That Tweet from the official UFC Twitter account (@UFC) says it all, doesn’t it?
On the weekend you decide to work because the biggest news items were the Shark Fights 14 and Bellator 36 events, you check your smart phone at lunch to find out the internet has blown up over the biggest news in North American mixed martial arts history.
So The MMA News is behind the eight ball this afternoon, so we’ll do our best to catch everyone up.
UFC President Dana White made the official announcement today that Zuffa, the parent company to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has purchased rival promotion Strikeforce and it will be “business as usual” for both companies.
Sorry folks no “Super Fights” are going to be scheduled between the two promotions, so you won’t get to see Alistair Overeem vs. Cain Velasquez, or Nick Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre….right now.
White made it very plain during an interview with Arien Helwani, that the UFC does not “co-promote” and that includes Strikeforce even though it’s owned by the same company. The UFC President did say that all Strikeforce contracts would be honored and the company would be run much like the WEC was.
White noted that Showtime and Strikeforce have about two years left on their broadcasting contract, so I would expect the promotion to have that much of a lifetime left before it’s wholly absorbed by the UFC. Also, it’s likely that once fighters have completed their current contract with Strikeforce, they would be free to make the move to the UFC. So it’s likely that we’ll only see a few of Strikeforce’s best move over to the UFC, but as more contracts are completed more of the top fighters will find a new home with the top promotion.
This is also excellent news for some fighters who find themselves being released from the UFC, as we could see some very good fighters find new homes in Strikeforce. Once there, they’ll have the chance to prove themselves to show they deserve to be moved back into the UFC. With Strikeforce they will have fights against tough opponents and a guaranteed paycheck from an established promotion backed by money from a billion dollar company.
Much more to get through, but this is certainly one interesting day.