UFC
Lorenzo Fertitta says Frank Mir's Strikeforce crossover against Daniel Cormier a "one-time situation"
Aug 7, 2012 - 4:15:28 PM Lorenzo Fertitta says Frank Mir's Strikeforce crossover against Daniel Cormier a "one-time situation"

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Those hoping Frank Mir's move to Strikeforce to face Daniel Cormier was a sign of things to come are going to be sorely disappointed, as UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta on Tuesday completely shut the door on more fighters being brought over to Strikeforce from the UFC.

"You're not going to see more of it," Fertitta said in an interview with ESPN.com. "This is a one-time situation."

The only reason Cormier is getting this crossover bout is due to Showtime requiring one more fight out of him. With the rest of Strikeforce's heavyweight division having already been shifted over to the UFC, Cormier will do the same, but Zuffa was obligated to book him in one more fight on Showtime after the Heavyweight World Grand Prix.

"It was a situation where Cormier had to fight one more time for Showtime," Fertitta said. "All the Strikeforce heavyweights had come to the UFC and that didn't leave us with a stable of guys. We wanted to put on a very relevant fight that is credible."

"We had to talk to Fox about it and because Cormier is coming to the UFC after this last fight, we could go ahead and give him that fight."

The bout will mark the final heavyweight fight in Strikeforce's history, and though unique circumstances brought the fight about, Fertitta is still very much excited for the matchup itself.

"Cormier is the real deal and he's going to be fighting a guy with incredible pedigree," Fertitta said. "If Frank Mir wins, he's all of a sudden back in the mix. From his perspective it was a good thing, otherwise he had to get in the back of the line."

Penick's Analysis: At this stage, keeping Strikeforce around after this deal with Showtime runs up just wouldn't make much sense. They can't bring any Strikeforce fighters over while the deal with Showtime is in place, and they're not bringing anyone from their organization over to face the guys in Strikeforce looking for challenges. Gilbert Melendez, Luke Rockhold, and more are left fighting opponents on a lower level than their UFC counterparts, and that's not going to change until they can come into the UFC. With Fertitta closing the door on any more crossovers, there's sure to be some more disappointed fans and fighters, but really nothing in the situation has changed. Mir's move over is a unique situation, and the fact that Cormier has one fight left before being allowed to come into the UFC himself is the only reason he's getting that level of fight.