Strikeforce’s Lacklustre Presentation For Challengers

By Jane W.
– Canadian Correspondent

On Friday I sat down to watch Strikeforce Challengers Series on Super Channel, a pay TV channel in Canada. (It originated from Showtime in the USA.) Prior to tuning in, I was confused at the start time of 8:45PM. I was a little angry because it seemed as if we, in Canada, were getting yet another tape-delayed event. But when I checked the Showtime listings I saw that, sure enough, it did not start until 8:45PM. Not 8PM or 9PM. Not even 8:30, but 8:45. Pacific time. And let’s be honest – the first actual fight didn’t start until 9PM anyway. It just seemed strange to me that an event that is televised nationally would start at such a late time. If you’re math-challenged, that’s 11:45PM on the east coast. Midnight before the first fight started. Why so late?

One could argue the lateness of the hour was due to it being held on a weekday, when people are working. You have to give the fans time to get home, shower and get back to the arena in time for the untelevised undercard, which started at 6:30. Which begs the question: why was it held on a Friday? Most mma events are held on the weekend, when people can be expected to not be at work, and have plenty of time to get to an early evening or even afternoon event.

When the first fight went on I was quite surprised at the complete lack of pomp. Am I too used to watching UFC and WEC events, where the announcer makes a biiiiiiiggg deal out of every single fight? This wasn’t the first Strikeforce event I had seen on TV, but I don’t recall the previous productions being so … “rinky-dink”, for lack of a better word!

Fighters were not announced, there was no meeting with the referee in the middle of the ring. It was just, basically, here’s some fighters, go. The in-ring announcer seemed totally disinterested.

Mauro Ranallo, as usual, made the calls with his usual alacrity, and the “Fight Doctor” was a capable analyst. But please don’t send that man into the ring afterwards to interview the fighters. He just seemed so uncomfortable doing it! And what was with his death grip on Miesha Tate’s arm? Are the fighters so unwilling to talk to him that he had to restrain them? Or was he so nervous he had to hold on to something to prevent himself from falling over?

I talked about the lack of presentation with a friend afterwards and he enlightened me to the fact that Strikeforce, or Showtime – or both – didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the presentation of an event that featured only unknown fighters. “Challengers” to the big names. What a crock of shit! Don’t get me wrong, it’s clear that was the issue.

But to Strikeforce I say, some of these fighters are going to earn you big money in the future, at least get them started with a bang. You be promoting the hell out of this thing. You want people to remember these fighters and these fights. You don’t want the only thing they remember to be the poor presentation! And frankly, that’s what I remember.

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