…’ show drawing more than twice the number of viewers that tuned in to see Alistair Overeem demolish Brett Rogers on Showtime.

Spike TV says the show, which featured fights such as Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir, Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Terry Etim and Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung, drew 894,000 at its peak. Most of those were males aged 18 to 34.

In contrast, Strikeforce on Showtime reportedly drew just 308,000 viewers for a card that featured Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski and Antonio ’Bigfoot’ Silva. The figures come via an MMA Junkie report citing “industry sources”.

The numbers and disparity will be very disappointing to Strikeforce, given that the heavyweight-heavy card featured some of its big guns (it was aptly entitled ‘Heavy Artillery’). The numbers also show the difficulty any MMA promotion has in rivalling the UFC, which has a massive archive of big-name fights to draw on any time it wants to put counter-programming together.

Strikeforce will also be perturbed by the number of viewers it has lost compared to its last Showtime-aired event. ‘Strikeforce: Miami’ featured Nick Diaz, Bobby Lashley and Cris ’Cyborg’ Santos, drawing 517,000 viewers at its peak. The difference is just over 40 per cent, a huge drop. The latest figures are also lower than Strikeforce’s December show (Smith vs. Le and Melendez vs. Thompson), which drew 341,000 viewers.
Why the fuck would I lie about this when it's easy to read peoples thoughts and any write up about strikeforce on any internet forum or any MMA site.

google it yourself and you will see that the numbers have dropped.


don't confuse the UFC to Zuffa,what are you talking about,the UFC is Zuffa's baby,what are you talking about?

Do the average unknowing fans refer to MMA as the UFC or as Strikeforce,Dream,sengaku,or even Pride,I think that will explain perfectly why the UFC have done far more than anyone in bringing MMA to the mainstream and making it a mainstream sport.
what have strikeforce actually done in bringing MMA forward?

So basicly No1,your talking out of your arse,all orgs give out freebies just like every football,ruby,tennis,well basicly any sport teams do,it's called promoting.I suppose strikeforce don't though do they.
Thousands of tickets,your off your head,so according to you they give away 10% to 15% of there tickets,about $200k worth,even though they always sell out where ever they go and they are charging on average $100 a pop.
Madalay bay holds 12K and most places that they fight at don't hold that much more,I didn't realise that the UFC was so fan friendly since you think they give nearly $200k worth of tickets away for free at each event(or maybe you have seen a few vids of Dana giving away a few tickets to lucky fans that turn up at a certain place at a certain time and thought you would add abit of your billy bullshit to it)

No2,have you actually seen the talent on a Strikeforce challengers event,does it come close to what the UFC are doing with TUF and Strikeforce do not have access to any Dream fighter or sengaku fighters,they can agree to the odd fight but thats it.

No3,first I've heard about a womens tourney in strikeforce and even if Gina comes back,who is she going to fight?Cyborg again(who wants to see that,and I don't for a second think she would want a rematch),maybe larosa but thats it.Gina makes more money outside the cage,thats why we haven't seen her since she got battered

No4,they didn't allow Overrem to fight elsewhere,they had no chioce because they had zero controll over him,this is a very weak and stupid thing to try and make a point.
what Org loses there Champ for that long without defending his belt,oh yeah like that was planned for a future Fedor clash even though at that time they had no clue what Fedor would be doing.yep your deluded

No5 Hendo is an all time great,but his relavence in todays MMA took a huge knock after being dominated by Shields for 4 rds,as well as getting easily beat by Silva and getting a very close and lucky in alot of peoples eyes SD over franklin,never mind the fact he's 40 years old and his best days are well behind him.

No6
M1 take 50% of the profits on all events that feature M1 fighters,even though M1 don't put out any lay out,so they make fuck all on them.CBS put on how many shows a year and don't forget how many of them Fedor will be on and as for there main revenue of money,Showtime,they only reach an audience of about 12 million,while Spike TV reach out to about 98 million.

No7 Who says they will co promote more and more except you.
It's not profitable,they all have signed to differant TV networks,so financialy it's bad business for one of them to cut out there own major TV networks.(don't tell me they we all live happily ever after and all agree to share broadcasting rights)

No8 Strikeforce cards are Quallity over quantity,that explains why most of the strikeforce rosta are guys that were cut from the UFC.yeah theres loads of mismatches in the UFC isn't there but none in strikeforce,again your full of it.
The UFC makes money where ever they go and even if they make a loss in India,they can afford to and atleast they are bring the sport to a new stage,developing the sport and bringing it to a wider audience,but shit I forgot,the UFC are doing fuck all for the sport.

No9 there is a split in talent outside the UFC in the HW division,unfortunately for your weak argument they are also split between other Orgs and strikeforce only have about 5 that belong to them,while the UFc can boast about 15 of the top 30.

No10 same goes for the MW's

No11 Diaz is top 20,but again Askren and hornbuckle belong to Bellator not strikeforce and it's another one of your fantasy if's,if they will ever fight on a Strikeforce card.

