It's been rumored most of this week that Strikeforce was going to acquire certain fighter contracts from ProElite. Well this is clearly the confirmation we've been waiting for. I just received this press release from my friends at Strikeforce:
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LOS ANGELES, CA. — In a transaction signaling the dawn of a new era in
the world’s fastest growing sport, world championship mixed martial arts (MMA)
organization Strikeforce®, has acquired
certain fighter contracts from ProElite, Inc, the parent company of
former Strikeforce ® co-promoter, Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC). Strikeforce® also acquired other specific assets of
ProElite, including a library of EliteXC events, which were distributed live on
either CBS or Showtime Networks.
Strikeforce® and EliteXC joined forces to deliver the first live SHOWTIME
PPV® MMA event, “Shamrock vs. Baroni,” on June 22, 2007. In the headlining contest, former UFC
middleweight champion and MMA legend Frank Shamrock submitted knockout artist
Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni in the second round, where upon Shamrock
became the first Strikeforce® World Middleweight Champion. On March 29, 2008, the two promotions collaborated once more to deliver a
live telecast on SHOWTIME® featuring one of the sport’s most anticipated
showdowns – Shamrock versus undefeated world kickboxing champion Cung Le. In a battle that has since been
proclaimed “Fight Of The Year” by critics, Le seized the Strikeforce®
middleweight crown by pouring on a relentless offensive and fending off
Shamrock’s counter attacks before breaking the defending champion’s arm with a
hard roundhouse kick. Shamrock
retired from the bout after the third round of a five round match. A martial arts promoter for over 23 years, Coker has gained widespread
acclaim among industry colleagues and the media, including Rolling Stone
magazine, Yahoo! Sports, and The San Jose Mercury News. Coker elevated his 14-year-old
Strikeforce® organization to become a major player in the World’s fastest
growing sport. Strikeforce’s®
inaugural MMA event hosted a capacity crowd of 18,265 at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on
March 10, 2006. The live gate
figure also broke the then all-time record for attendance at an MMA event held
in North America. EliteXC burst onto the MMA scene with “Destiny,” the
first live, SHOWTIME®-televised MMA fight card in history, on February 10,
2007. Held at Southaven Mississippi’s DeSoto Civic
Center, the main event
pitted Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert, Renzo Gracie. The promotion made history again by bringing, for the
first time, a live MMA event to the CBS Television Network on May 31, 2008. About Strikeforce:
“This is a tremendous development that will bolster the Strikeforce®
roster and allow us to produce even more competitive matchups between top
fighters,” said Scott Coker, Founder and CEO of Strikeforce®. “Some of these athletes have been on the
sidelines for a while now and are eagerly waiting to return to competition. We
look forward to providing them with the opportunity to do so in the next few
months.”
Strikeforce® is a world-class mixed
martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history
with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts
fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which
pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt
Cesar Gracie at San
Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out record
crowd of 18,265. Since 1995,
Strikeforce® has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for
ESPN and after 12 years of success as a leading world championship kickboxing
promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs.
Gracie.” Since then, it has
co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV® mixed martial arts event in history with its
world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22,2007 followed by the
first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29, 2007.
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