Dana White takes over negotiations to keep Strikeforce on Showtime: 'We have a chance it lives'

You've been hearing it for months now. "Strikeforce is dead as soon as its contract with Showtime is up," the pundits have said. "Who cares, all the champions have gone to the UFC anyway," the fans chime in.

Halt the hearses, folks, this funeral might not be happening.

That's because UFC President Dana White has personally stepped in to handle the ongoing negotiations with Showtime to reach a new contract to keep the promotion alive. 

"I met with Showtime yesterday and I had a great meeting with them. I'm jumping in [to the negotiations]. Lorenzo Fertitta and I divide and conquer. We're both so busy and we're working on so much stuff, so to get this deal moving we needed the kinder, gentler side of the UFC there in the beginning. Now, I'm going to go in there and close it.... We had a great conversation. We moved the ball forward and we'll see what happens. There is no deal done. I just think we had a great meeting... We have a chance that Strikeforce lives."

This is partially possible thanks to Ken Hershman bailing on Showtime to become President of HBO Sports. White had previously had trouble dealing with the successful executive, whom he referred to as a "deal-blower."

But now that Hershman no longer has any say in the discussions, there's hope just yet that Strikeforce can prosper on cable television.

There are still plenty of reasons to believe the opposite. Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, and Nick Diaz, all champions, have jumped ship recently to fight inside the more prestigious Octagon. But for the first time since Zuffa purchased Strikeforce back in March, there's optimism that Scott Coker and company will have a promotion to run next year.

Hear more from White on the negotiations, as well as plenty of UFC 137 talk, in the full entry.