No12 yeah and Coker,rebney are in it for the fans and don't care about the money,Wow what is it actually like on your planet.

I don't want one big Org,I like the big Org we have at the top at the moment,it's your feeble arguments that have to keep including fighters that don't even belong to Strikeforce to try and even make a comparison.

hah de dums back to pride,boo hoo
I think you will find that the last UFC events that had Okami and yoshida on,did good numbers on that Japanese online site,but don't let facts get in your way since they never have seemed to bother your bullshit before.

Complete garbage in relation to Strikeforce getting nothing but negatives reviews. Nashville was on free tv, UFC 108 have put on a number of really shit cards in the last year and charged people a fortune to see them. Many people watch the UFC events on Spike because it's the only time they are able to watch UFC because the UFC charges people daft money to watch average cards. Imagine charging 50 bucks to watch something that happened HOURS beforehand.

ZUFFA is the business that's well run. The UFC is part of a business. They're not self-run. Strikeforce is.

1) Strikeforce aren'r trying to compete with UFC, why are you trying to make comparisons? Compare Strikeforce to where the UFC was after 4 years of the Dana era. Miles ahead. Who cares if the UFC are drawing bigger numbers? Are Strikeforce trying to compete with them? No. Do the UFC fudge their numbers? Yes, constantly.

Do you know what paid attendance means? Dana comps a ridiculous amount of tickets. Plus they give tickets to ALL their sponsors. All the fighters and entourages. Any camp involved gets tickets. And then the Fertittas give away tickets as well. Plus there's all the celebs they send free tickets to.

2) Strikeforce challengers is about showcasing young talent starting out. Most of the fighters on TUF already have a number of high level pro-fights behind them. And yes, someone like Woodley is better than anyone to come of TUF in the last few years.

3) Gina's the biggest name in womens MMA and can do huge amounts for the sport. She can fight anyone, doesn't have to be a run for the title. Strikeforce's are running a womens 135lb tournament. It was announced before Bellator. Part of their agreement is one the weight classes. SF will run 135, 145 and poss 155. Bellator 115, and 125.

4) They had nobody to fight Overeem so there was no reason to pay him a large amount of money to fight a can. Coker let him go and fight in Japan and build his profile and earn a living while keeping him on a contract, and away from the UFC. It's worked out brilliantly.

5) His best days are behind him? Obviously, he's 40. He's still a more competitive fighter than say, Randy Couture who the UFC are paying TWICE as much money to and actually trying to sell PPVs off.

6) M1 take 50% but that includes ALL costs for Fedor and Mousasi and their fights. Including promotion, opponents fees etc. etc. And CBS pay for everything else. Don't try and compare Showtime to Spike. Compare showtime to PPV. And CBS to Spike. Because those are the equivalents.

7) Coker says they will and he sticks to his word. Unlike a certain man that you worship.

Strikeforce sometimes do have mismatches. But EVERY fight involves a top fighter. Quality over Quantity. And no, most of their top tier fighters were not cut from the UFC.

9, 10 and 11) Who is there more chance of them fighting for Strikeforce, or the UFC? Strikeforce have agreements in place with Dream and Sengoku. And a bellator deal is in the mix.

12) Coker etc are in it for the long haul. Coker takes a standard promoters fee from all events, that's it. He doesn't make every decision based on what will line his pockets the most.

When did i say they belong to Strikeforce? I said they have access to them. Which they do.

Oh, a Japanese online site?? One that was free to access for Americans and Europeans as well? Yeah, i'm sure it was all asians watching. And where are your figures for those who watched on line? From the UFC perhaps?

payneNglory1 wrote:first of all,I'm sorry anfeild,i feel i was a little out of order in my attacks on you,I enjoy the banter with you but should keep it at that and not make personal remarks about you,when I don't agree,it's a weak excuse but i shouldn't post at 2am after a lock in and I took the liar comment personally,when of coarse I shouldn't.

Don't apologize mate. It's a message forum. Say what comes to mind at the time and fuck the consequences. As much as I might call you a fanboy and throw some abuse, I can tell you'd be a good bloke in person.

CBS have done two Strikeforce cards and both have dropped in viewing figures from the last elite XC event,with the last losing over a million viewers on the one before and after the nashville fiasco,as far as i know CBS are yet to agree to putting on another event,they are not contracted too and can pull the plug anytime they want and as I said losing over a million viewers doesn't help at all.

