Strikeforce
Zuffa bringing Strikeforce Challengers series to Las Vegas on regular basis
May 21, 2011 - 8:15:34 PM Zuffa bringing Strikeforce Challengers series to Las Vegas on regular basis

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With Strikeforce now under the Zuffa banner, the Challengers series is heading to Zuffa's homebase in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to a report from Ariel Helwani at NBCSports.com, Strikeforce's Las Vegas debut will be Strikeforce Challengers 17 on July 22 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino and Resort.

But that's not all.

Per Helwani, the organization is planning on running all future Challengers events at the venue for the foreseeable future.

With being based in California, Strikeforce had never run an event in Las Vegas during its time outside of Zuffa control. The Challengers series hit a number of venues in smaller markets throughout the country over the last couple of years, with the next event coming to the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. in June.

The Pearl at the Palms has hosted events under the Zuffa banner for some time now as well, hosting several World Extreme Cagefighting events as well as a number of UFC Fight Night cards and every Ultimate Fighter Finale event since season five.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This makes sense for them to cut down costs for this series of events and cut down on the travel for their employees in running the events. It's a lot easier to have them set in a home base and to continue on with the series than running another series of events all over the country in much smaller markets with the names of those on the cards, so this is a move that isn't surprising in the least.