Props: MMAFanHouse.com
Quoteworthy:
"They have no money, no fighters. They're a small-town show. Cung Le hasn't defended the title since like 1997. Josh Thomson hasn't defended the belt in like two years. Who's their other champion? Alistair Overeem? He hasn't defended the belt in like two years. It's Strike-Farce. It's a little regional show with no one in it.... [Fedor Emelianenko will] put them out of business. They have no money and no distribution. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight [on Showtime cable], 245,000 people watched that fight. That's nothing.... I offered him a great deal. I guarantee you the Strikeforce deal wasn't in the same universe with ours. it wasn't close. They probably didn't even pay him as much as Affliction was."
UFC President Dana White provides his latest comments on the surprise Strikeforce acquisition of Fedor Emelianenko earlier this week. White admits that he was "miserable" for two days after talks broke down, but realizes now that the Russian never had any intentions of fighting inside the Octagon. If Strikeforce, which was established in 1985 as a kickboxing organization and transitioned to MMA in 2006, does go out of business because of the Emelianenko deal it won't be the first promotion to go under that has enlisted the services of "The Last Emperor" -- Pride FC, BoDog and Affliction MMA have all vanished. Not saying it will happen again, but just worth noting. For the record, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker brushed the comments aside in a conference call earlier this afternoon, saying "Dana White is a promoter and will say what he’s going to say, but we’ve been in business a long time and look forward to putting some on big shows with Fedor." It's safe to say the war has begun.