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If You Thought Strikeforce Should Try Harder, This Video Will Change Your Mind

Come on, Strikeforce. A simple MOM MADE PIZZA ROLLS would have been far less embarrassing

You know what? I honestly try to be optimistic about the future of Strikeforce. Even when the promotion is hemorrhaging money, even when their website is reduced to an MS Word document, I want to believe that the promotion is run by competent individuals who will find a way to keep it alive.

And then I see the vignette made to promote the upcoming “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy” on July 14, and feel stupid for learning nothing from the death of WCW. Case in point:

Video after the jump

Come on, Strikeforce. A simple MOM MADE PIZZA ROLLS would have been far less embarrassing

And then I see the vignette made to promote the upcoming “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy” on July 14, and feel stupid for learning nothing from the death of WCW. Case in point:

Strikeforce is attempting to promote an upcoming Middleweight Title Fight between their champion, Luke Rockhold, and the incredibly badass Army Ranger Tim Kennedy. So naturally, the promotion decides that they absolutely cannot promote this fight without bringing in Frank Shamrock. ”But maybe Frank Shamrock will go somewhere with this,” you probably aren’t thinking. “Maybe it won’t be completely terrible.”

Well, if you actually were thinking that beforehand, you immediately felt stupid when Frank Shamrock essentially called both the organization’s champion and number one contender pussies who can’t promote a fight. Shamrock then tries to solve the whole “Neither of you is a villain” problem by making both men villains (or “villains”) with comical (“comical”) results.

Well, that settles it. Frank Shamrock says there’s no reason to watch, so I’m going to just take his word for it. What about the rest of you, though? Did this generate any interest for you in Rockhold vs. Kennedy, or are you just waiting for Strikeforce to go under?

Luke Rockhold to Defend Title Against Tim Kennedy at 7/14 Strikeforce Event

(Never go up against a thespian when death is on the line.)

According to new reports, Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will defend his belt at Strikeforce’s July 14th event in Portland, where he’ll face off against former title contender/video-parodist Tim Kennedy.

Luke Rockhold has won his last eight fights, most recently beating the crap out of Keith Jardine in a somewhat farcical title defense in January. Kennedy has won his last two bouts under the Strikeforce banner, but hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision win over Robbie Lawler in July 2011. Rockhold and Kennedy were briefly scheduled to face each other last year before Rockhold pulled out of the matchup, and were matched up again earlier this year before Tim had to withdraw due to injury, so this one’s been a long time coming. Can the Special Forces sniper shock Rockhold and take that belt?

Also on the card…

(Never go up against a thespian when death is on the line.)

Also on the card…

Heavy-handed middleweight mainstay Robbie Lawler will follow-up his TKO win over Adlan Amagov in January with a fight against undefeated prospect Lorenz Larkin. Larkin was KO’d by Muhammad Lawal in his last Strikeforce appearance, but that fight was changed to a no-contest after Lawal tested positive for steroids.

As previously reported, Keith Jardine will face Roger Gracie on the 7/14 card, which may also feature a welterweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Tyron Woodley.

Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey Aftermath Pt. 2 — The Big Picture

And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)

The fact that a Strikeforce aftermath is being broken down into two separate posts is probably confusing most of our longtime readers, considering we’ve had so little to say about the organization leading up to last night’s Strikeforce card. Ever since Zuffa’s acquisition of the organization, our post-event recaps have focused on Strikeforce’s lack of a direction, now-meaningless titles and ever-diminishing roster. The organization clearly wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. going under), yet it also, well, wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. it wasn’t planning future growth). Yet last night, for the first time in a while, Strikeforce looked like an organization that could consistently provide MMA fans with intriguing, relevant matchups.

After all of the hype that Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate managed to create for last night’s bout, the ending could not have possibly gone better for Strikeforce. Exciting fight? Check. Dramatic finish? Check. And most importantly, Sarah Kaufman’s victory over Alexis Davis on the undercard established a clear challenger for the new champion who actually stands a chance at beating the champion. The biggest problem with Strikeforce’s title fights as of late has been the fact that the champions are simply too much better than anyone that Strikeforce can match them up with (Rockhold vs. Jardine, anyone?). While Rousey continued to look phenomenal in her short MMA career last night, former champion Sarah Kaufman provides another intriguing matchup for her. Back to back championship fights in a Strikeforce weight class that will pit the champion against a formidable opponent who is coming off of a victory: Now that’s encouraging.

