San Jose MMA Examiner Phil Lanides
Counterprogramming rival promotions has become standard fare for Dana White and the UFC. So hearing the news that the UFC is planning an event for the same night as the recently announced April 17th StrikeForce on CBS show, taking place in Nashville, Tennessee, is not big news. What is big news is word that StrikeForce may feed White and the UFC a taste of their own medicine in the form of their own counterprogramming.
World Extreme Cagefighting, owned by the UFC’s parent company Zuffa, is running its first-ever pay per view event on Saturday, April 24th. The show will emanate from Sacramento, and will feature a main event of the WEC’s most popular fighter, “The California Kid” Urijah Faber battling WEC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo for the belt. But Faber and Aldo might be fighting more than each other that night. They may have to scrap with Dan Henderson and StrikeForce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields.
On Thursday, White confirmed that Ultimate Fight Night 22 will run on April 17th, and rumor has it that it may even happen in Tennessee, an attempt at cutting into StrikeForce’s ticket sales. But this could very well trigger a damaging reaction from the San Jose-based promotion. As StrikeForce CEO Scott Coker told MMAJunkie “CBS had an opportunity to do the fight on [April 24] and go after the WEC pay-per-view date, and they said, ‘No, let’s just do it on the [April 17] and be nice guys.’ Now that the counter-programming is coming their way, I think there is some fluidity in what could happen.”
That “fluidity” could lead to the CBS card airing at the same time as the WEC pay per view. This would also prevent the UFC from countering the move, as they won’t run an event opposing their own company’s event. Much has been made of the WEC PPV’s $44.99 asking price, and if a free card on CBS is offered, many may decide to save their money and watch that instead of plunking down their hard-earned money to see Faber and Aldo. There are several options here, but they all result in some sort of oppositional programming for the UFC, WEC, and StrikeForce.
The war is heating up.