• Third EliteXC on CBS: Averaged 4.56 million
• Strikeforce: Fedor Vs Rogers On CBS: Averaged 4.042 million (3.79 million in the overnights)
• Strikeforce Nashville: Averaged 2.63 million (based on the overnights)


on showtime

Strikeforce evolution - 341,000
Strikeforce Miami - 517,000
Heavy Artillery - 308,000 (the UFC drew 896,000 the same night showing replays)
Los angeles - can't find them yet

even the last event in LA,they only sold 5,259 tickets,infact in the last 4 big events in 2010 they have not sold more than 8,200 tickets for a show,so again i don't know where anfield got this constantly sold out or his claim about an expected 15K tickets sold for the next event.
The last time Fedor fought,there was only 10k sold.

again my point was that there numbers are declining,so how does this make them the fastest growing at anything.

and again I've never said Strikeforce have done nothing for MMA,Anfield made that claim about the UFC I responded by saying compared to the UFC,Strikeforce have done nothing.

Showtimes $15 a month.

Do you know what paid attendance means? Dana comps a ridiculous amount of tickets. Plus they give tickets to ALL their sponsors. All the fighters and entourages. Any camp involved gets tickets. And then the Fertittas give away tickets as well. Plus there's all the celebs they send free tickets to.

So Strikeforce don't do any of that then,don't be so naive,as I said before all sporting events do that,I suppose all the celebs and fighters we see at the Strikeforce events had to pay for there tickets.
All sponsers get given tickets.

Randy's won his last two and the reason Randy gets paid more is because he has double the amount of pulling power in the US and is a UFC HOFer and is seen as captain America to the US fans.
Where as hendo is a legend of a defunct Japanese Org and spent his time over there,so he never built up a relationship with the US audience.

and you ask me for facts and figures which I provide or atleast are easily enough to find yourself,yet mostly everything you claim,there is zero to back it up apart from your say so.

and I appreciate your last comment mate,nice 1

love this forum and would hate for it to become stupid,when we have a good bunch of lads on here.

Last EliteXC figures were due to Kimbo though.

They sold out each event. Can only sell 10,000 tickets when the capacity is 10,000. Never an empty seat at Strikeforce.

Strikeforce have less sponsors and comp less tickets. only the top camps and fighters get tickets. Dana gives tickets to everyone on the roster. Strikeforce comp only a fraction of what the UFC does.

Showtime is 15 a month. So you can get three full months of great programming and sports for the cost of 3 hours UFC. Clear to see the better deal.

Again, the UFC weren't showing repeats. That was original UFC programming for most people because they refuse to pay the UFC's PPV charge which is ridiculously high.

Randy got beaten by Vera but got handed a decision and beat the worst Mark Coleman ever. Hendo won 3 in a row against Franklin, Palhares and Bitchping. Beating a higher calibre of fighters and in more impressive fashion.

Randy's PPV figures are poor. He doesn't bring in enough money to justify what he makes per fight. He's on more than Liddell who is a much bigger draw!

Lorenzo Fertitta wants to see Silva v GSP...

UFC president Dana White recently said that if enough people want to see UFC champions Anderson Silva (26-4 MMA, 11-0 UFC) and Georges St-Pierre (20-2 MMA, 14-2 UFC) meet in the octagon, it's his job as a promoter to make it happen.

White can now count one very influential fight fan among those hoping to see the matchup come to fruition: UFC co-owner and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta.

"I want to see that fight," Fertitta said. "That's probably the one fight I really want to see the most."

St-Pierre and Silva, of course, have dominated their respective UFC weightclasses for several years, and fans have often wondered whether the Canadian welterweight or the Brazilian middleweight would prove victorious if they were to ever meet in the cage.

White has often spoken against the possibility, citing the massive size difference between the 6-foot-2 Silva – who occasionally moonlights as a light heavyweight – and the 5-foot-11 St-Pierre. But in recent months, the UFC president has softened his stance.

"They've got a couple of guys they've got to beat before we make that fight, but I'm not opposed to making it," White said in August of the potential matchup.

Of course, there are still obstacles in the way. Silva currently has a February matchup with potent striker Vitor Belfort on the horizon, and St-Pierre faces fellow "The Ultimate Fighter 12" coach Josh Koscheck in December. UFC newcomer Jake Shields has also been promised a shot at the winner of that fight.

But if both champions are able to retain their belts in those matchups, Fertitta seems to believe the dream fight is inevitable.

"'GSP' has to get past Koscheck; Anderson Silva has to get past Vitor Belfort," Fertitta said. "If that happens, there's a really good likelihood that we could see that fight – probably some time next summer. ... If these guys keep winning their fights, I think it will definitely happen.

"One of the things we wanted to do was allow both of these guys to continue to get through their divisions – meaning there were a lot of contenders that deserved title shots. Because they're in different weightclasses, we wanted to let that all play out before we put those two guys together. But I mean we're getting to a point where they've pretty much cleaned out the division. Maybe it's time to watch them and see what happens."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/21107/fertitta-silva-vs-st-pierre-is-probably-the-one-fight-i-really-want-to-see-the-most.mma

its all good him saying he would like to see it but i dont think they will fight there will be pull outs and excuses between the two.

If the boss wants to see it, it will happen.

at what weight though gsp might not want to step up and silva i too big to go any lower?

Silva says he can make 170. If the fight is made though, I'd expect it at a catchweight.