Strikeforce-Showtime Conference Call Wrap: Shamrock-Diaz, Future Plans, More

Strikeforce, in conjunction with Showtime, held a dual press conference this afternoon to discuss the purchase of EliteXC contracts, their return to Showtime and the future of the organization. Lots of great info inside if you're an MMA fan.

Showtime Senior VP and GM of Sports Events and Programming Ken Hershman, Strikeforce founder and CEO and Frank Shamrock were all on the call (seen above in the accompanying picture).

- The Apr. 11 date on Showtime was again confirmed, coming from the "home of Strikeforce" at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. The event will air live at 10 pm.

- No one from CBS was present for the call and no additional details from that deal were discussed.

- As we wrote earlier, Shamrock will take on Nick Diaz in the main event of the Apr. 11 show at a catchweight of 179 pounds.

- When asked if they would consider doing work with other promotions like they have in the past, Coker said that if the proposed fights make for compelling matchups that make sense for all parties, they'd be interested. If it was good for the business, he'd support it.

- They will not remain a West Coast-only promotion and hope to run in Connecticut for a casino show or in Atlantic City by the end of 2009.

- Shamrock said that at his age, he needs to fight more often and without large gaps as he's done in the past. On a fight with brother Ken:

"In reference to fighting Ken, it’s a fight I’d always want to do. I think it’s a very compelling story. Ken’s going through some personal and emotional problems right now and we’re letting him do that. But this fight is something that is very personal for me. I think it’s very important that we tell the story of the sport and the Shamrock family and what type of influence the family has had on the sport. I think it’s important that I kick his butt, but right now we’re putting it on the back burner."

He has no plans to watch Ken's fight this upcoming weekend as he's on baby duty (his words, not mine).

- There is no official deal with Kimbo Slice yet because of all of the legal issues with the contracts they purchased. They definitely want him and said their next step is to secure contracts with the fighters they want.

- Coker said they've been in touch with half of the fighter roster and is expecting to have contacted the other half by Wednesday.

- They plan on doing five "major" events in 2009 with another five or so cards featuring younger fighters, similar to what Showtime is doing with boxing.

- Women's MMA will be part of Strikeforce and they insinuated that Gina Carano vs. Cyborg Santos is hopefully in their plan, possibly as part of their Apr. 11 event. If that fight doesn't happen, they expect Santos to still compete.

- Coker was very complimentary of UFC when asked.

- Cung Le (seen left) will fight at least two times this year and that a rematch with Shamrock is hopefully on the docket at some point.

- Benji Radach vs. Scott Smith was confirmed for the Apr. 11 show.

- Gilbert Melendez, Jorge Gurgel and Misuhiro Ishida are expected on the April show, but no opponents have been named

- Josh Thomson vs. KJ Noons is very possible for Apr. 11.

- When asked about doing Strikeforce title vs. Elite XC title, Coker said:

"We should give them the ability to come fight and unify the titles at some point in ’09. We’re offering it to KJ because KJ was the EliteXC champion and Josh Thompson is our champion. That would be an amazing fight and that’s why we’re trying to put that together so we can unify the belt. But to get through all the weight classes that we have and they have, I think it is going to take the remainder of the year."

- They hope to lock and load on announcers soon and are hopeful Showtime boxing and former Elite XC play-by-play man Gus Johnson will be part of the team.

- Most shows will air at 10 pm EST.

- When discussing the amount of events per year, they expect to do 16 and will probably run more than once a month several times in '09.

- Eddie Alvarez is part of their plans despite his unusual contract.

- When asked if Ken Shamrock vs. Slice would be discussed again, the answer was an emphatic no.

- Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Allistair Overeem will remain with the promotion and hope to have him scheduled before the end of the year. It will be interesting to hear what Overeem says as he's been dropping the UFC letters quite a bit lately.

Hershman on the failures of EliteXC:

"They learned a lot as we did throughout this process about expansion too quick, too much, too fast. Things like that we’ll apply here. We just want to have a steady partner. We want to put on great shows. The benefit of our model and Strikeforce’s model is we’re not dependent on pay-per-view. So we don’t have to go out there month in and month out and charge our fans $40 or $50 to see our content. You get SHOWTIME, you can watch them every month, month in and month out. We think we have a really good model that will allow us to grow in the future and we’re looking forward to it."

If today's call was any indication, MMA fans should have a lot to look forward to on Apr. 11 and beyond.

Josh Nason - josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!