Report: Ken Hershman leaves Showtime to become president of HBO Sports

Move over Theo Epstein, you're not the only General Manager switching teams.

In an interesting bit of news today, it has come to light that Ken Hershman, Showtime's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sports and Event programming, has left his job at Showtime, according to a report by Broadcasting & Cable.

It is also believed that Hershman will now head over to HBO to replace Ross Greenburg as President of HBO Sports.

A statement was released by a Showtime spokesperson earlier today:

"Sports has been an important part of our content lineup at Showtime for many years. We have a great team and great programming in place and our commitment to sports remains strong. We have no announcement about a successor at this time, when we do we will let everyone know."

Hershman is responsible for introducing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the rotation of the popular cable channel Showtime. Hershman's first venture with MMA began with Elite XC and eventually continued with the deal he struck with Scott Coker and his San Jose-based organization.

With the news of Hershman's resignation, could this be another sign of things to come for MMA on Showtime, namely Strikeforce?

Dana White has often been critical of Ken Hershman and the way he runs his business with Showtime.

So much so, that UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta has been running the operations and meetings with Showtime since Zuffa acquired Strikeforce which also included its deal with Showtime earlier this year.

Is this another sign of the soon-to-be demise of Strikeforce? Or is this much ado about nothing?

Discuss.