Erin Toughill Says That Showtime Is Calling The Shots At Strikeforce

brokenneverbeat · 04-29-2010, 04:40 PM

Erin Toughill Says That Showtime Is Calling The Shots At Strikeforce - MMA For Real

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Fiveknuckles.com has a very in-depth interview with women's MMA veteran Erin Toughill in which she touches Strikeforce women's champion Cyborg Santos, women's mma in general, and why she's not fighting for Strikeforce. Plus a ton of other stuff. Below is an excerpt and you can read the entire thing here.

Quote:

I don't know. I don't know anything. When I pulled out in November 2009, I said I'd be ready to fight in January. And you know what they told me? I might not fight for SIX MONTHS. SIX MONTHS? So that is why I asked to fight for another promotion (still being under contract with Strikeforce) and the let me fight for FCF in late January. And you know, that did not work out either. Some people with Strikeforce were holding up the process for weeks. It was basic stuff that could have been handled, but it was put off for weeks. So by the time it got closer to a fight, then it got harder and harder to find an opponent. Potential opponents were still given four/five weeks to train, and seven people STILL said no. So I trained six weeks (again) for another fight that did not go through.

......

For those who do NOT know, Showtime has the final say for Strikeforce, so they pulled me again for this April card in Nashville, TN. So I had done ANOTHER FIVE WEEK camp, and then I'm told (again) I might not be fighting. This was the THIRD time this happened with Strikeforce, and this is what prompted me to "pull out" completely from Strikeforce because I could not handle this anymore. So I plan to fight in the coming months, but I cannot say who it will be for, because I do not know. And frankly, I do not care; just want to FIGHT. People just really need to stop coming down on me, especially for this most recent April fight. It goes all the way back to Gina vs. Cyborg undercard! I was ON the website, on the card... Toughill vs. TBA. They never sent me a bout agreement because they decided not to use me. Then I was a "stand in" for that card; I was never sent an agreement of any kind.

In November 2009, I pulled out for a LEGIT INJURY. In January, I was stopped from fighting for the THIRD time. The final one was this April Strikeforce card. In late February, I was told I was going to fight... then weeks before? Once again, told I was "not fighting." But when I pulled out completely, they said they had an opponent. They did not have one at that time and my representative was not informing me correctly, which once again, led to miscommunication and me not fighting for the FOURTH time. What people need to know, is Scott Coker does not make these decisions - it is SHOWTIME. So Showtime has basically pulled me from all these cards, yet people are wondering "WHY" I could not take it anymore? LOL

So this is the second person(the other being UFC president Dana White) that has come out and publically said that Showtime is basically running Strikeforce. Personally, I'd love to see her and Cyborg go at it. Do you think this is sour apples or legitimate claim on her behalf in regards to how her relationship with Strikeforce has gone?

lwbrewer · 04-29-2010, 04:54 PM

Weather or not it is true it makes sense, especially after SF's last show. It had TV realality all over it.

beau420 · 04-29-2010, 05:22 PM

It would be nice if she disclosed what the injury was. I always find it fishy when fighters do that....especially way after the fact....would be nice if she revealed what it was that made her bow out. October 27th it was announced she wouldn't make her Strikeforce debut on November 7th. I could see how Strikeforce would be a little mad. 11 days before the event and the fight was scheduled to be televised.

Legit injury despite getting married to Neil Melanson (Xtreme Couture grappling coach) on November 20, 2009?

I'd love to see her weigh-in....I mean fight for Strikeforce which is one of the only places female fighters can fight in front of a televised crowd.

There are a ton of female fighters out there...would be nice if Strikeforce committed to have at least 1 female fight per card....televised or not.

I really don't know how much weight I would put into her inside knowledge of Strikeforce's workings.

GL Jeff · 04-29-2010, 06:19 PM

I think once the 155 division in the WEC merges over to the UFC, they should open up a women's division. They could easily get a good number of decent female fighters in little time. And have 1-2 female fights a card. At least that way their would be stability offered, and decent paychecks.

mattc25 · 04-29-2010, 11:24 PM

...Lawler and Hughes inferred that Showtime calls the shots. Lawler was supposed to fight December,but his fight was postponed for Manhoef. SF was hoping Melvin was gonna win that one.

... Dana has always said his problem is not with SF or Coker,but Showtime. It seems to me SF's production value is a carbon copy of what Showtime did with EliteXC......network TV is obviously not the answer,especially when you have CBS gay ass promoting......they need to drop Showtime and get another deal with HDNet if they wanna survive for the long haul.

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