The recent business history for the UFC, on appearances alone, have looked phenomenal:
1. Refusing to pay Dan Henderson his asking price, who then promptly lost to Jake Shields.
2. Refusing to acquiesce to M1-Global's unusually ridiculous demands, and refusing to recognize Fedor as the #1 HW - who then, of course, promptly lost.
3. Not only did Fedor lose, but he lost to an embarrassingly small audience on Showtime, more than probably demonstrating that, at this point, Fedor was not the U.S., draw we expected him to be.
If they weren't so painfully inept, and so very abject to making the correct decisions, I would almost feel for StrikeFARCE. They gambled on what they felt were two of the UFC's best (potential) assets, who both lost rather quickly after acquiring them!
The UFC, on the other hand, now gains an edge with subsequent negotiations, based on what the perception of these two events will ultimately be. Dana White can simply say to a manager, "Look what occurred to the last two defectors or those who decided not to sign." As well, after Saturday, Zuffa can lay claim to not only the inarguable best fighter in every division, but, also the vast majority of the top contenders.
While I may be off, here, the only fighters who "need" to fight in the UFC at this point are:
1. Melendez
2. Eddie Alvarez
3. Mo Lawal
4. übereem
5. Jake Shields (soon to be, at any rate).
6. Nick Diaz
Other than that, there are none who "need" to be fighting in the UFC - and by that, I mean that they are already fully developed fighters who ought to be fighting premiere competition. At some point, I would like to see prospects such as Del Resario, Cormier, Woodley, Askren and the like move over, but at this point, they should develop more.
P.S., I love Bellator.