Scott Coker is in no rush signing Kimbo Slice and Paul Daley
Posted on May 11, 2010, 04:35 AM by Anton GurevichStrikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated that he will not run out of his skin to sign the Ultimate Fighting Championship outcasts Kimbo Slice and Paul "Semtex" Daley. Kimbo was released from the UFC after failing to impress against the fellow TUF 10 participant Matt Mitrione at the UFC 113 main card, as Paul Daley decided to cheap shot Josh Koscheck at the co-main event of the same night.
Both fighters were immediately cut by the UFC President Dana White, but despite being relatively short on talent, Scott Coker is not overexcited with the potential Herschel Walker-Kimbo Slice fight and the addition of Paul Daley to the Strikeforce roster:
"I'm sure we'll get a call, but let's what happens. Who knows? [Daley] could be on suspension for four to six months. He's not going to be able to fight. I don't think that type of reaction or behavior from a fighter will be accepted. It's just unacceptable.
You're like the sixth person who's contacted me saying, ‘Hey, you have to put together Herschel Walker vs. Kimbo Slice.' The thing is with Kimbo is he was successful with the ratings, but when we purchased (the contracts) from Pro Elite, the deal at that time (for Kimbo), we felt was too rich for long-term viability...We haven't revisited it internally yet, so as of right now I think we're going to stick with our course, which is putting on the best fighters in the world in the best matchups.
The fighters that are important to develop our reach and growth, and are important to Showtime and CBS, we're going to keep those fighters. We've proven that we can stay in the game at the highest level with these athletes because believe me, Fedor (Emelianenko) is not a cheap fighter."
Strikeforce present this Saturday their long-anticipated Heavy Artillery event, headlined by the Heavyweight Title Fight between Alistair "The Demolition Man" Overeem, and Brett "The Grim" Rogers. The event will take place at the 20,000-capable Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Another Heavyweight bout between Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva will serve as the co-main event of the night.
Credit: Sherdog.com
Comments
BWAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA! LOLOLOL!
*out of breath from laughing so hard*
Oh yeah uh no. We're not desperately in need of talent and big promotable names. Nope. See, we'll even wait a couple days before offering them absolutely anything they want.
ston3pony = automatic "weak".
Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley would like to see tht if it could happen
i was thinking the same thing!
Diaz vs Daley = world war 3 hahaha
Daley got Dominated , He doesnt have what it takes to be a champion. Todays MMA fighters need stand-up as well as ground game not just one or the other
man i thought sf would be all over binbo and daley lmao,point proving dont sucker punch someone its bitchmade and no one likes that type of shit
i hope nobody signs daleys bitch ass, i used to like him before that sucker punch
...I don't know... I can't say I'm a big fan of 10 guys on one either. I don't know about you guys but, I'd actually really like to see Daley KO Diaz cold ...(and that's cause I'm Hispanic.) Guys like Diaz give us a bad name and dishonor the sport.
indeed
@ ston3pony
WEAK X4 in my behalf!
stfu you brainless nuthuger
after the last strikeforce cbs and showtime may not let him sign a guy like daley for fear of bringing the wrong image to thei networks
They will sign Kimbo. They need him.. They will wait until the deal is sweetened.
I'm not a Strikeforce fan but from a business standpoint it would be insane not to consider signing both fighters, especially Daley. Daley could easily reform his reputation by perform a long term mea culpa in Strikeforce and win back fans, possibly resutling in White eating his own words.
I think Dana made the right decision, however, as usual he let his emotions get the best of him in stating he would "never" fight in the UFC again. Why did he say this? His interview with Ariel explains it clearly that when he approached Daley after the punch and asked him what happened, this exchange took place:
" . . . he said he didn't hear the bell and I asked him 'do you want to continue to fight in the UFC' and he shrugged his shoulders and there you go, now you won't."
