Business as Usual?: 10 Major Events in the Year Since Zuffa Bought Strikeforce

One year ago to the day, Zuffa shocked the MMA world by buying Strikeforce, their top competitor and a promotion on the rise. Strikeforce and Showtime had set records on the network with their Heavyweight Grand Prix and the sky seemed the limit for the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion.

Suddenly they were the UFC's little brother, a promotion with no identity. UFC President Dana White told a skeptical press it would be "business as usual." Has it? Take a look at all the craziness that has gone down in the last year and decide for yourself.

10. Nick Diaz Wows Fans, Promptly Abandons Strikeforce Belt

The first major Strikeforce event under the Zuffa banner pitted Nick Diaz against Paul Daley for the promotion's welterweight title. In many ways, this truly was business as usual. Diaz and Daley put on a great show in one of the best fights of the year.

What happened later? Much less "usual," but all about business. Two months after his fight with Daley, Diaz vacated the title to challenge Georges St-Pierre for his UFC belt.

9. Say Goodbye, Strikeforce Employees

According to MMA Payout:

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A few days after 5/9, Scott Coker and Peter Dropick met with the old Strikeforce staff individually to inform them that their services would no longer be required to avoid operational overlap and inefficiencies.

A couple of staff members were offered positions to join Zuffa, but accepting the job would required a move to Las Vegas, which was not seen as a desirable move for those that were already established in Northern California. Those few opted to stay in the Bay Area instead.

Those that were willing to relocate and accept an offer from Zuffa were not offered a position. 

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8. Zuffa Releases Alistair Overeem so Zuffa Can Sign Overeem

In the most transparent bit of double dealing, wink, wink, tomfoolery, Alistair Overeem is "released" by Strikeforce after an injury forces him to delay the Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Overeem, of course, almost immediately signed with the UFC and headlined a December card against Brock Lesnar.

7. Fedor Emelianenko, the Face of Strikeforce, Leaves the Promotion

Strikeforce and Showtime thought they had a coup when they signed Fedor Emelianenko. Long considered the top fighter in the world, he came with instant bragging rights attached. When he lost for a third consecutive time, to light heavyweight Dan Henderson on July 30, 2011, Zuffa let him go.

True to their contentious relationship, Fedor's management team at M-1 Global disputed whether he was actually released, contending he had never signed with Strikeforce anyway:

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"Fedor's contract is with Showtime," M-1 Global representative Evgeni Kogan told MMA Nation's Jonathan Snowden. "He remains a Showtime fighter, on a network which has been amazing to Fedor and the team."

"Strikeforce is not the only MMA promotion on Showtime," Kogan said. "So there are a number of options for Fedor which will be looked at. And one of those is to work with the other MMA promotion currently on Showtime."

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6. Another One Bites the Dust: Dan Henderson Back to UFC

Dan Henderson, the MMA legend who abandoned the UFC for a shot at superstardom in Strikeforce, returned to the loving embrace of UFC President Dana White.

Fresh off a win over Fedor Emelianenko (funny how beating Fedor immediately puts you in Dana's good graces), Henderson left his Strikeforce light heavyweight title on Coker's doorstep. The title has been vacant since.

Henderson may have had few choices about where to ply his trade, but he got off a good one-liner in an interview with UFC.com's Thomas Gerbasi:

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"I didn't know what to expect," Henderson said. "When I left the UFC and went to Strikeforce, I didn't know what was in the future. It was always a possibility; I knew the UFC wasn't going anywhere and I know I didn't leave on bad terms at all, so it was a matter of how things worked out at Strikeforce. And (UFC President) Dana (White) missed me so much he had to go buy Strikeforce."

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5. Ken Hershman Leaves Showtime; Dana White Smiles Inside

Hershman, who had helped run Showtime's combat sports program since 1992, was MMA's biggest supporter at Showtime. He and White had gone toe to toe in several sets of negotiations. To say there is bad blood is a disservice to bad blood. It's much worse.

When Hershman couldn't sign the UFC to the network, he went elsewhere to create an MMA show of his own, telling Sports Illustrated:

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"We want to make sure that people understand our place in this sport," he continued. "We're putting a lot of money and commitment into this sport. We're in it for the long run. We're not going anywhere, despite what anyone may suggest. All the kicking and screaming makes us hold true to that more firmly."

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His October 2011 departure to HBO might have signaled the end of Showtime's big-money investment in the sport.

Hershman was the man who green-lighted expensive acquisitions like Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko. Without him, a future UFC competitor on Showtime faces a much harsher battle for resources.

4. Strikeforce Challengers: No More

The Strikeforce Challengers series was designed to allow rising stars a chance to experience the thrills and pressures of main eventing a show...before they made it to the big time.

Miesha Tate, Sarah Kaufman and heavyweights Lavar Johnson, Daniel Cormier, and Shane del Rosario were all developed there.

The event also featured one of the best announce teams in MMA history with Stephen Quadros and Pat Miletich joining play-by-play man Mauro Ranallo. Like the Challengers shows, Nov. 18, 2011, signaled the end of my favorite announce team as well.

3. Heavyweights? Schmeavyweights. Strikeforce Goes Small

At the beginning of 2011, there was a legitimate question as to which MMA promotion had the best heavyweight class. I broke it down earlier this year at Caged In:

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Strikeforce was going to go big. Their signature event for the year, a "Heavyweight Grand Prix," would pit eight of the best gargantuans in the sport in a winner-take-all tournament with bragging rights at stake.

The first show set viewer records on Showtime and sparked plenty of debate. Were Strikeforce's best heavyweights on par with the top fighters in the UFC? It was an unthinkable question.

No promotion had matched the UFC fighter for fighter in any weight class since the Japanese Pride Fighting Championships went under in a wave of controversy and accusations of Japanese mafia involvement back in 2007. Fans were intrigued.

Were fighters like Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum really the equals of UFC greats like Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos? Battles on message boards and in the comments sections of MMA sites all over the Internet were fierce. Strikeforce had hit a nerve. 

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By the end of the year? Dana White announced that the division was on life support. After the Grand Prix and "one more fight," the Strikeforce heavyweights would be no more.

2. Cyborg Goes Bust

Cris Cyborg, the new face of women's MMA, tests positive for steroids. With her subsequent suspension, half of the Strikeforce titles are now vacant. From the athletic commission release:

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The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) has suspended the license of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Cristiane Justino Santos, better known in MMA circles as Cris Cyborg, and has fined her $2,500 as the result of a positive test for a banned substance.

Santos' Dec. 16, 2011 drug test came back positive for stanozolol metabolites. CSAC learned of the test results Dec. 23, 2011 and suspended Santos's license, with the suspension applied retroactively to Dec. 16, 2011.

In accordance with Rule 368, the result of her last fight between Hiroko Yamanaka will be changed to a "No Decision."

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1. Ronda Rousey Proves It's Not All Bad News

Sure, it's been an awful year for Strikeforce. Enter Ronda Rousey, ready to provide that cloud with a silver-lined armbar. With her dismantling of Miesha Tate, Rousey has become the new face of the women's game.

Compelling, beautiful and an amazing fighter, Rousey gives us hope that Strikeforce will still be worth watching in 2012.