MMA NEWS – Strikeforce To Remove Heavyweight Division, Keep Women’s MMA, Gilbert Melendez To Stay
Today ZUFFA, STRIKEFORCE and SHOWTIME officials took to a media conference call to announce the details of the new Showtime broadcast deal.
During the discussion and through fielding media questions it was revealed that once the conclusion of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is over the winner will face one more top-10 heavyweight, yet to be announced and then the division will be removed from the Strikeforce roster entirely.
Officials would not commit to the future of the divisions fighters when asked if they would be moved to the UFC once the weightclass is closed.
The promotion has stated that they will focus on the divisions that they have more depth of talent such as middleweight, welterweight and lightweight. They did note however, that they will continue to build all divisions, including the female categories going forward but they have no further interest in building up their heavyweights.
During the call UFC president specifically noted that he is keeping the women’s divisions intact due to the outcry from fans demanding that the females get the proper attention.
White stated, “The women’s division is popular and we are going to keep it.”
One of the hotter topics in recent Strikeforce business is the speculation of where the Strikeforce lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez will fight after this weekend’s Masvidal title fight in San Diego. White also stated that if Gilbert Melendez wins this fight and defends his title he will take fight after fight under the Strikeforce banner and continue to defend his title and noted that “Gilbert is f*%king ecstatic about it.”
Officials did not want to give too many specifics away on the new deal, no term for the agreement was given, but in 2012 MMA fans can expect anywhere from 6-8 STRIKEFORCE bouts live on SHOWTIME.
Stay tuned to BJPENN.COM for the full Audio clip of this conference call for all the Strikeforce/Showtime update.
Click here for the latest STRIKEFORCE coverage provided by BJPENN.COM
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The Strikeforce HW division has the most depth there i think it was funny how they said they want to build the divisions they have more depth at. Strikeforce’s WW division is a joke i cant even name 2 WW’s only one i can think of is Tyron Woodley. UFC could use those SF HW’s. Also, guys like Jacare, Tim Kennedy, and Gil would be nice additions. Oh and Mousasi and King Mo as well.
guess since king mo will stay in strikeforce, he will continue to trash talk UFC fighters
The mystery heavyweight has to be Frank Mir
I bet the winner of the tournament will get the UFC HW champ.
i really want king mo in ufc …he showed his weak chin in the dream fight,,,and in hius title loss…he would get smashed by most ufc lhw..and he started serious problems with rampage ,,i think when he come ufc that will be his first loss..i hate that cocky loser…the ufc is just making an excuse to take the the HW talent from strikeforce..
“Gilbert is f*%king ecstatic about it.” – I’m not so sure about that
yeah that’s bullshit. Gilbert wants to be in the UFC
Agreed. Dana has to be giving Gil $$ behind the scenes
They all…ALL.
The month of December will have 2 pretty big upsets. Masvidal will defeat Gil Melendez, And Hendricks will beat Fitch. You mofos heard it hear first!.
You heard it here 2nd lol
I agree with you on Gil getting defeated but not Fitch.
Melendez will never get the legitimacy he deserves without testing the UFC… especially after some dynamite WEC fighters have had mixed results, IMO. I think he’s great, but he needs to fight some bigger names.
Would love to see Strikeforce keep all their divisions, and act like a farm-team so to speak, or relegation league – so you lose in the UFC, you just go down to the “minors” until you fight your way back up. There are some big names that get cut from the UFC and watching them rise back up would be cool (Torres/Jardine/Marquardt/Daley/etc).
Glad they are keeping the women’s divisions… some legit talent there.
lmfao what WEC fighters have crossed over and had mixed results?. They all have been doing great especially the high level guys.
i think he means in regards to Anthony Pettis, who lost to a carpenter for goodness sake!
1 fight from 1 fighter dosent define a whole organization. Pettis was active the whole fight some gave him the decision. If he had Askren in to train for that fight he would have won. Look at Condit, Bendo, Cerrone, Cruz, Aldo, Danny Castillo, Mendes, Benavidez, Faber, Mighty Mouse are all doing plus many more. It was just a dumb statement on his part.
With the exception of top lightweights and Condit, the other divisions never existed in the UFC. So of course they’re doing good.
what were u saying about pettis traininbg fior that fight???u spelled wrong ,,but i want know what u mean t..did he not train?? guida is a low level gatekeeper
It’s obvious that the UFC bought Strikeforce to get the Heavyweight fighters on their roster. It sucks that Gilbert is having to stay but the UFC is probably going to wait until he fulfills his Strikeforce contract. The UFC for once has a stacked HW division, Tim Sylvia and Pedro Rizzo are distant memories.
doing away with the hw makes sense to me because that means they will bring over the rest of the hw talent to the ufc because they need it most in hw div.
Hard core members OLD school forums is back
thxx bizzy,,,u the most hard core
Fukcn a
“Gilbert is f*%king ecstatic about it.” I’m sure he was… Must’ve been the fat check he received behind the scenes, because I’m sure that being left behind in strikeforce wasn’t what had him so happy
,yeah they must hAVE given gill somthing,,,or now they pay him like a ufc champ…oi hope they actually find him serious opponents to fight cuz gill is looking great latley…he would be good fight for edger…the ufc prob talked to gill and told him that this is just for 1 year or less and ask him just act happy and keep quiet and he will get title shot after he is in ufc…,Bandit soon an idiot on here will make comment about u spelling of check being wrong,,,,,this site is full of idiots like that
Gilberts career will be ruined if he remains in strikeforce. Every fighters dream is to be in the UFC. It’s like Arena football vs the NFL. Who would not chose the NFL?