http://mmajunkie.com/news/18293/strikef ... hville.mmaThe date for Strikeforce's second network-televised fight card stands.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker on Friday told MMAjunkie.com that "Strikeforce: Nashville" will not be moved from its April 17 date to sidestep a potential head-to-head clash with a rumored UFC event on the same night.
"It's the 17th and it's full steam ahead," Coker said. "The 17th was always a good day when we chose it. We still feel the same way, and so does CBS."
"Strikforce: Nashville" airs live on CBS at 9 p.m. ET and features three title fights: Middleweight champ Jake Shields faces Dan Henderson in the evening's main event, while light heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi faces Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez meets DREAM title holder Shinya Aoki in the card's other featured matchups. The 20,000-seat Bridgeport Arena hosts.
Coker said Strikeforce and CBS considered moving the date when reports of a possible UFC card surfaced, but the idea never went beyond initial talks. This past week, Coker told MMAjunkie.com that his promotion and CBS had "some fluidity" with a date change if the rumored UFC event materialized.
"We purposefully went out of our way to avoid all the other fight shows that month, whether it was the WEC, the UFC, or whatever," Coker said today. "I don't think [Zuffa, LLC] has come out publicly and said that they are [counter-programming], and I think there's just a lot of rumors floating around.
"The good thing about our company is there's a certain amount of fluidity in this company and I think that we had to keep all of our options open."
Coker said CBS is fully committed to his promotion and plans to give the April 17 event a major advertising push during the NCAA basketball tournament that takes place later this month.
Strikeforce made its CBS debut this past November with "Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers" and averaged 3.79 million viewers during its 9-11 p.m. timeslot. The main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers spiked significantly with 5.46 million viewers who saw "The Last Emperor's" second-round TKO victory.
Rogers vs. Emelianenko is the ninth most-watched MMA fight in U.S. television history.
Coker also said this past week that scheduling conflicts between his promotion and others were inevitable in the near future.
Today, he expressed regret that the issue had been framed as as a war between two promotions. He believes his promotion and the UFC can help each other in the long run, if not directly then by association.
"The thought of somebody trying to counter-program you just to hurt your number or try to hurt your business or to create confusion in the marketplace, I mean, that's something that just seems so unnecessary," Coker said.
"We're just trying to build the industry. Here's what I mean by that: when the fans get to watch these fights on TV for free, I think that's good for the sport. The more eyeballs we have on the sport, I think it's better for the industry as a whole. Maybe some people might not feel that way today, but I think in the long run, free TV is what keeps MMA alive."
The CEO pointed to the UFC's wildly successful cable reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," as proof that nearly-free TV exposure is a key to the future of MMA.
"Let's face it, before 'The Ultimate Fighter' came, my understanding is that the UFC was thinking about selling, and it was a failing business model," Coker said. "They didn't have free TV to drive the pay-per-view. So to me, the more eyeballs on free TV … we're building more fans that are not watching MMA just through the CBS platform and the Showtime platform. And I believe that we're getting crossover boxing fans from Showtime telecasts into our MMA telecasts.
"So it's good for the industry, and that's a great thing. So why fill it up with trying to hurt that model, or try to counter-progam us, or try to affect our credibility? … It baffles me because we're just trying to help. By us being off of TV – for instance, if we didn't have a free TV model – we're not making the impact that we can make.
"When a company like CBS says we're going to get behind this and we believe in it, that's a great day."
