Thank You to EA Sports
Jay Heiron and Joe Riggs might not be fighting on Showtime come this Saturday, but they will at least be seen, just as long as you have some way of streaming the fight. While Herschel Walker and Greg Nagy will be on the main card of the Strikeforce: Miami card, two fighters who not too long ago where originally supposed to be fighting one Nick Diaz for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Championship, was seemingly pushed to the back burner, to make room for Herschel Walker and his MMA debut.
Fans scoffed at the idea of having two fighters who have a combined 2 pro fights between them, both belonging to Nagy, to be broadcast on the main card of the January 30th event, while Hieron and Riggs was put on the preliminary card. Thanks to EASportsMMA.com, at least will be able to catch the fight, as long as they have access to the internet. While it’s TV, at least it’s something for the fans.
Talking to MMA news site MMAjunkie.com, Randy Chase, the Product Marketing Manager for EA Sports told them, “It was a discussion that came up between Strikeforce, Showtime and EA Sports during planning meetings. All parties had seen the MMA community interest in the fight and wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see. We are committed to growing the sport and supporting the fighters in our game, so we were happy to play a part in bringing this fight to the fans.”
Not only is this a good thing for all parties involved, it shows that people do in fact listen to the fans and what they want. From a marketing stand-point, having a former Hiesman Trophy winner and NFL running back could bring in fans, it still has that “sideshow” feel that we have come to see from other MMA Organizations, as if I need to remind everyone about the Super Hulk tournament DREAM gave us.
This won’t be the first time Strikeforce will use the web to stream fights, as they have broadcast fights before ProElite.com and Yahoo! Sports, as well has using Showtime to broadcast an interactive webcast so fans can view fights from different viewpoints, it still shows that the fans opinions actually matter. So while Walker will make his MMA debut on Showtime, Riggs and Heiron will hope people can catch their fight streaming on EASportsMMA.com.
It’s not TV, but at least it’s something.
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