Striking a deal

UFC buys Strikeforce

Inside the Octagon
Autumn McDowell
Sports Writer

It’s no secret that, in the world of mixed martial arts, the UFC is the top dog, and this dog just added a little more power to its bite.

Just a few years ago, although the UFC was still the organization that every fighter wanted to be a part of, there were still numerous other organizations that were not that far behind. PRIDE, World Extreme Cage Fighting, and Strikeforce were three of the most popular organizations, housing some of the world’s best fighters.

However, the UFC has made short work of these slightly smaller shows simply by buying them out.

On March 12, it was announced that the Zuffa LLC, the UFC’s parent company, had purchased Strikeforce. This purchase came as quite a shock to most fans, as Strikeforce seemed to be doing perfectly OK on its own. What is almost more surprising about this purchase is that things will stay that way.

Contrary to what fans were hoping for when they heard the news of the purchase, Strikeforce and the UFC will not be combining as they did after the purchases of PRIDE and WEC, therefore ruling out any possibility of cross-company super fights.

However, it is possible for current UFC fighters to leave and end up in Strikeforce. This also means that previous UFC fighters that have had bad blood with president Dana White, or those whom he publicly despises such as Josh Barnett or Paul Daley, could still have the opportunity to negotiate for a new deal with Strikeforce.

Most of the fighters currently in Strikeforce are already UFC has-beens, guys who couldn’t cut it in the UFC and moved down the MMA organization ladder to Strikeforce. Former UFC fighters Dan Henderson and Nick Diaz are two of the organizations current champions who tried and failed at careers in the UFC.

The one thing that Strikeforce has that the UFC does not is female divisions. Strikeforce has two weight classes for ladies to step into the cage, middleweight and welterweight.

It is possible that in the future the UFC and Strikeforce will combine, just as the UFC did with the other organizations. In fact, this little situation seems oddly similar to what they did with WEC. They let the organization survive on its own for a little while and then when the time was right they made the combination.

Since Strikeforce has been successful on its own, and the UFC does not need any more fighters under contract, things will probably stay the same for at least a few years.

This is perfectly fine with me, although the prospect of super fights is always an enticing one.  The only Strikeforce fighter that I would be excited to see in the octagon would be Alister Overeem. Overeem would surely provide some more excitement to the heavyweight division as 32 out of his 34 wins have been by stoppage.

I like those odds.