The UFC Acquires Strikeforce: UFC President Dana White Speaks

Are you sitting down? You may need to after reading this. The inevitable has finally happened, and it couldn't be more glorious for MMA fans.

"That is true. [The UFC has purchased Strikeforce]," said UFC President Dana White in an interview with Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com.

"Every year we take this thing to another level, and some of the deals that we're working on now, international and all the other things, and obviously, acquiring Strikeforce now."

This is huge news for the MMA world, as Strikeforce was generally seen as the UFC's biggest competitor. The organization features major stars like Fedor Emelianenko, Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, and Gegard Mousasi.

Despite the exciting news, some fans are left wondering why the UFC would move in on a purchase now.

"As we continue to grow and expand into all these other countries, we'll need more fights. Strikeforce is a brand that fans have come to like. People enjoy the fights that they're putting on, and it made sense to us," said White. "Our job is to put on the big fights that fans want to see, and as we continue to travel into these other countries, we want the right fights to get the fans interested and excited."

The UFC's global expansion is succeeding rapidly. At UFC 129, the promotion heads to the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, which is expected to be the largest event in UFC history. On August 27, an event is scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the promotion is also working on a deal that would bring the UFC to Japan.

This is all amazing news, but most of you are probably only concerned with one thing. What's going to happen to the Strikeforce roster. Could we soon see Emelianenko, Diaz, and Overeem in the octagon?

"Strikeforce is going to continue to run business as usual," said White. "There are contracts in place. These guys are on Showtime. Strikeforce pulls good ratings with Showtime, and I think Showtime is happy with them, and all those contracts will be honored. These guys are going to remain Strikeforce fighters. Could guys from the UFC leave and end up in Strikeforce? Yea, absolutely."

What about Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and employees involved with the promotion? We all know Dana doesn't necessarily have Strikeforce commentator Frank Shamrock on speed dial.

"We've signed a deal with Scott Coker, and he's staying on. I've never had a bad thing to say about Scott Coker. I've known Scott since the K-1 days, when he was promoting here in Las Vegas. Scott's a good guy," White said. "[Strikeforce] has an office up in San Jose. They do their thing. Like I said, business as usual. Scott Coker will continue to run Strikeforce with his people."

"There's a lot of other guys over on that side of the table that don't like me. You've got the M-1 global guys. Dan Henderson is probably not a big fan either," said White. "The relationships over at Showtime are all managed and handled by Scott Coker, and Scott does a great job in creating these relationships with fighters and fight camps, and that will continue over there."

White also denied any hopes of co-promotion or superfights. Nope, we won't be seeing Overeem or Emelianenko step into the cage against Brock Lesnar anytime soon.

"There won't be any superfights. When I say business as usual, we don't co-promote, even when we own it," White chuckled.

Regardless of the "business as usual" banter, this is a giant step towards finally seeing some eagerly anticipated dream fights. Everything seems to hinge on each fighter's contract. When a contract is up, the UFC and Strikeforce will make separate offers.

For now, fans can expect business to run as usual. Strikeforce will continue its normal operations, including the promoting of women's MMA. Fans can also expect the UFC to start promoting upcoming Strikeforce events on live broadcasts.

(SportsHaze.com Original)

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