Not long ago, it appeared that the Strikeforce promotion was taking its last gasps. Zuffa’s purchase of the organization and the subsequent departures of champions like Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem seemed to be the final nails in one MMA‘s most successful companies.
Then, news came that Zuffa and Showtime had come to an unlikely agreement that would extend the life of Strikeforce beyond the end of 2011. The deal has allowed remaining Strikeforce champs like Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold to continue defending their respective titles.
This Saturday, Rockhold will get the chance to defend his middleweight title for the first time in Strikeforce’s first event of 2012. To build anticipation for the event, Showtime released the above video preview for Rockhold’s bout against Keith Jardine.
The bout will serve as the main event of a card that will air on Showtime. Conveniently, the event takes place during a weekend in which Showtime will be providing a free preview of its premium channel to non-subscribers.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.
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