With Strikeforce set to fold, Ronda Rousey is set to invade the UFC (Getty Images)Multiple
sources confirmed to Yahoo! Sports Thursday that Zuffa has reached a
deal with Showtime to end the Strikeforce promotion sometime early in
2013, a move that will bring superstar Ronda Rousey into the UFC.
Neither UFC president Dana White nor UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta could be reached for comment on Strikeforce's demise, which was first reported Thursday by TMZ. Chris DeBlasio, a spokesman for Showtime, which has broadcast Strikeforce events since 2009, declined comment.
The plan is for the promotion to fold after a Jan. 12 card in
Oklahoma City, in which all of the Strikeforce men's champions will
defend their belts. A source stressed that nothing has been signed and,
thus, things could change.
That, however, appears unlikely, given the frequently rocky relationship between White and Showtime officials. Folding the promotion into the UFC would also follow Zuffa's pattern.
Zuffa purchased Strikeforce from Silicon Valley Sports &
Entertainment in March 2011, reportedly for more than $40 million. Given
that Zuffa had previously purchased competitors PRIDE, World Fighting Alliance and World Extreme Cagefighting and merged them into the UFC, speculation mounted almost instantly about Strikeforce's future.
Strikeforce cards in September and November were canceled as the tensions between the sides heated.
Rousey and UFC president Dana White (Getty Images)White told Yahoo! Sports late last month that Rousey,
Strikeforce's bantamweight champion, would fight in the UFC one day, a
statement that marked an abrupt change of position. White had previously
said there weren't enough quality women to form a division in the UFC
and that he saw no sense doing what he termed "one-off" fights.
But Rousey, an Olympic bronze medalist in judo who has become a
sensation with her meteoric rise in MMA, changed his mind. He said he
was blown away by Rousey's ability to both fight and promote.
Look, I know a lot of people are
going to say we're doing this because she's pretty. But [ex-Strikeforce
star] Gina [Carano] was pretty, too. Ronda is a whole other story. She's
nasty. She's a real fighter. She not only likes to win, she likes to
finish. Think about this: Everyone she fights knows what is coming, that
armbar of hers, and no one can stop it. They have a whole [expletive]
training camp to prepare for that one move and nobody has been able to
stop it yet.
People who are nasty and technically sound and have that attitude, I
love them. She's an Olympic medalist and she's got a great history, but
she's in the gym all the time. She's a dude in a girl's body. She loves
to beat the [expletive] out of people and she's serious about getting
better. She's not saying, 'I'm the champ and I've beaten everyone in the
first round,' and taking a victory tour. She's up there in Stockton
working with the Diaz brothers, trying to get better.
Details are sparse about how the merger will work and when Strikeforce fighters will begin appearing on UFC cards.
White, though, likes to do things in a major way and it wouldn't be a
shock to see Rousey defend her belt in February in Las Vegas on the
UFC's annual Super Bowl weekend card. That's one of the company's
biggest shows of the year and, given that Rousey hasn't fought since
defeating Sarah Kaufman on Aug. 18, would be a perfect launching point
for her career.
Whether she will be the first woman to actually fight in the cage is
questionable. When Strikeforce ends, the UFC will assume the contracts
of its women's fighters. White told Yahoo! Sports last month that women
such as ex-champions Miesha Tate and Cris "Cyborg" Santos and Sara
McMann, a wrestling silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, would also
fight in the UFC.
continued...
Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:42 pm by 
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