Status Report on the Evolution of Strikeforce vs. the UFC
by Correspondent Written on December 21, 2009 
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The most recent Strikeforce event was a perfect description of what is happening with the promotion today. We are seeing the Evolution of Strikeforce from a glorified regional Mixed Martial Arts promotion into a leading world class promotion.
Strikeforce started out as a kickboxing promotion in 1985 and didn't enter the Mixed Martial Arts world until 2006. From 2006 to 2007, Strikeforce truly was a regional promotion. In the first two years of their existence, Strikeforce never held a single event outside of California. Only one event was ever held outside of the Bay Area of California.
In the promotion's early days, Strikeforce maintained it's existence mostly based upon the fame of a local MMA legend, Frank "The Legend" Shamrock and another renowned local martial artist, Cung Le. They gradually added other legendary fighters, most of whom were well past their prime. Never viewing Strikeforce as a real threat to the UFC, the UFC President Dana White even praised Strikeforce on several occasions.
From 2008 to 2009, the entire landscape of MMA changed rapidly. For the most part, changes came because of what was going on outside of Strikeforce and not because of anything Strikeforce did. Pride FC died and many of its fighters went looking for non-UFC options. The IFL died. Bodog Fights died. Affliction died. Several other promotions died. Elite XC died and Strikeforce agreed to take on many of their contracts and assets.
The mass failure of so many MMA promotions created a very large mass of fighters with nowhere to go. Some were good enough to make it in the UFC but had no desire to fight for them. Some were not good enough for the UFC to seriously consider signing them. Add to that the typical stream of UFC castoffs and UFC malcontents and Strikeforce has seen a rapid influx of world class fighters.
The year of 2009 has been an incredible year for Strikeforce. Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Antonio Silva, Bobby Lashley, Sokodjou, Dan Henderson, Jason Miller, and Hershel Walker, just to name a few. Strikeforce has added both star power and real talent to it's roster. They also are hoping to add Roger Gracie and Shiya Aoki to their roster in the immediate future, though nothing has been finalized for this.
Whether they intended to or not, Strikeforce has clearly established itself as one of the top five promotions in the world. Arguably, they are second only to the UFC right now, and their star continues to climb rapidly.
So how is Strikeforce doing? To really answer that, we have to have a basis for comparison. The choice is obvious: The UFC.
Name recognition and marketability:
UFC = A
MMA = C
Strikeforce = C-
There is a huge segment of the world's population that hasn't a clue what "MMA" is. Tell them it stands for "Mixed Martial Arts" and they'll continue to stare blankly at you. But virtually all of them will immediately know what you're talking about if you say "Ultimate Fighting."
This puts every other promotion at a significant disadvantage, of course. Making the word "Strikeforce" a household name is a very, very long ways from happening, but Scott Coker and company have a lot of things working in their favor in this department. Broadcast contracts with Showtime and CBS are sure to help.
Talent Acquisition and Retention:
UFC = B+
Strikeforce = A
Again and again, Strikeforce has succeeded where the UFC failed.
Most notably, the UFC failed to sign Gegard Mousasi and Fedor Emelianenko. Strikeforce succeeded. The UFC's negotiations with Dan Henderson failed, and Strikeforce acquired him as a result.
Strikeforce has been extremely busy recruiting fighters, much more so than the UFC. The reason for this is pretty obvious. The UFC is overcrowded in almost every division. Strikeforce has very little depth at every division.
Despite the many missed opportunities, the UFC has continued to draw the best MMA fighters in the world with few exceptions.
Cross promotional relationships:
UFC = D-
Strikeforce = A
Strikeforce has good relations with DREAM and many other non-UFC promotions. It is viewed as perfectly acceptable for Strikeforce fighters to head over to Japan and fight in the DREAM tournaments, something that today's UFC would never tolerate.
In return for this, fighters from DREAM and many other promotions view Strikeforce as a place they can go to fight without locking themselves out of all other promotional competition.
Heavyweight Divison:
UFC = A-
Strikeforce = B-
The acquisition of Fedor Emeilianenko was huge. Unfortunately, Strikeforce has insisted on patiently waiting for their Heavyweight Champion to once again fight for Strikeforce.
Alistair Overeem hasn't fought for Strikeforce for over two years, but has racked up six MMA fights and five K-1 kickboxing fights outside of Strikeforce. Overeem will fight in his seventh non-Strikeforce MMA match on December 31st of this year and is already negotiating for more non-Strikeforce matchups.