Clearly, Dana was intimating that his perma ban wasn't final until after this exchange (Ariel pushed this and asked that if he had gotten the right response, would he still be in the UFC to which Dana replied "I don't know, probably not"). So, Daley is not banned FOREVER simply because of his actions last Saturday night, it was his refusal to kiss Dana's ring afterwords. Why else would he make a statement like that? If the punishment fit the crime based on the crime alone, why was the decision final only after Daley refused to say the right things to Dana in the ring?
This is why you can't make rash decisions on the spot; especially from a hothead like White.
The only way Strikeforce won't sign them both is if they get better offers somewhere else.
But consider this, Dana has been a on warpath trying to smear the closest threat to him business wise, if Coker decides to sign both fighters up, Dana will be all over that in a heart beat and probably thrash talk SF about taking in sloppy seconds from the UFC
I agree that Dana's word is worthless, but if you look at how he handled Sobral and Diaz he's actually been very consistent with how he's dealt with this sort of behaviour.
Kimbo should be a given though. You could always feed him to a HW for the kicks of it and people would still tune in cause he's a very likeable underdog.
I sort of agree. But it's like when I was a kid. If I did something bad, My dad would boot me up the ass or whatever. But If I then lied about it or whatever, then I got an even bigger ass whooping. Not because of emotions, but because I made it worse for myself.
I think what Daley did was bad, But if he had said "I let the emotions get to me" etc. Instead of BS'ing about the bell, then we would have less of an issue.
They're not a threat to the UFC. Like most organizations trying to coast off UFC marketing and campaigning, they are spending money poorly and will probably go under either way. Two recognizable fighters being signed can only help them.
Kind of like the UFC did with Pride stonepony? Your very limited knowledge of MMA and its history is so blatantly obvious.
UFC started as a Gracie family promotion and after a few events it faded, was taken off ppv etc. A few years later Pride emerges with a new format where fighters are well rounded and its a serious organization and it becomes huge, MMA now becomes a legitimate sport and becomes the worlds fastest growing sport, UFC and Dana White rides this wave and with the renewed interest in MMA (due to Pride) is able to reinvent the UFC as an American version of Pride. Pride falls due to an internal scandal and the UFC seizes the opportunity and advances to the top of the food chain.
The UFC has only been the dominant promotion for a few years and you act like its been like this from the beginning of time.
And you know this, how?
Dude, get off Dana's NUTZ for G's sake! Listen to how you sound! LMAO!
What do you know about the accounting department in Strikeforce? The Management? All you tend to know is all the shit talking Dana does about them because the true fact is that Dana feels threatened!
All they want to do is grow and be competitive! That will be good for the sport of MMA! TRUST!
Nah I'm not like the silly children who obsess about promoters and petty drama. I'll leave that for you, the kinds of children who respond to everything with a very retarded *DUH* lolol get off their nuts lolol *DUH* as if you just said something worth saying.
If you think their one big draw, Fedor, who isn't even fighting for the belt, is going to keep them afloat, then you just must not have been paying attention for the last decade.
Must of these people does not even recognized what Pride did for the sport, they think that it was all Dana´s hard work, but actually the one casting off in that time. Just remember he took Chuck Liddell to Pride to prove he had the best fighters in the world, because in a global scale Pride was known for that, and what happen he gets his ass kicked and does not even makes it to the finals, and the guy who beat him looses the finals by KO. years later the same guy (Rampage) knocks Liddell out to become the UFC LHW champion, I know that UFC is the best promotion right now, but SF is what UFC was at that time for Pride.
Yes, everyone looks good when they're roided out of their brain p4p. Is that news to you? This is why nearly all Pride fighters have been humiliated and embarrassed when they attempt to come over to an organization that tests. They look slow and tired and half of what they were. No honest person can deny it, there are only a small handful of exceptions out of the entire Pride organization.
Machida LHW champion
Shogun LHW Champion
Rampage LHW Champion
Anderson Silva MW Champion
Big Nog HW interin Champion
LIl Nog one of the top contenders
Dan Henderson was # 1 contender and gave the hardest round to Anderson Silva.
The ones that did not do good in UFC were washed up like Crocop and Wanderlei Silva.
Conclusion Pride figthers are dominating the UFC.
