The UFC 158 Theater Story

Old story, it was March 2013 and I was given a few invitations for a theater play. One thing you should know about me is that I am not much of a theater goer, but I figured I'd attend the event anyway - to show off my new three-piece suit and to make a good impression in society, etc. So I took some friends with me, but before we reached the theater, I went to the pharmacy store and bought a pair of ear plugs.
We entered the theater and took our seats. As soon as the play started, I pulled the ear plugs out of my pocket and stuck them in my ears, so I would not be bothered by the actors talking. Then I closed my eyes and started thinking about the bets I would place on the upcoming Georges St. Pierre vs Nick Diaz UFC fight. The play lasted for two hours and in the course of those two hours I was half-sleeping and half-thinking about the bets I would place on GSP vs Diaz, Johny Hendricks vs. Carlos Condit and T.J. Dillashaw vs Issei Tamura. I made a good analysis and some good calculations about the odds and about the amount of money I should place on each fight, in order to come out with a profit. From time to time I would open my eyes to check if the play is about to end soon but those brief moments were the only times I cared about this whole theater deal.
I was in a theater, totally not giving a damn about the play, and totally focused on MMA and online gambling. It was a refreshing experience, where I ended up with a solid betting gameplan and with no idea of what I just "watched" in the theater. For real, I don't even remember the name of the play and I will never know what it was about. But I did win some good cash from the UFC 158 bets.

Was Scott Coker robbed by Zuffa & Dana White? Update on the UFC / Strikeforce purchase

Scott Coker.

In my recent blog post (here) I suggested that the Strikeforce crew must have been offered a ton of money to sell out their profitable and flourishing business.

But maybe there is more to it.
As time goes by, new details about the UFC's purchase of Strikeforce become apparent.
It is rumored that recently Scott Coker tried to gain control over the Strikeforce brand, the MMA brand that he created and built up, but was unsuccessful at doing that and as a result was forced to play the game his business partners wanted to play and basically to just give his company away to Dana White & Co.
Don't know if this is true or not but it sucks big time for MMA if it is.

Here:  http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=6209923

UFC / Zuffa purcase Strikeforce. Another step in monopolizing MMA.

Well, it's a fact that we all have to deal with. The UFC's owners, Zuffa, just bought Strikeforce. Good news for Dana & Co, bad news for the hardcore MMA fans.
But what the Strikeforce guys did doesn't make sense to me.
Granted, I don't know what their real goals were or what was going on behind the scenes of their organization.  Maybe their plan from the very beginning was to make a couple of Mil and call it quits? Maybe they were not ready to handle the monster that Strikeforce turned out to be? Fuck knows... But the fact remains - they just sold out a flourishing business, a business that by no means was in danger of bankruptcy, a business that was going up and up only, to their biggest competitor.
And in this case it may look like they just made a pile of fast/easy money. But the reality is that this must be the biggest loss a company can possibly suffer. A huge mistake.

It was not like the Zuffa purchase saved them from bankruptcy, was it?

Selling out your ass while you are having so much momentum doesn't make any sense. Because Strikeforce were doing more than good and Dana White himself admitted that in his interview with MMAFighting.com.
They had the best Heavyweight division, they had the better shows, with lots of action, lots of finishes and more importantly - they had the sympathy of the hardcore MMA fans, the portion of the MMA community that Dana White has been dreaming to put in his pocket for so long.
Congrats, Dana, that dream just came true. Not sure how many of us will still support Strikeforce after it is officially owned by Zuffa but I'm guessing a big portion of the hardcore MMA population will still root for them. Until they are gone in a year or two...
And until all the lay-and-pray, wall-and-stall, play-it-safe-or-lose-your-job shit starts happening in Strikeforce.

What the fuck happened?
The only explanation is that Strikeforce were offered A TON of money. It must be it.
Even if this was the case it doesn't compensate for all the missed opportunities that Strikeforce just sold out to Zuffa. Strikeforce could have become the N1 organization in a matter of 3 years. Easily!!! They had a great roster, a great and successful TV deal, great financial backup, they had all that was necessary to do that.
But I guess it all required a lot of work and dedication, so why bother? Why not just sell that shit and let other people do the hard work?
You guys are all delusional for believing the promise that you will keep your jobs.

R.I.P. Strikeforce.