Strikeforce acquires select ProElite assets
The San Jose-based Strikeforce promotion has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire select assets from ProElite, Inc., including certain fighter contracts.
What does this mean? According to Sam Caplan, from Fiveouncesofpain.com, the CBS/Showtime contract was one of the crown jewels of the deal.
It's rumored Strikeforce could have shows on CBS within months. Strikeforce has always been the third best promotion in MMA, and the best non-Zuffa entity (both the UFC and WEC are Zuffa brands). The people there have experience in the sport and didn't try to bite off more than they could chew. The question now becomes, can Strikeforce, with the EliteXC roster additions and the CBS television deal, compete with the UFC?
Honestly, probably not. But it's still fun to speculate and competition in the sport is always healthy. Strikeforce is at least the most formidable challenge the UFC has had since the fall of PRIDE. I think the guys there know what they are doing a little bit better than the people in charge for EliteXC and Affliction.
Strikeforce already has some stars and if they add the contracts of the bigger EliteXC stars, that would make for a decent promotion. Alistair Overeem, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Brett Rogers, Robbie Lawler, Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Jorge Gurgel, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields and Gina Carano provide extra star power. How Kimbo Slice would fit into the mix is another story, and one I’m anxious to see Strikeforce deal with.
I don’t think it’s been released which contracts Strikeforce owns and which fighters it will have options on. Still, this is certainly a major development in the MMA scene, especially since many of those EliteXC fighters have been hanging out to dry for months.
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Comments
I agree that this is relatively big news. I think they will be somewhat competitive if they can acquire a good portion of the Affliction talent once they go belly up. I can't really imagine Affliction lasting much past Barnett/ Fedor, assuming they can put that together.
With the IFL and Elite XC failing, the talent is beginning to get less spread out. With more names on their roster starting to get recognition, they should be able to put together some decent cards. If they are able to continue the contract with CBS, I think they have a real shot at having some staying power. Cung Le is poised to be a Liddell like star, if he has a few title defenses on network TV. I'm not saying he is anywhere near that currently, but he is a really talented fighter and with network promotion behind him, people would start talking about whether or not he can take Silva, etc.
I am actually hoping that Affliction can fold and go the way of Strikeforce. That would make for a pretty solid organization. If by chance they were able to also attract some of the talent from Dream (Mousasi, Overeem, JZ, Alverez, Aoki, etc.) they would be quite competitive.
Posted by: Joshua F | February 6, 2009 1:12 PM