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Barring an unforeseen last-minute snag, Strikeforce to fold; Ronda Rousey and others headed to UFC | Cagewriter - Yahoo! Sports
About time this happens. Strikeforce is a joke and UFC already took almost all of their top guys when they purchased them - Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Jason Miller, Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva, and Cung Le. Melendez should have been brought over a long time ago too.
About time this happens. Strikeforce is a joke and UFC already took almost all of their top guys when they purchased them - Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Jason Miller, Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva, and Cung Le. Melendez should have been brought over a long time ago too.
Multiple sources confirmed to Yahoo! Sports Thursday that Zuffa has reached a deal with Showtime to end the Strikeforce promotion sometime early in 2013, a move that will bring superstar Ronda Rousey into the UFC.
Neither UFC president Dana White nor UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta could be reached for comment on Strikeforce's demise, which was first reported Thursday by TMZ. Chris DeBlasio, a spokesman for Showtime, which has broadcast Strikeforce events since 2009, declined comment.
The plan is for the promotion to fold after a Jan. 12 card in Oklahoma City, in which all of the Strikeforce men's champions will defend their belts. A source stressed that nothing has been signed and, thus, things could change.
That, however, appears unlikely, given the frequently rocky relationship between White and Showtime officials. Folding the promotion into the UFC would also follow Zuffa's pattern.
Zuffa purchased Strikeforce from Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment in March 2011, reportedly for more than $40 million. Given that Zuffa had previously purchased competitors PRIDE, World Fighting Alliance and World Extreme Cagefighting and merged them into the UFC, speculation mounted almost instantly about Strikeforce's future.
Strikeforce cards in September and November were canceled as the tensions between the sides heated.
Details are sparse about how the merger will work and when Strikeforce fighters will begin appearing on UFC cards.
White, though, likes to do things in a major way and it wouldn't be a shock to see Rousey defend her belt in February in Las Vegas on the UFC's annual Super Bowl weekend card. That's one of the company's biggest shows of the year and, given that Rousey hasn't fought since defeating Sarah Kaufman on Aug. 18, would be a perfect launching point for her career.
Whether she will be the first woman to actually fight in the cage is questionable. When Strikeforce ends, the UFC will assume the contracts of its women's fighters. White told Yahoo! Sports last month that women such as ex-champions Miesha Tate and Cris "Cyborg" Santos and Sara McMann, a wrestling silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, would also fight in the UFC.
Other elite fighters in Strikeforce who would be headed to the UFC include heavyweight Daniel Cormier, middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and welterweight champion Nate Marquardt. Melendez is rated seventh in the current Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound ratings.
Neither UFC president Dana White nor UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta could be reached for comment on Strikeforce's demise, which was first reported Thursday by TMZ. Chris DeBlasio, a spokesman for Showtime, which has broadcast Strikeforce events since 2009, declined comment.
The plan is for the promotion to fold after a Jan. 12 card in Oklahoma City, in which all of the Strikeforce men's champions will defend their belts. A source stressed that nothing has been signed and, thus, things could change.
That, however, appears unlikely, given the frequently rocky relationship between White and Showtime officials. Folding the promotion into the UFC would also follow Zuffa's pattern.
Zuffa purchased Strikeforce from Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment in March 2011, reportedly for more than $40 million. Given that Zuffa had previously purchased competitors PRIDE, World Fighting Alliance and World Extreme Cagefighting and merged them into the UFC, speculation mounted almost instantly about Strikeforce's future.
Strikeforce cards in September and November were canceled as the tensions between the sides heated.
Details are sparse about how the merger will work and when Strikeforce fighters will begin appearing on UFC cards.
White, though, likes to do things in a major way and it wouldn't be a shock to see Rousey defend her belt in February in Las Vegas on the UFC's annual Super Bowl weekend card. That's one of the company's biggest shows of the year and, given that Rousey hasn't fought since defeating Sarah Kaufman on Aug. 18, would be a perfect launching point for her career.
Whether she will be the first woman to actually fight in the cage is questionable. When Strikeforce ends, the UFC will assume the contracts of its women's fighters. White told Yahoo! Sports last month that women such as ex-champions Miesha Tate and Cris "Cyborg" Santos and Sara McMann, a wrestling silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, would also fight in the UFC.
Other elite fighters in Strikeforce who would be headed to the UFC include heavyweight Daniel Cormier, middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and welterweight champion Nate Marquardt. Melendez is rated seventh in the current Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound ratings.