Strikeforce a legit contender after EXC deal ?

A deal negotiated over several months was finalized Thursday with contract signings that immediately makes the San Jose, Calif.-based Strikeforce promotion the leading competitor to the industry leading Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Strikeforce promoter and co-owner Scott Coker confirmed separate deals were signed Thursday to both buy certain assets from Pro Elite, Inc., which ran the now-defunct Elite XC promotion, as well as television deals with both CBS and Showtime.

The first show under this deal will be April 11 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, headlined by Frank Shamrock, 36, a legend from the early days of mixed martial arts in the U.S. and Japan.

Coker said the company is talking about several different opponents for Shamrock, a former UFC middleweight (now light heavyweight) champion, who lost his Strikeforce middleweight title to Cung Le on March 29, suffering a broken arm in the process.

Shamrock has proven to be one of the best non-UFC draws in the mixed martial arts business, headlining the two largest paid attendance shows ever in North America, both in his hometown of San Jose, as well as drawing two of the three largest ratings for MMA on the Showtime network, for matches with Renzo Gracie and Phil Baroni.

Coker said he did not purchase the contracts for all of the estimated 80 fighters under Elite XC deals, but that all the key names came with the deal, including Kimbo Slice, who still holds the record for the most-watched MMA match ever in North America in a CBS match last year.

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Also confirmed as part of the deal were the country’s most popular female fighter, Gina Carano, lightweight stars Nick Diaz and Eddie Alvarez as well as Elite XC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler, and welterweight champion Jake Shields.

Elite XC’s heavyweight champion, Antonio Silva, would not be part of the deal because he is facing revocation of his fighting license for competing in a match in Japan on Jan. 4 while on suspension for failing a steroid test on July 26. In that match he won the vacant championship against the late Justin Eilers.

The promotion will use the Strikeforce name, and Coker said a decision regarding the status of the various championships recognized by Strikeforce and Elite XC would be forthcoming in about a week.

Coker said the deal would include 12 live events per year on Showtime, which would be split similar to the Elite XC contract. Roughly half will be live prime-time events featuring name fighters and held in major arenas, and the others will be developmental shows held in smaller arenas and on Native American reservations and airing later.

The CBS deal calls for up to four shows per year, airing on Saturday nights in prime time. Elite XC ran three events on CBS last year, two of which were considered ratings successes.

Strikeforce also has a television deal in place with NBC, airing a 30-minute show of taped matches from their video library in a late Saturday night/Sunday morning time slot that airs in most markets between 2 and 4 a.m.


The only official match for the debut show will pit Scott Smith, who had two shots at Lawler’s championship last year, against former IFL middleweight champion Benji Radach. Coker is also hopeful of putting together a match with Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson against K.J. Noons, who held the Elite XC version of the title before being stripped of it in October in a contract dispute with Elite XC management.

Strikeforce plans to line up match-ups this year from stars created on television and then go to the pay-per-view venue when ready.

“We’ll also be in the pay-per-view business, but not right away,” said Coker. “We’re looking at building Strikeforce fighters and Pro Elite fighters to make compelling matches. We’ll put those matches on pay-per-view when we’re ready.”

As far as the one potential superfight Elite XC left on the table – Carano against Brazilian Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos – Coker said Carano wants to do that match right away, but he wouldn’t commit to how soon.

Coker said Strikeforce would remain a private company owned by himself and Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment, which runs the HP Pavilion in San Jose, as well as the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

Strikeforce’s roster of fighters includes Le, Shamrock, Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Joe Riggs, Bobby Southworth and Kazuo Misaki. It also recognizes Renato “Babalu” Sobral as light heavyweight champion and Alistair Overeem as heavyweight champion.

While promoting its key events in San Jose, it has run successful shows in other markets including Seattle, Denver, and Los Angeles. With the new deal, it will expand to running shows across the U.S.

Strikeforce still holds the record for the highest paid attendance for an MMA event in the U.S. – a Shamrock vs. Cesar Gracie match which drew 17,465 paying fans and 18,265 total on March 10, 2006. The UFC’s largest paying crowd for a U.S. show was 17,358, although there were more than 19,000 in the arena, for the March 3, 2007 fight between Randy Couture and Tim Sylvia in Columbus, Ohio.

Most of the fighters who had signed with Elite XC had been in a deep freeze since the company closed up shop in October. By not actually declaring bankruptcy, and attempting to sell what was left of the company, stalled negotiations meant most had not been able to fight for months.

A deal between Pro Elite, Inc. and Strikeforce was on the table ready to be signed in December, but it fell apart at the last minute.

Agents representing the key fighters were ready to serve Elite XC with legal papers, attempting to get the fighters declared free agents because they had to sit out months without being paid. In recent days, the agents had been informed that a deal was about to be completed with Strikeforce, and had held off on the legal process.

“It’s the best possible situation,” said Ken Pavia, who represents a number of fighters who had been under Elite XC contracts.

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D. Meltzer

Kimpo Sliced out of MMA ?

The collapse of Elite XC has left its talent in limbo.

The company has two types of top talent: marquee fighters like Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano and Frank Shamrock; and several quality fighters with no real marquee value.

Slice is the biggest name of the marquee stars, although his name was certainly damaged by events of the past few weeks, both the quick knockout loss to Seth Petruzelli and much of the sports media calling him a fraud as a fighter.

“We’ve avoided going the freak show route,” said Dana White, president of UFC. “Way back when we were bleeding money, we could have gone after

(Mike) Tyson. He was still wanting to fight. But that’s not what we wanted the sport to be.”

