Report: “Babalu,” Misaki to appear on next Strikeforce at the Playboy mansion card; event could air live on NBC
June 27, 2008 by Adam Morgan
MMA Rated recently conducted an interview with Scott Coker, the CEO of Strikeforce, regarding what’s ahead for the promotion. Coker had some very interesting things to say in the interview. Here are some highlights:
* There have been preliminary talks between Strikeforce and NBC to air a live event sometime in the future
* The next Strikeforce at the Playboy mansion show will take place the weekend of September 19th.
* Kazuo Misaki will be making his Strikeforce debut on the Playboy card. Also scheduled to fight at the mansion is Renato “Babalu” Sobral, the winner of Thomson/Melendez and, assuming his visa issues are straightened, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos.
* No word on which network will air the Playboy show but Coker did not rule out the possibility of it airing on the station that boasts a peacock as its logo.
Considering the relative success of Strikeforce’s Saturday night show given the time slot, it’s not hard to imagine them being on national television sooner than later. Coker knows what he’s doing. He’s running the only promotion outside of the UFC right now that’s in the black. Everyone else is bleeding money. He knows a good thing when he sees it and he has solid matchmaking to boot. Another promotion getting onto national television, especially one with Coker at the helm, can only put more pressure on the UFC to get a television deal done.
noice! i wonder if it’ll run after saturday night live, since it’ll be happening on west coast time? i’ve never seen a single strikeforce show, cus i dont have the right channels (and the recaps are on at a ridiculous hour). this will be a great introduciton if it happens. i could see the playboy angle drawing in alot of 18-34 viewers/pervs that wouldnt ordinarily watch an mma event.
“He’s running the only promotion outside of the UFC right now that’s in the black”
You mean Zuffa? Pretty sure WEC is making a nice profit.
I think the fascination with Hef and Playboy could really help draw the casual viewers to this. Could be very nice.
woooburn, you don’t get NBC? And I’m pretty sure they are talking about airing this in primetime.
I don’t really see EXC or SF putting pressure on UFC to get a tv deal done. UFC does just fine with their ppvs and are not in need of a network deal. I would say, instead, it puts pressure on Fox or ABC to up the ante and try to get the premier organization on their network.
I have to agree with those that think Dana may have done the right thing by not jumping blindly into the pool. I think he sees EXC as a sort of guinea pig for the whole thing.
bjjdenver has nailed the correct.
#3 - my post should have read…
“… i dont have the right channels OR the recaps are on at a ridiculous hour”
i get nbc, but i’m rarely awake, or at home, when the recap shows are on.
woooburn, thanks for responding, thought maybe I misunderstood or something.
Don’t know if you have HD or anything, but they replay the Strikeforce show on Universal HD the next day (during the daytime even!).
I also think they have the full episodes at nbc.com if you are interested.
nah, just have basic cable (or whatever package includes spike and vs), and a regular tv. had ‘the works’, but then i moved to a larger city and started supporting my lady, so she could go back to school. expenses kinda went through the roof. i’ll check out the online option though. thanks!
I definitely see Strikeforce being the WCW to UFC’s WWE. Theres a good chance that EliteXC will still crumble before reaching profitability. Strikeforce doesn’t need to make good money on the networks right away to be viable, so they can build up viewership on NBC over time.
I’ve been saying for a while that UFC should buy Strikeforce. They may not be able to soon.
When you consider how terrible the last strikeforce at the mansion was, things can only go up for this one.
I wonder if NBC will interfere with every fighter on the card coming out to “Welcome to the Jungle”. I hope not, that’s my favourite song from 1982 and it only gets better on the 12th consecutive playing.
Oh and editing-wise, please cut away from the middle of the fight at any time to show me some douche bag celebrity talking on their cell phone.
ahhhh basic and simple question.
Play boy mansion on NBC??? they hide bunnies from cam?
@#11 I saw the last Strikeforce @ the Playboy Mansion back in November or so and there were no boobies. The mansion apparently is not totally packed full of topless women, at least not when they are having sporting events there.
oh yeah i also watched it on yahoo streaming. Riggs has destroyed legendary Eugene Jackson. Frank called Thomson “the first openly gay MMA fighter”.
Kinda strange show. bunnies were all putting on fur coats, long time black out of screen between every fights. crowds were so quiet. i doubt they knew what they were watching.
i never thought they will have Strikeforce @ Playboy manshion again even i have found the news about the second strikeforce@playboy manshion this spring on mma calfornia.
the Ticket was like $1,000 last time, wasnt it? or most of them were celeb guests?
If EXC didnt wake up the UFC then Stikeforce live events on NBC should do it. I dont think it matters how much better the UFC is in the fight game if Joeblow down the street does not see them on one of the big 5(abc, cbs, nbc, fox, espn). In the media perception is reality hense all the people who talk about kimbo being good. There will come a point where the causal fan will only know about the promotion that is on network tv. Anyone who reads 5 ounces knows that mma is at the dawn of a new era. If EXC continues to post solid numbers or Strike force does well the ufc will become less and less relevant to the uneducated public
BJJDenver, I agree, that the success of EliteXC, and Strikeforce on CBS, and NBC just puts more pressure on ABC(ESPN), FOX, and even HBO to come up with programming that can beat their competition, and that is the UFC.
@#13 Yeah, it wasn’t the best show. I think you know more about it than I do, I had no idea how much tickets were
but I guess as long as the bunnies are clothed they’re fine for TV. In fact I’m pretty sure the UFC ring girls would be fine and they just wear hot pants and a sports bra.
Oops, I meant network TV. As opposed to Spike tv