Posts Tagged ‘Cung Le news’

Strikeforce acquires ProElite/EliteXC and CBS/Showtime deal!

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Strikeforce promoter and co-owner Scott Coker issued a press release by stating that the company has purchased a majority of ProElite’s assets, including some fighters’ contracts and a video library of past CBS and Showtime-broadcast events.

The CBS portion of the deal will contain approximately 4 shows per year on Saturday nights The Showtime deal includes 16 live events per year, about half of which will be prime-time events and the remaining at smaller venues. In addition they will feature behind the scenes and promotional shows to support the Showtime events. Finally the NBC deal will consist of half hour shows of previously taped matches and will be shown in the wee hours.

The fate of the other assets such as Cage Rage, Rumble on the Rock, King of the Cage, ICON Sport and SpiritMC have yet to be determined.

Fighters that have been confirmed to still be on board are Nick Diaz, Cung Le, Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Joe Riggs, Bobby Southworth, Frank Shamrock, Kazuo Misaki, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, Gina Carano, Eddie Alvarez, middleweight champion Robbie Lawler and welterweight champion Jake Shields. Current Heavyweight champ Antonio Silva is of course tied up in legal battles, but Alistair Overeem and Renato Sobral have been officially “recognized”, though their current status with this organization is unknown.

The first official Strikeforce show will kick off in San Jose, California on April 11th featuring a headlining bout between middleweights Benji Radach (19-4) and Scott Smith (14-5). The card is expected to broadcast live on Showtime.