Fighters Not Happy With Strikeforce Promotion
Posted on 13 Jul 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

Tyron Woodley, Luke Rockhold and Tim Kennedy spoke today with MMAjunkie about their displeasure regarding the lack of promotion for Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy, which goes down this weekend. Check out the highlights:

Woodley on the low promotion level in Portland and elsewhere: "I just came from Vegas, where they had 2,000 people at the weigh-in. I think it's a disrespect to Strikeforce. It should be advertised a little bit more." (MMAjunkie notes the crowd was actually around 8,000)

Rockhold on being billed as a "surfer dude" in Showtime's promos for the show: "I think it sucks. They're struggling, man. A fighter/athlete/surfer? C'mon. How am I supposed to look against the Army Ranger/warrior/Green Beret? That's what I hate about it."

Kennedy at the lack of turnout for the press conference: "Take a picture. There's not a single goddamn reporter here. There's four of you guys. This is two title fights for Strikeforce. It's crystal clear that nobody gives a [expletive]. They don't. I knock Rockhold out on Saturday night? Changes nothing for me. Nothing in, like, what media publications are going to cover me, who talks about me, sponsors I'm going to get. Do you know how much money I didn't make in sponsors for this fight because nobody cares about Strikeforce? It's insane. I'm fighting one of the best fighters on the planet. Not top 10 – like top five. I'm very confident that both Luke and I would clean house all the way to the top one or two guys in the UFC that could finally give us a fight, and nobody cares. It doesn't make any sense. Just the ignorance of the sport and the athletes, there's no way we can change that unless you let us fight other guys outside of the organization, and that's just not going to happen. I fight for me. I don't fight for the media, which is very clear, right? I fight because I want to know I'm the best I could have been as a fighter."

Woodley on the show deserving better: "This is the best card of the year, from top to bottom. There's not a bad fight on the card. It's Portland and everybody doesn't live on this coast, so it's tough for them to travel. But in reality, that's why we have it on Showtime."