Strikeforce announces acquisition of Prolite/EliteXC assets (http://mmajunkie.com/news/13920/strikeforce-finalizes-deal-for-several-prolite-assets.mma)

The long-rumored sale of many of the ill-fated ProElite organization's assets is finally complete.

Rumors of the sale initially surfaced on Wednesday evening as SI.com's Josh Gross received confirmation of the transaction from ProElite Chief Executive Officer Chuck Champion.

Today a press release by the California-based Striekforce organization confirmed that the company has purchased a significant portion of ProElite's assets, including some fighters' contracts and a video library of past CBS and Showtime-broadcast events.

"This is a tremendous development that will bolster the Strikeforce roster and allow us to produce even more competitive matchups between top fighters," Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated. "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."

ProElite is the parent company of Elite Xtreme Combat, which in 2008, became the first-ever mixed-martial-arts organization to air on major U.S. network television.

No specific mention of which fighters' contracts were included in the acquisition was noted in the release, nor was any mention made of the CBS and Showtime television deals that ProElite had in place before it ceased operations. Immediate attempts by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) to reach Coker and Strikeforce Director of Communications Mike Afromowitz were unsuccessful.

The CBS and Showtime television contracts in question would seem to be a driving factor behind Strikeforce's desire to purchase the assets of the crumbling ProElite organization. Strikeforce currently airs a weekly 30-minute program of highlights and fights from its video library on NBC. As MMAjunkie.com reported in late 2008, Strikeforce was in advanced talks to air live Strikeforce events on the Pea**** Network, through a deal has yet to be reached.

Strikeforce and ProElite's other recently rumored suitors were also interested in the previously mentioned fighter contracts. ProElite held the contracts of such marketable commodities as Gina Carano, Eddie Alvarez, Jake Shields, Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and Nick Diaz, though it's not clear which, if any, will be acquired in today's sale.

The release does not bring further details to the fate of the other ProElite-branded promotions King of the Cage, Cage Rage, Rumble on the Rock, ICON Sport and SpiritMC.

I'm just glad that alot of these fighters now have a place to fight again.

Alverez and Diaz will go to Strikeforce
Shields wants the UFC
Slice and Carano who knows

Strikeforce a legit contender after EliteXC deal (http://mmajunkie.com/news/13926/strikeforce-a-legit-contender-after-elitexc-deal.mma)

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 EliteXC 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 EliteXC deals, but that all the key names came with the deal, including Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, who still holds the record for the most-watched MMA match ever in North America in a CBS match last year.

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 EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler and welterweight champion Jake Shields.

EliteXC'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 EliteXC 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 EliteXC 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. EliteXC 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 EliteXC version of the title before being stripped of it in October in a contract dispute with EliteXC 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 ProElite 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 EliteXC 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 EliteXC 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 EliteXC 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 EliteXC contracts.

Its nice to see these guys finally able to move

They announced on the Darchinyan-Arce fight that Strikeforce would have a show on Showtime April 11

sweet!!! lawler and carano :wank: will be back