Huge MMA news: UFC purchases Strikeforce

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Zuffa – the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championships – has purchased its primary rival in North America, the San Jose based fighting promotion Strikeforce.

According to a twenty-minute interview with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, the deal happened very quickly and was finalized just this morning. Rather than immediate absorption, White says that Strikeforce is going to run “business as usual” and that head honcho Scott Coker has also been acquired to maintain his dealings with the promotion.

White is scheduled to be in Albany, NY next week to meet with lawmakers to try to get MMA legalized in New York State, one of only a few left in the nation with an Athletic Commission that prohibits the sport.

White acknowledged that Strikeforce was providing a product that has an enthusiastic fanbase, but cites the primary reason of the purchase as the UFC’s forthcoming international expansion.

“We need more fights,” he told Helwani.

The “business as usual” line was emphasized by White, indicating that much like when Zuffa acquired WEC, the promotion will continue to run its own shows under its own banner on Showtime. He did, however, indicate that there will be some UFC fighters sent over to the promotion.

It isn’t clear yet what this means for fighters like Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko, although White assured Helwani that all Strikeforce fight contracts would be honored and that they did acquire all fighters currently under contract with Strikeforce.

As far as Strikeforce’s fading draw Fedor Emelianenko and his unique deal, White did make a distinction between Fedor’s deal with Strikeforce and the partnership between his management team M-1 Global and Showtime, an issue mired in complications. Emelianenko is currently on a two-fight losing streak, and in the past Strikeforce has run into problems with M-1 Global’s pathological renegotiation tactics after Fedor’s fights.

Strikeforce’s extensive tape library was also acquired by Zuffa.

There are a lot of concerns and criticisms that are bound to arise from the news, but the biggest might be the future of women’s fighting. White in the past has been very (some say overly) unreceptive to the idea of women’s fights, and re-iterated his stance in his interview today with Ariel Helwani.

“Can you do some fights here and there? Yeah,” White says, “but not enough to create a good division.”

While such a statement does not bode well for women’s fighting, White did say that all contracts – including those with female fighters – will be honored. While that means Cyborg Santos isn’t likely to go anywhere anytime soon, it’s also unclear if the women’s divisions will be expanded and/or promoted in the future.

For more information on this shocking announcement, see the video below of Helwani’s twenty-minute interview with UFC President Dana White.