One of the only interesting stories that has surfaced within the last week in the world of mixed martial arts revolves around former WWE wrestler and two-time NAIA national collegiate wrestling champion Bobby Lashley. Lashley, 33, signed with what many writers consider to be the consensus #2 major mixed martial arts promotion in North America in Strikeforce back in December after going 4-0 in his first four professional fights. Strikeforce hopes to bank on Lashley’s crossover appeal as a former WWE wrestler much like the UFC’s Brock Lesnar, but his trail to becoming a drawing power for Strikeforce hit a snag last Thursday.
According to MMAJunkie.com, Lashley’s opponent, Yohan Banks (2-1, 2-0 Strikeforce), was not cleared by the Florida State Boxing Commission as they determined the bout was “not competitive”. Surprisingly, there was a lot of celebratory applause from fans for the FSBC because it was perceived that Strikeforce was simply setting up Lashley for an easy win.
Jimmy Ambriz (14-12-1) was later approved by the FSBC to take on Lashley, which only further solidified the opinion that Strikeforce wasn’t interested in challenging Lashley. Strikeforce has yet to determine if they will allow Ambriz vs. Lashley to happen or find a better opponent. Public opinion seems to be affecting what may happen.
Michael David Smith called it “boxing-style matchmaking” as it looked as if Strikeforce was trying to pad Lashley’s record:
Banks has dabbled in both boxing and MMA, building an MMA record of 2-1 and a boxing record of 2-3-3. The main reason Strikeforce and Showtime thought he’d be a good opponent for Lashley is that they thought he’d be an easy opponent for Lashley: They wanted to give Lashley a fight they were sure he’d win, padding his record to promote him for bigger fights down the road.
While I’m definitely a “purist” when it comes to seeing quality fights, the war between promotional value and quality matchmaking rears its ugly head in this debacle. An undefeated fighter with the wrestling credentials that Lashley has should be taking on better competition, and there are plenty of examples of high-level wrestlers taking on some of the best right out of the gate. But that isn’t the major issue here.
The debate really comes down to protecting assets that have been deemed as having huge upside in terms of promotional value versus giving the fans what they want in quality matchmaking. For the fans, it’s a pretty easy decision. We want the best fights possible, and Lashley vs. Banks doesn’t present that to us. We’ve already sat through Bob Sapp, Jason Guida, and Mike Cook; we want a legitimate opponent.
But from a business standpoint, the easier fight in Banks makes sense in bringing Lashley into the mainstream on Showtime. He’s only fought on one televised card in MFC 21 on HDNet, and Ultimate Chaos and March Badness had limited PPV buys. MDS has it right. Strikeforce did want to give Lashley an easier fight in order to promote him for bigger fights, but I think it has more to do with the exposure he receives rather than the size of his win column
I can’t say I would join the angry mob of fans looking to chide Strikeforce for their decisions. I’m not in the promoter’s shoes on this one, but I can understand their reasoning. As a hardcore fan, I want to see Lashley against a legitimately tough opponent, but I’m sure Showtime and Strikeforce don’t want to miss out on an investment by pushing him into a tough challenge right out the gate. It’s a fine line that Scott Coker will need to walk along.