Coker: Zuffa is not creating a monopoly
Coker might be a little biased, but when the Strikeforce CEO says that the sale of his promotion to was…
Coker might be a little biased, but when the Strikeforce CEO says that the sale of his promotion to was one of the biggest moments in MMA history, it’s tough to blame him.
On a business level, I think it’s significant. I think it might have merit as the biggest deal in history, Coker says. I would say PRIDE was a big deal, but at that time there was a lot of other leagues and a lot more MMA going on. It’s definitely going to be significant.
But did Zuffa overstep their bounds? Are they flirting with creating a monopoly in an industry still in its infancy? Coker doesn’t think so.
No, not at all. Two years ago, Strikeforce was a regional show. I promoted the Frank Shamrock and Cung Le fight in 2007, but it took us awhile to get our TV contract. But from 2009, when we got our Showtime fights, it took us two years to this point, Coker says. It took a lot of hard work, but it can be recreated. Somebody out there has to step up and put the money behind it, and they can create the business just like I did and move from a regional promotion to a national promotion.