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Still, White did not close the door on bringing in Slice.

“If he wants to do Ultimate Fighter, yeah, we’d give him a chance,” said White. “If he picks up a bunch of wins in fights, we’d consider him.”

With what Slice has earned, including more than $500,000 on Oct. 4, it makes the idea of him going into Ultimate Fighter competition unlikely, particularly since there will be plenty of organizations willing to pay a proven draw a whole lot more than TUF wages.

Slice’s people don’t know what is next. On the surface, Japan seems like a perfect fit. Fans there are more interested in unique characters than top-ranked fighters, and if you are popular, you can lose and it really doesn’t matter. Japanese MMA fans have more of a mentality like pro wrestling fans, where nobody cares about won-loss records, only seeing popular stars.

Although he has never been to Japan, Slice has garnered a significant amount of mainstream attention in the country, both as a fighter or as a potential pro wrestler, with the country’s iconic pro wrestling figure, Antonio Inoki, frequently mentioning his name as someone he’d like to bring in.

But interest in MMA has fallen greatly in Japan over the past year, and both major groups, Dream and Sengoku, are in trouble. Pro wrestling is now even less popular and the money that would have been waiting for someone like him two years ago may not be there today.

If Showtime continues to run MMA, and even more if CBS stays involved, Carano would be at the top of the list of those they would want. She has proven to be a huge ratings draw. Unlike Slice, Carano is squeaky-clean of any negative baggage to the public, even though many hardcore MMA fans are critical of her problems making weight.

Carano’s contract is only $25,000 a fight, a ridiculously low figure given her marketability. Plus, Carano has a fight with muscular Brazilian Cris “Cyborg” Santos ready made that could be promoted as the biggest women’s match in the history of the sport. The match, which, stylistically, almost can’t miss being an exciting fight, also has tremendous potential as a television event due to the contrast between the two women.

“I think that Gina Carano is a real star,” said White. “She’s beautiful, talented and she’s a real fighter. I just don’t think there are enough good women fighters that you can start a division around them. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Shamrock was originally groomed to be Elite XC’s top star when the company opened in early 2007. He was given a six-fight contract for $1.8 million, which has three fights left, and 400,000 shares of company stock, which peaked at a worth of nearly $6 million, but ended up being largely worthless. He also had an announcing deal with CBS.

Shamrock’s match with Cung Le on March 29 in a co-promotion with Strikeforce, drew the company’s most successful live event, with 16,326 fans paying $1.12 million in San Jose. Le, who was not under contract with Elite XC, broke Shamrock’s arm with a series of kicks, to win the fight after three rounds, to take Shamrock’s Strikeforce middleweight title.

The show didn’t do well on Showtime, but was the most watched event in the history of The Fight Network in Canada. Shamrock’s matches with Phil Baroni and Renzo Gracie were the second- and third-highest rated EXC events on Showtime, trailing only the Slice vs Tank Abbott match.

White and Shamrock have had verbal battles back-and-forth for years after Shamrock left as an announcer with UFC shortly after White was put in charge of the organization, and even nicknamed White “Uncle Fester.”

White did make a lucrative offer for him to rejoin UFC in 2006. Shamrock figured, and was correct at the time, that he was more valuable as one of the biggest name MMA stars not affiliated with UFC and Pride at the time.

White has shown, with Tito Ortiz, who he had personal problems with, and later B.J. Penn and Randy Couture, who each had sued the company, that he is willing to bring back personal enemies if it was the right thing for business. Shamrock is the most skilled MMA fighter at the ability to build up a fight, but where he would stand in the modern UFC in his late-30s is a major question.

The second tier of EXC names includes the likes of welterweight champion Jake Shields, heavyweight champ Antonio Silva, and middleweight champ Robbie Lawler.

One would think both the UFC and rival Affliction would have interest in those names, as they would be competitive in the upper ranks of their respective weight classes.

Another potential issue regards groups like King of the Cage, Icon Sports, Rumble World Entertainment, and Cage Rage, all of which were purchased by Pro Elite, Elite XC’s parent company.

Most deals included putting the former owners under contract as executive consultants (and then not listening to them), giving them some cash as well as company stock, at the time worth millions and now worth almost nothing.

The deals were structured as such that if Pro Elite went bankrupt, all could go back to promoting using the names they developed. King of the Cage, which was the only group profitable underneath the Pro Elite banner, is expected to continue running events as soon as possible. Cage Rage, a U.K. based group whose losses were so staggering they greatly sped up the demise of Pro Elite, is likely not to last much longer.

T. Jay Thompson, the promoter of the Honolulu-based Icon, isn’t sure what is next for him. Thompson is the longest-lasting promoter in the sport, having started in 1995. Honolulu was the best drawing city in America for MMA events during the sport’s near-death several years ago, but Thompson noted Hawaii is no longer a fertile market for live MMA events.

Dana White UFC 90 Video Blog Trashes Elite XC For Cheating

Watch Kimbo Slice Get Knocked Out ! TKO!

On Sat. Night this was a disappointing showing of Elite XC , first Ken S. can"t Fight , and then Kimbo Gets knocked down within a few seconds , thank god it was free to watch on CBS ! Your Thoughts ??

Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock on October 4th for EliteXC®

Watch it Free on CBS !

I have Ken Shamrock to win , By Tapout in 2 round ,Even though he is old, Ken still has alot of talent and should over - come Kimbo Slice ! Your Thoughts ??