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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce has suffered a prolonged, slow, and painful death, but it all comes to an end on Saturday night with their final event on Showtime. However, the true end of what Strikeforce used to be came in 2011, when Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment - owners of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, the HP Pavilion, and majority owners of Strikeforce - wanted out of the MMA business.
The lofty idea that was the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix was seen at the time as something that could have elevated Strikeforce to another level. It was a tournament that some felt legitimately could have crowned the No. 1 heavyweight in the world; unfortunately, gathering the talent that they had for the eight-man field also brought about increased costs as well.
Combine the increased monetary responsibility on their end with the pains of aggressive expansion from regional company to national powerhouse, and SVSE was simply no longer interested in continuing with Strikeforce. Essentially, the Grand Prix tournament never stood a chance.
"Negotiations [to sell Strikeforce] were already under way. That happened probably a month before the tournament," Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker revealed in a great two-part oral history of the organization from Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden. "It wasn't that the tournament happened and then negotiations with the UFC started for the purchase of the company. It was ongoing."
"My partners, the Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment Group felt like it was time for them to get back to focusing on hockey, their core business. With all our events and the expansion, all their key guys were helping us, and it was just taxing on them as a company. They felt that, for them, it was the right time."
SVSE found their buyer in Zuffa, and a month after the Grand Prix kicked off, the writing was on the wall. Zuffa didn't set out to disband the organization from the outset, but it seemed like an eventuality as they began poaching what top names they could. It was far from the desired result for Coker, who began promoting kickboxing under the Strikeforce banner in 1985. However, with the circumstances where they were at the outset of 2011, there wasn't anything else to be done.
"When you have partners you have to be sensitive to their needs as well," Coker explained. "They were really good partners to me. [Selling] was the right thing to do. Did I ever think that I wouldn't own the name Strikeforce? No, I never thought that was going to happen."
"There was not really too much conversation about getting other partners... there was an offer on the table and it caught everybody by surprise. This thing went down so fast. Once the offer was made and once I met with Silicon Valley and they wanted to do it, everything else moved very quickly."
Strikeforce shouldn't be remembered for these last two years. They made some mistakes along the way, perhaps tried to push themselves to far, too soon once they acquired the EliteXC assets and got on Showtime in 2009, but the fact that they got themselves into that position in the first place is a success story unto itself.
What they accomplished as a regional promotion in California is still unmatched by any other regional promotion, and they still gave fans a lot of exciting fights and moments on Showtime and their two appearances on CBS.
These last two years have not been the same organization, and Saturday will finally bring a merciful end to an organization that's been essentially done and over with since March of 2011.
Editor's Note: Jonathan Snowden's full oral history of Strikeforce in two parts is an excellent read, showcasing the highs and lows of the organization. Check it out with PART ONE and PART TWO.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
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