CBS: Strikeforce’s Ace in the Hole

It has been confirmed that Strikeforce will be making their network television debut on CBS on Nov. 7th. The match will be Fedor against Brett Rogers. Though this is by no means a signal that the network will be entering a multi-fight contract with Strikeforce, it really doesn’t matter. The mere fact that CBS agreed to air one fight night for Strikeforce is all SF needs to establish a big jump for their fight club. There is a lot of buzz around Brett Rogers thanks to his recent win, so much so that there is current speculation that he has the true potential to take Fedor down. Throw in the fact that a good majority of the MMA community is on the edge of its seats to see Fedor’s first match since the UFC debacle and Strikefore will have all they need to build up the hype for this match. It is for these reasons that CBS is what will be great equalizer between UFC and Strikeforce.

If there is one thing that is left on Dana White’s Christmas list it’s the ability to take UFC to network television. Dana’s theory is that by being able to put less financial strain on the audience by giving free fight nights he will be able to not only keep his fan base loyal to him but also believes it will get more fans into UFC as well. This point holds true, back in the days when boxing was on network TV it was able to draw in more fans. Dana has guaranteed that UFC will begin making network TV debuts by Sept 15th of next year. The only problem is, it’s not soon enough.

I talked about this before in one of my older blogs where I put the two organizations head to head and I said very clearly that the two things that would close the gap between Strikeforce and UFC would be the woman’s division and CBS broadcasting. UFC may be bigger, better, and badder but they are lacking one key thing and that is mainstream exposure. If Strikeforce did not have the Fedor/Rogers match then I would say that this network television fight would most likely not hold its weight in water, but this match is a big one. UFC fans WILL be turning into this fight and the first MMA exposure that some new fans will be getting when they see this fight on TV will NOT be UFC. This is something that is probably driving Dana White nuts. His organization has been around so long grinding it’s way back to survival and eventually to stardom. Now his biggest competitor will get to have first crack at a new fresh audience with the biggest guns they got.

Nov. 7th will be a very important day for MMA. It will show first hand whether or not Strikeforce has what it takes to compete with the MMA market share that UFC currently has a total stranglehold on. If they put on a great show with Fedor/Rogers (which I think they will) it is probable that CBS will want to continue offering deals which could potentially get Strikeforce a fan base large enough to set up a similar system to that of the NFL with an AFC and NFC division like structure. If not, then Strikeforce will have blown their biggest opportunity to close the gap with UFC. With 52 days to go, let the anticipation begin.

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