Strikeforce Reborn! New Showtime Deal On Tap

Strikeforce Reborn! New Showtime Deal On Tap
MMAWeekly.com

It appears the ringing of the death knell for Strikeforce has been a little bit premature.

UFC president Dana White on Thursday, following the UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida press conference, confirmed that Strikeforce is not going away.

“That deal should be wrapped up any day now and then I’ll make the decisions on who goes where and what’s gonna happen,” White said during the press conference, alluding to a pending deal for Strikeforce to remain on Showtime. “We should no, hopefully, by Monday.”

He later said that the deal is mostly complete, but they do need to finalize the details of the agreement with Showtime.

As for what that means for the future of Strikeforce, White was more elusive, saying only that Strikeforce would survive and be operated as a separate promotion from the UFC. He indicated that there could be some format changes in how the promotion operates, but that those details weren’t yet ready for public consumption.

White’s assurances of the future of Strikeforce comes on the same day that the promotion announced a Jan. 7 event pitting middleweight champion Luke Rockhold against UFC veteran Keith Jardine in the main event at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine will air live on Showtime and also features popular Strikeforce fighters Robbie Lawler and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in separate bouts.