Whispers abound that Strikeforce's prodigal champion will return, but nothing definite has been scheduled. To date, Overeem has dropped out of two scheduled title defenses. As long as they retain him as their champion, Overeem will continue to be a huge black eye to Strikeforce's otherwise impressive Heavyweight Division.
Above all else, what Strikeforce's Heavyweight Division has going for it is Fedor Emelianko, the best Heavyweight on the planet until proven otherwise. If Strikeforce can shift the burden of carrying their Heavyweight Division off of the shoulders of Alistair Overeem and onto Fedor Emelianenko's, they will look far more credible at Heavyweight.
Light Heavyweight Division:
UFC = A
Strikeforce = C+
The most important thing that Strikeforce has at Light Heavyweight is Gegard Mousasi. Gegard is not a UFC product in any way, yet he is legitimately in the top five Light Heavyweights on the planet.
What Strikeforce doesn't currently have as a Light Heavyweight is depth. Gegard Mousasi and Renato Sobral are the only notable world-class fighters they have for this weight. However, the presence of Gegard Mousasi should attract talent like iron filings to a magnet.
Middleweight Division:
UFC = A
Strikeforce = B+
While not up to the UFC's standards, the Middleweight Division at Strikeforce is growing in depth and talent. Jake Shields, Jason Miller, Dan Henderson (unless he decides to go Light Heavyweight), Robbie Lawler, Ronald "Jacaré" Souza, Scott Smith, Benji Radach, and Cung Le all together makes up Strikeforce's most stacked division. Several of Strikeforce's Middleweights could probably be very competitive in the UFC.
Welterweight Division:
UFC = A
Strikeforce = D-
The Welterweight Division Title at Strikeforce has remained vacant for the entire history of the promotion. Attempts to create a Welterweight Champion have centered around Nick Diaz. Nick Diaz in turn has consistently tested positive for marijuana and has been unable to fight as a result.
Rather than matching two other Welterweights for the belt, Strikeforce has decided to continue to wait patiently for their uncrowned Welterweight Champ to actually pass a drug test. Without a champion, this division might just be a figment of Strikeforce's imagination. They have fighters at this weight, but it seems pretty pointless if there's no championship for fighters to work towards.
Lightweight Division:
UFC = A
Strikeforce = C
This is actually one of Strikeforce's most active weight classes. Unfortunately, their Lightweight division is thin on talent. The title went from Clay Guida, who beat Josh Thompson to become the first Lightweight champion. Then Gilbert Melendez beat Clay Guida. Clay Guida left for the UFC.
Then Josh Thompson beat Gilbert Melendez for the title. Then Gilbert Melendez beat Josh Thompson to regain the title. All in all, the best fighters Strikeforce has to offer are no better and no worse than Clay Guida, a man who can't even wish for a title shot in the UFC.
If Strikeforce can land Shiya Aoki, that would greatly strengthen their reputation at Lightweight. On the other hand, the UFC is looking for a decent challenge for their champion BJ Penn, and Aoki's name keeps coming up. So Strikeforce and the UFC might very well find themselves competing for Aoki.
If Shinya Aoki wants flexibility, he will sign with Strikeforce. If he wants to challenge the consensus number 1 lightweight on the planet, he'll have to sign with the UFC.
Women's MMA Division:
UFC = F
Strikeforce = A
As the only major promotion that actually does women's MMA, Strikeforce is the de facto world's leader in women's MMA. The UFC has expressed no interest in creating a women's MMA division. It's impossible to know whether this will work out to Strikeforce's advantage or not.
Women's sports are very hit or miss. Women's basketball, golf, softball, soccer and others have a small but devoted following. Women's tennis is hugely popular. It's very difficult to say how much interest there will be in women's MMA ten years from now, but Strikeforce is quickly cornering the market on it.
On the whole, the future looks bright for Strikeforce. The biggest lingering question is whether they will suffer the same fate as Pride FC, Affliction, the IFL and Elite XC. Scott Coker seems to be making all the right moves, but it's impossible to know what the future will bring for Strikeforce. Currently, they're nowhere near to equaling the proverbial 800 pound gorilla of MMA, the UFC. Still, as they continue to grow and develop, this might change. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
According to the Strikeforce website, they are working on the following matchups for their next CBS broadcast in April 2010:
Fedor Emelianenko vs Fabricio Werdum
Dan Henderson vs Jake Shields
Gilbert Melendez vs Shinya Aoki
Josh Thomson vs Tatsuya Kawajiri or KJ Noons
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