And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)

For that matter, the victories from both Kazuo Misaki and Jacare Souza are significant for reasons other than a potential UFC call-up. After surprising Paul Daley with a diverse striking attack and surviving a nasty elbow from “Semtex”, Misaki pulled off the upset and won by split decision (don’t ask me what fight that third judge was watching). Even though Misaki doesn’t quite look ready for the UFC, Strikeforce actually has another competent challenger ready for him in Nate Marquardt, who holds two victories over Misaki in Pancrase. Pitting the two against each other makes sense, and should earn the winner a call-up to the majors. Likewise, Jacare displayed a much improved striking attack in his victory over Bristol Marunde. Given that his willingness to stand and trade punches with opponents essentially cost him his first fight against Luke Rockhold, it would be interesting to see how he matches up with the middleweight champion this time around. The bottom line here is that rather than shrugging our shoulders and asking “Okay, now what?”, there are logical matchups awaiting both fighters. It’s refreshing, to say the least.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t any reasons to keep being concerned for Strikeforce, as the event certainly produced some low points. After all of the talk about meaningful championship fights existing for Strikeforce, it’s sort of anti-climatic to bring up that Gilbert Melendez is going to fight Josh Thomson again, especially after his yawn-inducing fight against KJ Noons. Dana White’s recent announcement that he has essentially washed his hands of Strikeforce definitely doesn’t help matters either. And let’s not even start on how a major organization could allow a pedophile with white supremacist tattoos on television.

But after listening to Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier hype up their clash on May 19th- no matter how insignificant the heavyweight tournament may be at this point- I genuinely feel excited about an upcoming Strikeforce card. I am genuinely curious about future Strikeforce title fights, even if the men’s belts have become meaningless. It’s been a while since I’ve been optimistic about Strikeforce- that’s got to be worth something.

–@SethFalvo

Strikeforce Deathwatch: Rockhold vs. Jardine Live Gate Totals a Meager $68,805

(This is when we’d normally tell you to keep your chin up, Keith, but that seems to be what got you here in the first place.)

Perhaps this might not come as a shocking revelation to most of the Potato Nation, but Strikeforce is in some bad shape. Like, Bubba on the beaches of Vietnam kind of shape. Let’s put it this way, if we were gambling men, and someone were taking bets on its probable death, we’d bet everything we own on death.

What are we jawing on about? Well, the Nevada State Athletic Commission just released its figures for “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine” today, which took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7th, and the live gate for the event totaled LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT ROBBIE LAWLER WAS PAID TO FIGHT. As ridiculous as it may seem, Lawler did manage to knock out Aldan Amagov with the power of his testicles alone, so the somewhat exuberant compensation he received seems fair in this case. But boy does it not look good for Strikeforce.

Hauling in an abysmal 68,805 dollars, “Rockhold vs. Jardine” achieved a final attendance of just under 2000 (1992) with only 927 tickets sold. The other 1,065 tickets were comped, and 727 tickets remained unsold. The total fighter purse for this event was an even $566,000.

(This is when we’d normally tell you to keep your chin up, Keith, but that seems to be what got you here in the first place.)

To look at this through an even dirtier windowpane, along with Robbie Lawler, Luke Rockhold and a juiced up Muhammed Lawal also cleared more than the live gate. Hell, Tyrone Woodley made nearly that much to take a fifteen minute nap on Jordan Mein. Again, it’s not necessarily mind-blowing, but those are Challengers numbers, people. Blame it on the UFC snatching up all their champions and the lack of big name fights as a result, or do what we do, and blame everything on the combination of Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock. In either case, nothing short of a heart transplant is going to save this old man; all we can do now is offer him a hospital bed at a discount price, so to speak. Forget the Ronda Rousey death pool, chances are Strikeforce won’t even be around long enough to promote that match-up. We give ‘em 6-8 months, how bout you?

Speaking of shitty numbers, the UFC 142 Prelims, which were the first to air on FX last Saturday, only pulled in 880,000 viewers, which was lower than any “Prelim” episode to air on SpikeTV in the special’s history. UFC 141, on the other hand, managed to reel in over 1.8 million viewers, despite the fact that both FX and Spike are delivered to roughly the same number of homes (around 100 million). Though this can be partially attributed to the fact that most casual fans have yet to become aware of the transition in networks, the numbers are still disappointing to say the least. Let’s hope the UFC’s full event debut on FX this Friday brings in some more/new fans, because we do not need to go back to watching three hours worth of fights on Facebook. Sorry, Jimy.

And hey, speaking of the UFC on FX, make sure to join us Friday night for our liveblog of the event, which will feature more than it’s fair share of whiskey fueld rants courtesy of yours truly. See you there.

-Danga

Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine Draws $68,805 Live Gate

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsStrikeforce gave away more tickets than it sold at its Jan. 7 “Rockhold vs. Jardine” event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

According to figures released Wednesday by the Nevada athletic commission, the e…

Filed under: Strikeforce, News

Strikeforce gave away more tickets than it sold at its Jan. 7 “Rockhold vs. Jardine” event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

According to figures released Wednesday by the Nevada athletic commission, the event sold 927 tickets for a live gate of $68,805. A total of 1,992 were in attendance, 1,065 of which watched for free. Meanwhile, 727 tickets were left unsold.

As previously reported, the total fighter payroll was $566,000.

The previous event, “Melendez vs. Masvidal,” fared better, drawing an attendance of 2,995 for a $154,075 gate. The amount of tickets sold/papered at the Dec. 17 event in San Diego were undisclosed. The fighter payroll for “Melendez vs. Masvidal” was $580,000.

“Rockhold vs. Jardine” was the first Strikeforce card under the promotion’s new deal with Showtime. The main card was televised on Showtime and the preliminary card aired on Showtime Extreme.

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