The UFC IS MMA

Did you know there is a Strikeforce event this Saturday? It features a rematch that's been about 3 years in the making. Well, not really, but there is an intriguing rematch in the main event and a few good battles on the main card. You wouldn't know that unless you visited some of the more in depth MMA websites/blogs. Part of that is because Strikeforce just isn't big enough to cover. It's a part of the sport, so there is no doubt a certain amount of responsibility to cover the organization but for the most part they remain a small time regional promotion. This in spite of the fact that they've developed a very nice roster, even if it is full of UFC castoffs.

That's a major point here too. Most of the roster is filled with guys who either A) couldn't make it in the UFC, B) were there and weren't good enough to stay or C) have some sort of personal beef with Dana White. It's a decent organization that puts on mostly entertaining fights but they will always be number two. And nowhere does that make itself more evident than in the recent comments made by their very own Middleweight champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, via Fighters Only:

"I feel pretty good being the current champion of Strikeforce, but I want more than that. I’d like to fight in the UFC. But for now I’m cool on Strikeforce and I don’t intend to leave the event. I want to become the number one in my division… I want to win more titles, it’s all just starting for me."

What does that say about the promotion? He essentially comes out and says, and this is one of their champions mind you, that the UFC is the pinnacle of the sport. That if you haven't fought and won in the UFC then you haven't really done anything in today's mixed martial arts scene. PRIDE is dead and gone and never coming back. We may be seeing the day that there will never again be a serious competitor to the UFC. It's debatable as to whether or not that's a bad thing.