Since the Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce, fans and analysts have been calling for the champion vs champion super-fights to happen as soon as possible, but will there be any champions left to bring over, or will there be a Strikeforce left by the end of the year? With the recent release of reigning Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem with only one fight left on his contract, and Light Heavyweight champion fulfilling the final fight on his contract not even fighting in his own weight class, the total number of champions still under contract in Strikeforce is summed up to only three. Those still signed champions include reigning Middleweight champion Ronaldo Souza, reigning Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, and new Women's Bantamweight champion Meisha Tate. Champions who are no longer with Strikeforce include now former Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem who was released with one fight left on his contract that was not renegotiated after Zuffa and his management were at odds, Light Heavyweight champion Dan Henderson who fulfilled the final fight on his contract and is technically considered a free-agent while negotiating with Zuffa on whether he will remain in Strikeforce or return to the UFC, now former Welterweight champion Nick Diaz who renegotiated a new Zuffa contract that allowed him to crossover to fight reigning UFC Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and vacated his title to do so, and finally Women's Featherweight champion Cristiane Santos who is in renegotiation for a new contract with the promotion and has not fought in nearly fourteen months with Strikeforce unable to find a suitable contender. With four weight classes in the promotion currently without champions, two reigning champions, and a Women's champion whose future with Zuffa hinges on whether UFC President Dana White finally takes WMMA seriously, Strikeforce is not looking so good and appears to be falling apart.
For their Heavyweight division, Strikeforce was hoping to garner some publicity and finally bring order to their division with a Grand Prix with one side of the bracket stacked with the promotion's biggest names, and the other side holding the dark horses and less popular names in the division. With a stunning upset brought on by Antonio Silva defeating elite Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem having a very lackluster performance against Fabricio Werdum that still earned the win, Sergei Kharitonov knocking out Andrei Arlovski who was already seen to have lost his endurance against powerful strikes, and Josh Barnett finally making his return to the United States making short work of Brett Rogers, the Grand Prix did not shape up the way the promotion had really hoped. Complications with contracts and previously scheduled engagements have chipped away at what hype was still left for the Heavyweight tournament. Overeem technically had one fight left on his contract that would have required renegotiation if he were to defeat Silva and advance to the tournament finals, and claims that he was promised the scheduled fight date was in October not September mixed with unspecified injuries at the time added up to create a rift in the relationship between his management and Zuffa. With this rift, Zuffa decided to end what business relationship there was with team Golden Glory and simply terminate Overeem's contract and include Meisha Tate who had just come off the loss of her Women's Bantamweight title five days prior to her release.
For Dan Henderson, the fault is on Strikeforce who set him up in a four-fight contract with no champion's clause. Henderson's first fight in Strikeforce was supposed to be a given showcase fight where the superior wrestler and heavy handed striker was to make quick work of the American Jiu-Jitsu fighter in Jake Shields who made it no secret that he was intent on signing with the UFC after this last fight on his contract. Henderson nearly ended the fight in Rnd1, but his stamina quickly dwindled immediately after and was upset by the underdog in Shields. Returning to the Light Heavyweight division Henderson went on a tear quickly knocking the former division champion Renato Sobral to make the score 2-0 against him, and followed that up with an entertaining fight against Rafael Cavalcante where he won the division title with a Rnd3 KO. That follow with a super-fight officially at Heavyweight against fellow former PrideFC star Fedor Emelianenko where the two engaged in one of the most entertaining fights to only go one round where Henderson finished the fight in a surprising Rnd1 TKO. With all four fights now fulfilled and Zuffa owning Strikeforce, the big question is will Henderson remain in the promotion to defend his Light Heavyweight at least once, or will he be resigned to the UFC with a pay cut.
Nick Diaz is the first to take part in an official super-fight between a Strikeforce and UFC champion and considered the luckiest fighter after the purchase of the promotion. Becoming the inaugural Strikeforce Welterweight champion and the only champion in the promotion to have defended his title three consecutive times with a style that engages his opponents' strengths, Diaz is the most anticipated of any of the promotion's champions to crossover into the UFC. Having vacated his title to officially become a UFC fighter for the third time, Diaz has so far been the only Welterweight champion to reign in Strikeforce, and the way things are going he could very well be the only one they ever had.
Comparable to Women's boxing, the depth in Women's MMA has been the key factor hindering its progression and legitimacy, and that is a fact that has brought a halt to the career of Strikeforce Women's Featherweight champion Cristiane Santos. Seen as the best pound-for-pound female fighter in WMMA by many, Santos is feared in her division that has very few stars at all. Santos won her inaugural title in the promotion with a win over the face of Women's MMA at the time Gina Carano with a Rnd1 TKO. After defending her title against Marloes Coenen, Strikeforce was tasked with finding a new contender, but found difficulty finding any opponent wither willing to take her on, or with enough recognition to deserve a title shot at all. When she was supposed to fight Erin Toughill, her opponent withdrew from the fight and instead fought Jan Finney where she dominated the entire fight en route to a Rnd2 KO. With no suitable opponents to match her up against, Strikeforce let her contract expire. After news broke that Santos was in talks with other promotions and had a fight lined up, Strikeforce initiated new contract negotiations with her management. Whether Santos will ever return to fight under the Strikeforce banner or there will even be any Women's division at all.
The exceptions at this point are Ronaldo Souza, Gilbert Melendez, and Meisha Tate. Souza claimed the title with a Unanimous Decision over Tim Kennedy after the belt became vacant following Jake Shields' leave to the UFC. He has since defend his title one with a Rnd3 Submission over Robbie Lawler and has waited months for the promotion to finally bring up a challenger in Luke Rockhold whom he will fight in September. Souza is a loyal teammate of reigning UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and has said in interviews that he will never fight him even in a champion vs champion super-fight. For Gilbert Melendez, he has been considered one of the more legitimate champions in Strikeforce being one of the more aggressive and impressive fighters in the division, as well as one of the more entertaining fighters in the promotion. Melendez is expected to face Jorge Masvidal sometime this year in what should be an entertaining match between two aggressive fighters. The final champion on the roster is Meisha Tate who claimed the Women's Bantamweight title with a surprising Rnd4 submission win over Marloes Coenen at the recent Strikeforce: Fedor vs Henderson event. Tate becomes the promotion's third champion in this weight class and is already set to defend her title against the last woman to beat her in former champion Sarah Kaufman. With Tate being the first American WMMA fighter to hold this division's title and being an attractive woman, this attracts some attention from Zuffa in possibly promoting her as the new face of WMMA and support women competing in the sport. With Strikeforce falling apart in some aspects, many question if Zuffa will keep the promotion alive long enough to promote WMMA at all. With WMMA in Strikeforce possible meeting its end when the promotion is inevitably absorbed into the UFC, the best hope for female fighters will be to look at BellatorFC in the future as the home of WMMA.
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