UFC Purchases Strikeforce

[The_Edge]

Blue Jackets' Leclaire out for season

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Blue Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire, limited to 24 games this season because of injuries, will miss the rest of the season with knee problems.

Fredrik Norrena has taken over as the starter with Brian Boucher, recently claimed off waivers from Chicago, as his backup.

Leclaire had surgery Dec. 28 to repair torn cartilage in his left knee. He re-aggravated the injury last month and was placed on injured reserve because of stiffness and swelling in the knee. The team said Thursday Leclaire won't play again this season.

Leclaire, who entered this season as Columbus' top goaltender, was 6-15-2 with a 2.97 goals-against average.
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Damn, I like him. Hes a excellent goalie when fully healthy.

 

[Ben]

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Fucking huge news, got home from work and had to check this to see if this was for real. Dana pretty much says Strikeforce will stay independent from the UFC/Zuffa and Crocker and company will remain in there positions. Don't know how long that will last and it will all come down to how much money the SF brand bring to the Zuffa banner.

Honestly could see it ending up being like WEC, they'll move some of the bigger names to the UFC brand and keep SF as a development area. Might not happen right away but I think that's the end game. Would love to see some of the HW in strikeforce in the UFC, and of course Diaz back fighting under the UFC banner.

 

[PHX]

Well damn what a move. Wonder though if this means they will still show events on showtime (haven't watched the videos yet)

 

[Ben]

They didn't really say, the TV deal is still in place with Showtime and Strikeforce so I would guess this would continue. Expecting to see some sort of major TV deal coming soon for Zuffa, either a independent channel or a network TV deal.

 

[Phenomenal1]

This is similar to when WWE bought ECW back in 2001. Not that big of a deal to some but a huge deal to others.

 

[PHX]

Well I liked the fact that I could watch it on showtime without having to order it so hope it stays there. I' am expecting for some of the top SF guys though to be put into UFC and use SF as a sister company or something.

 

[Ben]

Basically this is just great for MMA in the US as a whole. There is no real competition to Zuffa after this deal, some people might think it's bad to have no competition, but look at the other major US sports, NBA, NFL, MLB. There successful on a huge level because there's no competition, all the best talent is in those leagues which makes for great top level competition.

Zuffa has the chance currently to do the same thing with MMA, 99% of the best talent is now under contract to them, they just have to figure out a way to make it happen, wheter it be under 1 or 2 promotions.

 

[Phenomenal1]

UFC is gonna definitely need another weight class now. If there was question before there has to be none now.

 

[PHX]

SF or any other MMA company really wasn't ever gonna compete with them anyways so don't really see it as them eliminating competition as they weren't a legit threat.

I do wonder now what is gonna happen to female MMA as I heard Dana is not a fan of female MMA which is why it's not apart of UFC.

 

[Ben]

Don't think they need another weight class, as the only thing they could really do is split the HW division into 2 different classes, and they have all the other ones covered.

Don't expect to see any crossover untill at least the Summer, Strikeforce will run with there talent and UFC will run with there's for the time being, down the line you'll see some guys jumping between both brands, especially with some SF HW guys coming up to UFC.

 

[LLCoolJoel]

If this is the case, I definitely think that the UFC should add 2 more weight classes. I know this might seem too much but with all of the new fighters coming to the Zuffa banner there will be too many fighters to make an honest living with the scarce fights because of all of the extra fighters. Maybe a 195 and 233 Pound weight classes are in order.

 

[Ben]

A merger isn't going to happen anytime soon, that's the point everyone missing. There's 2 years left on the Showtime deal and as long as SF can make some money I don't think they pull the trigger on merging the two.

On top of that, there's not a shit load of talent worth a damn in SF, most of the division are top heavy in terms of talent, and really UFC would only get stronger by adding some of the HW.

Also lol at Daley already talking shit about the merger and saying he's not going to fight Diaz.

 

[Phenomenal1]

195 would be a perfect addition.

 

[Rush]

UFC is gonna definitely need another weight class now. If there was question before there has to be none now.

If this is the case, I definitely think that the UFC should add 2 more weight classes. I know this might seem too much but with all of the new fighters coming to the Zuffa banner there will be too many fighters to make an honest living with the scarce fights because of all of the extra fighters. Maybe a 195 and 233 Pound weight classes are in order.

195 would be a perfect addition.

no fucking way. The Light heavyweight division is very solid in the UFC, whereas Strikeforce has absolutely fuck all outside of Henderson, Feijao, Mousasi and King Mo. 233 would also be fucking terrible as both heavyweight divisions are pretty weak throughout. They have a couple of solid big names each, and not much in terms of gatekeepers and midrange fighters. There is absolutely no point in adding an extra division. Fight, make your way up the rankings. No point in adding extra divisions to water down the product so you can accomodate more people on the roster.

UFC needs to use Strikeforce as a way to build up young fighters, give mid range guys a chance to shine and use it as a legit development league. It will mean that they will have solid cards on TV with Strikeforce and absolutely epic PPV cards.

 

[PHX]

As far as the whole adding more divisions I'm against that mostly because I don't want it to get to the point of like how Boxing is where it seems like half the boxers got titles or something. Think the divisions are pretty good as is and thankfully not that hard to keep up with.