Strikeforce's milestones of success (timeline)

[Longtime fan]

Just a little Strikeforce milestone's timeline that i put together with the help of Wiki-pedia ( i basically updated it ). Might as well provide yous with a good read...

The History of Strikeforce

March 10, 2006 - Strikeforce was founded as a kickboxing organization. It became involved with MMA in 2006 with the Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie event on March 10, 2006, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. The event was California's first regulated MMA event and broke the previous record for largest audience at a MMA event in the United States, with its 18,265 in attendance. The record was since broken by K-1 HERO'S Dynamite!! USA, although Shamrock vs. Gracie still retains the paid attendance record of 17,465.

February 2008 - Strikeforce held its first event outside California with Strikeforce: At The Dome at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. Since then it has held four additional events outside California: October 2008 in Broomfield, Colorado, two during June 2009 in St. Louis, Missouri and Kent, Washington, and in November 2009 in Chicago, Illinois.

March 2008 - Strikeforce partnered with NBC to broadcast weekly highlight and fighter-profile series, Strikeforce on NBC from April 12. In February 2009, Strikeforce purchased several assets, including a video library and several fighter-contracts, including Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith from ProElite, owner of the defunct EliteXC promotion. Days later it also announced it had agreed to a three-year broadcast deal with Showtime for up to 16 events per year, as well as a deal with CBS for an option to produce up to four events for them. In addition to Strikeforce's primary events being broadcast on Showtime, it also announced it would produce ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers, an event-series similar to ShoXC and ShoBox, where they would highlight up-and-coming fighters.

August 2009 - Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced that they had signed formal alliances with Japanese MMA-promotion Dream and Russian promotion M-1 Global. Coker said the partnership would allow for co-promotion and fighter exchanges for events both in the US and Japan, and he mentioned Shinya Aoki versus Josh Thomson or Gilbert Melendez as well as Melvin Manhoef versus Robbie Lawler creating the best match ups possible that would not have existed before.

August 15, 2009 - Strikeforce was available to be viewed online through the Showtime website. For a small cost "Strikeforce: All Access" is an online interactive event for the fans that streams simultaneously with the live event enabling the user multiple camera angles of the fights such as the "cage cam" exclusively offered by Showtime. A small camera is attached to the referee and fans are able to see from their perspective in real time. "Strikeforce: All Access" adds other features such as pause and instant replay. This was not the first time Strikeforce events were streamed on the Showtime website but was the first time the live stream was available to audiences and internet users outside the United States such as in Europe, Japan, Brazil, and Canada.


Strikeforce 2010 - Despite some minor setbacks like the CBS "Mayhem Miller/Jake Shields" brawl and Fedor Emelianenko losing his first fight in a decade (and first real loss) , Strikeforce used this year to put a firm foot in the door when refering to popularity amongst the fans . Their brand familiarity has grown and now they have reached a strong second place standing behind the UFC when they finished out the year with one of the best cards we have seen in years with Strikeforce : "Henderson vs. Sobral" . Some other events worth mentioning that took place during 2010 were : Tyron Woodley contuing to show promise as a young up and coming talent , Nick Diaz earning and succesfully defending his belt , Raphael "Feijao" Cavalcante earning his respective belt , Cristianne "Cyborg" Santos continuing to dominate, amongst others.

Strikeforce 2011 - This year is a very significant one according to Scott Coker's plan . He went ahead in the same tradition as Pride FC (now defunct Japanese mma organization) and is in the midst of organizing what should turn out to be an epic heavyweight tournament that will be spread out on 4 cards throughout the year. The participants are a group of the most accomplished heavyweight mixed martial (inside and outside of mma) artists on the planet . They are basically a who's who of the old guard of the heavyweight division. They consist of legends such as former Pride and UFC champions , as well as Abu Dhabi BJJ tournament winners , etc. This year will be pivotal in determining Strikeforce's direction for the future if everything goes according to plan. This is the year of the takeover.


Strikeforce has major sponsorship deals, Rockstar Energy Drink is the official energy drink of Strikeforce. This in addition to having sponsors from Electronic Arts Video Games, Bodog and Full Tilt Poker.

Some notable fighters signed by Strikeforce include Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Dan Henderson, Marius Žaromskis, Muhammed Lawal, Melvin Manhoef, Nick Diaz, KJ Noons, Bobby Lashley , Sergei Kharitonov , and Josh Barnett .

[Hooligan]

Good read. Makes me wanna go out & read more about all of Coker's history before SF too.

Nice!

[CanadianAssault]

War SF.

[Jride]

Awesome read.

WAR