World Extreme Cagefighting is making the big move to pay-per-view for the first time with its Jose Aldo-Urijah Faber fight on Apr. 24. It’s a risk. Zuffa may be alienating some fans by asking for more of their entertainment dollars. Dates are also being scooped up quickly that month. Will a WEC PPV work if it’s going head-to-head against Strikeforce’s CBS show featuring Fedor Emelianenko?
UFC president Dana White, who plays a large role with WEC as well, was taken back when asked if he was concerned about the Fedor/Strikeforce versus WEC scenario.
"I worry about Strikeforce all the time," White stated dripping with sarcasm. "You know how [expletive]
long I’ve been hearing this [expetive]. No, I don’t worry about
Strikeforce. Strikeforce is a lower level show where young up-and-coming talent and guys that aren’t in the UFC can make some money. It’s
never going to be anything more than that."
Before scheduling on the same night as WEC, White said Strikeforce needs to learn from the mistakes of boxing.
"They’re actually insane to go head-to-head with anything. That’s some
dumb boxing [expletive] right there. Like [Bob] Arum and [Don] King going
head-to-head. The last thing on my mind everyday when I get out of bed
and go to work is Strikeforce."
White has heard that some fans are annoyed by WEC’s jump to pay for play but he’s sticking with the $44.95 price tag.
"That’s what the pay-per-view costs. It’s still cheaper than boxing. Does anybody think that it won’t be worth the money? It absolutely, positively will be."
On the positive side, if the biggest names in WEC are going to be fighting on pay-per-view there should be no more complaints about their salaries. That was generally the reason WEC officials gave in defending why some of the big names like Faber, Miguel Torres and Mike Brown made less than the top fighters in the UFC.
The Strikeforce CBS card’s date and location are still very much up in the air. You can rule out the rumored trip to the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas. Nevada State Athletic Commission sources told Cagewriter that Strikeforce still hasn’t applied for a promoter’s license and now there isn’t enough time to get approved before April. The T & M wanted badly to host the event. The MGM-Mirage group has pretty much taken over the boxing/MMA fight market in Sin City.