· Conference Call Notes: Zuffa, LLC’s Strikeforce Purchase

· Article author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Posted on 03/14 at 03:06 PM

This past weekend, MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani broke "story of the year" caliber news by having Dana White announce the purchase of Strikeforce by UFC parent company, Zuffa, LLC. After the initial shock from MMA fans, analysts and industry insiders, many were left with an exorbitant amount of questions as to what exactly this meant for the sport. Hoping to clear some aspects of the deal up, Zuffa Owner Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC President Dana White and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker were on hand today for a media teleconference. What follows are some relevant quotes from the call.

UFC/Strikeforce operations: (What changes occur in contracts, productions, etc...?)

White: We're looking to run Strikeforce on Showtime, business as usual. Scott will continue to run the shows and communicate with fighters.
White: We're going to keep the promotions separate. We don't know what's going to happen yet. We'll see what happens.
White: Showtime runs the production, we own Strikeforce. We can do things on the back end to help them, but Showtime runs the production.
Fertitta: The Showtime deal goes into 2014. [Originally reported as ending in 2012.]

The business end of the deal: (What brought us to this point? What does each party gain?)

Coker: Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVSE) were looking to get out of the MMA business and return to their original focus on their NHL team (San Jose Sharks).
Fertitta: We started these talks in mid-December.
Coker: There's been dialogue with Canadian arenas and casinos, but we won't have anything to announce for a few weeks.
Fertitta (on a Zuffa channel): We own a massive library with Pride, WEC, and now Strikeforce's content, but there's nothing to report. We have nearly 4,000 fights in our library after acquiring Strikeforce's library.
Fertitta: We haven't put in plans for Japan yet. Scott has deals. We'll look at landscape and see if they make sense.

The fights and fighters:

White (on possible merger or super fights): I wouldn't say no to anything. We'll put on the fights that people want to see.
Coker: Strikeforce has about 140 fighters under contract.
White (on "enemies"): Those guys who don't like me, don't have to deal with me. They can deal with Scott and Lorenzo. It's all business anyway, I had to deal with Tito for years.
Coker: Overeem and the other fighters who fight in other promotions are Strikeforce fighters first. We need to sign off on those fights [in Japan and elsewhere] for them to happen.
White: The championships in Strikeforce will stand. Regarding champ vs. champ fights, our job is to make sure fans get fights they want to see. It's just a matter of when.
Fertitta: The Octagon will remain in the UFC. Strikeforce will continue the hexagon shaped cage. We are implementing the unified rules, however. Elbows will be legal on the ground.

As Strikeforce began their Zuffa era today, fans were still left with more questions than answers about what is possibly the biggest coup in the history of the young sport. Fertitta, White, and Coker made it very clear that this is still "a work in progress." What has now become Dana White's newest meme, "business as usual," was thrown around a lot. The reason for this is simple, it's exactly that. Strikeforce will continue to run as they have since purchasing the Showtime deal from ProElite in 2009. The only indelible mark which has been revealed hitherto has been the addition of elbows to the Strikeforce rule set, something many fans have been clamoring for. While no word on super fights has been made, we have been specifically told not to rule anything out.

One major aspect of the deal is the UFC's acquisition the media library. While Zuffa already owned the rights to footage from not only the UFC, but Pride FC, WEC, WFA, and Affliction as well, they now own they now own the Strikeforce and ProElite video library, which was also purchased by Strikeforce in 2009. ProElite's archive included frontage from fallen promotions such as Elite XC, Icon Sport, Cage Rage, and Rumble on the Rock. As Lorenzo Fertitta revealed, with the purchase of the library, Zuffa owns rights to over 4,000 fights now—without question the most comprehensive and relevant library in MMA history.