I rest my case.
Still on your campaign against everything not born of UFC eh? lol
weird
I don't remember Machida in Pride. Lil Nog can't be considered a contender yet. But I do agree that Pride fighters are making moves in the UFC.
yeah you are right I was confused with K-1 that belongs to FEG. so take Machida out the list.
Yes it was a failure until some smart people bought it. And no, Pride hadn't created an MMA market here, and they hadn't created an MMA market that was anywhere even close to as big as the UFC has gotten. Roided out monsters are exciting, but they failed for a reason.
If you think another promotion has done anything even the same universe for the advancement of MMA as the UFC did, then you're simply smoking crack or something.
They went Global before UFC actually UFC is not a US thing only just because the market that Pride created before, you need to remember that there are other countries beside the US, and to those countries Pride got first.
The market was minuscule compared to what it was turned in to through smart business planning and marketing.
Why because it was not on your tv?
They had to sell because of a mafia scandal, there is not other reason.
@ ston3pony
"It was a failure until some smart people bought it?" WTF, get your head out of your ass and think before you write none-sense.
You mean to tell me SEG had a bunch of idiots running the show before the Zuffa purchase? Do you recall Dana White was an aerobics instructor? LOL!
SEG was batteling law suits left and right and they where running out of money. Zuffa paid 2 million in 01' and bought the UFC and created the parent entity controlling the UFC.
Keep in mind that from 01-04' the UFC was still experiencing financial deficits and had acquired 34 million in losses. What saved the UFC was the Ultimate Fighter which gave the UFC the visibility and the PPV #'s exploded!
Ask yourself this question:
who cares?
He's trying not to look desperate when in actuality he is!!
I think they are goign to sign at least one of them, but Coker is just being smart and not rushing things up, he knows that smaller organizations will try to get them but after all SF is one of the best MMA leagues and it is getting biger, so this time they are not going to throw crazy money to Daley or Kimbo instead they are going to play like they do not care if they signed them or not and they will get them for cheap...
Strikeforce does not need to loose credibility in signing Kimbo Slice. That would make a joke out of the organization. Go for raw talent and it is a good thing that they are focused on their development and growth with high level fighters.
I seriously doubt CBS or Showtime will risk anything to do with Kimbo after the fiasco that happened at EliteXC with Seth Petruzelli!
Kimbo should try Bellator. That is a good fit for him.
Daley I don't think they will ever sign. StrikeForce is still trying to get its legs on the ground. Signing Daley could bring alot of negative's to their Promotion. Kimbo is different he is what they need. He is prolly the second most popular fighter in the world, right behind Lesnar. He is what they need to get noticed.
"kimbo is the most popular fighter in the world, right behind Lesnar"
where comes this ranking from??? you cant believe this shit!!!!
he said popular, not best...
i would say more people know who kimbo slice is than lyoto machida or anderson silva. at least in this country....
because of their past, they have had more exposure to mainstream media
Manhoef vs Daley could be good.
I dont know why the denial here is so thick.
Scott Coker is going to sign Kimbo and Paul Daley... end of story.
Maybe Coker will sign Kimbo and Daley in conjunction with their last live event to pull in some WWE Fans. When Brock gets kicked out for losing badly to Carwin, he will be the crown jewel of Strikeforce.
put all UFC champions vs SF champions in UFC Shogun gona be the only one standing.SF is 20 years in front of UFC no womens devision yet.
Crack kills your brain cells son.
@ston3pony
dude u posted in this thread like 10 times, calm the **** down wid dat shit mang
Who knew? the only thing we need it to shut his non sense mouth was you asking him to do it...
Its a natural reaction of SF... they are showing their ego..
But its obvious that they gonna sign them both.
i don't smoke
i don't like Kimbo's fighting style he didn't do anything wrong and got kicked just for loosing a fight.
I think he should sign them. Daley's a great fighter (stupid, but a great fighter), and Kimbo still has potential and box office draw if nothing else. so why not? He's probably got them locked up in a hotel room somewhere so they cannot talk to other promotions.