Photo by Sergio Non for USA Today
That was the message Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White had for the press during Thursday’s media call announcing the new broadcast deal between Strikeforce and Showtime.
The “new” look for Strikeforce will see the promotion concentrate on it’s deeper divisions which includes the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight weight classes. Also, the promotion will keep it’s Women’s bantamweight and featherweight divisions. White put it as “we’re keeping one division and ‘Cyborg,’” referencing women’s featherweight champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos.
As to the fate of the current heavyweight tournament finalists, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker had this to say.
“What you’ll see after the event with the tournament finals between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, you’ll see one more fight where the winner will fight a top-rated heavyweight and then we’re going to go back to focusing on our other weight classes.”
White was asked what would become of the fighters in that division once the final heavyweight bout was completed, the UFC president said he was uncertain what would be done with them.
It’s likely many of the top heavyweights would simply be rolled over into the Ultimate Fighting Championship.