Strikeforce

In a fight that was horribly under-promoted, Ed Herman became the only UFC fighter in history to step into the Strikeforce cage when he took on Jacare Souza. After stepping in on short notice, the usually-middleweights competed at a catchweight of 194 pounds.

Herman was announced as a replacement for Lorenz Larkin on December 20 and couldn't have had enough time for a proper training camp. When considering the incredible talent of Jacare, this was a very risky decision.

Ultimately, it proved to be a terrible decision, as Jacare was dominant in both the standup and grappling portion of this fight. The official stoppage came by way of kimura at 3:25 in the first round.

What we'll remember about this fight

The dominance of Jacare Souza. Aside from Herman attempting a heel hook that was never close, Jacare was in complete control of this contest. Two takedowns were scored with little resistance and the groundwork was slick. 

What we learned about Ed Herman

That he is courageous. Taking a fight against Jacare isn't advisable in the first place. To do it on three weeks notice in downright suicidal. 

What we learned about Jacare Souza

He continues to improve in all aspects of the game. With Rafael Cavalcante helping with the standup game, Souza's striking has never looked better. The same can be said for his wrestling, which was very efficient.

What's next for Ed Herman

Herman did Dana White a favor by stepping up and taking this fight. It's unlikely that he will be punished for such a poor performance.

It's back to the drawing board, as Herman is winless in consecutive fights. A fight with Tom Watson or Stanislav Nedkov is likely in his future.

What's next for Jacare Souza

This is exactly the sort of momentum that a star like Souza needs when transitioning into the UFC. By proving that he can not only hang with a UFC veteran like Herman, but actually dominate him, speaks volumes about the future of Jacare.

As much as I would love to see a rematch with Luke Rockhold, I think it''s important to keep the Strikeforce imports away from one another. Jacare should meet a Top 15 opponent like Costa Philippou or Jake Shields in his UFC debut. 

On a night of predictable prelims, Showtime Extreme concluded their final Strikeforce broadcast with a lightweight battle between former title contender KJ Noons and Ryan Couture.

This fight was the biggest in the career of Couture, who had previously squared off against other lower-tier fighters. 

This was a war! Although there was quality action in Round 1, the second round was five minutes of highlights, as these lightweights battled in hopes of securing a UFC contract. The final round continued the exciting action before going to the judges' scorecards.

In his first fight against a former champion, Couture was awarded a split decision against Noons, although it was extremely controversial and immediately debunked by Pat Miletich and Frank Shamrock.

What we'll remember about this fight

The poor decision. KJ Noons deserved the win in this battle, and that should be the take-home lesson from this fight. 

What we learned about KJ Noons

Not much. This fight was pretty standard for Noons. He controlled the action and showed exemplary head movement while boxing his way toward a win. Unfortunately, the decision robbed him of a hard-earned victory.

What we learned about Ryan Couture

That he is wickedly tough. Couture withstood the onslaught of Noons in the second round. After being rocked, Couture remained upright as the former EliteXC champion delivered unanswered combinations in a fight that appeared to be only seconds away from being stopped.

Aside from the controversy, Couture proved that he is worthy of a UFC contract. With big heart and creative striking, the 30-year-old fared well against a seasoned veteran and former champion. 

What's next for KJ Noons

Undoubtedly, this fight was sink or swim for Noons, who lost three of his last four fights heading into the event. Prior to the skid, Noons had won six straight, which includes wins over Nick Diaz, Yves Edwards and Jorge Gurgel.

It is clear that Noons should have come out with the decision victory, although I'm not sure that the UFC will sign him with only one win in five fights. Hopefully Dana White was watching this closely and awards Noons a contract.

A match against a fellow boxer like Sam Stout would make for an incredible matchup. 

What's next for Ryan Couture

The son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, Ryan made his professional debut under the Strikeforce banner, which has been the home of all of his fights. The win tonight gives him a four-fight winning streak heading into the UFC, even though he didn't deserve the win tonight.

Couture will likely enter the Octagon sometime this summer, and the UFC should take its time and allow Ryan more time to develop. Perhaps a bout with Mac Danzig or Danny Castillo is in the cards.

From fighting for the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship to fighting an undefeated newcomer, Pat Healy had seen a number of fighters take this fight with him and back out. Kurt Holobaugh was the man who eventually made it to the cage to fight Healy on Saturday night.

In an important lightweight bout that would likely decide who moved to the UFC and who didn't, Healy took a decision victory over a game Holobaugh. It was an entertaining fight that was contested largely on the mat.  

Here is what we learned from the fight.

What We'll Remember About This Fight

The fight was actually an entertaining grappling affair, even though Healy's wrestling dominated most of the ground battle. Healy showed great defense and top-game wrestling, while Holobaugh showed a crafty guard and good submission knowledge.

I personally will remember the omoplata that transitioned to a toe hold by Holobaugh in the first round. I thought he had it, but Healy escaped.

All in all, if you liked submission grappling, this fight was enjoyable.

What We Learned About Kurt Holobaugh

For taking the fight on two weeks' notice and being vastly less experienced than Healy, Holobaugh showed great cardio, solid grappling ability and good striking (from the little we saw). He is definitely an intriguing prospect, but it's doubtful he will get a call from the UFC after the loss.

I hope I am wrong because this fighter has a ton of potential. 

What We Learned About Pat Healy

Healy is a true veteran and a blanket on the ground. His wrestling is smothering, his submission defense is very good and he is definitely ready for the UFC. 

Not much was actually learned, though, as this was a vintage Healy performance. 

What's Next for Holobaugh

As stated, since he didn't win the fight, one would assume he will not make it to the UFC. However, if I were a UFC official and saw this fight, I would offer him a chance to fight in the Octagon.

If a UFC contract is waiting for him, he should meet Marcus LeVesseur or Joe Proctor. 

What's Next for Healy

He is definitely moving over to the UFC with this win. No fights are going to be easy, but he definitely should get a top-25 fighter. Mark Bocek would be a nice challenge for Healy to see if he belongs among the elite.

As Showtime Extreme opened its final Strikeforce broadcast, the first fight that fans witnessed was a middleweight contest between jiu-jitsu phenom Roger Gracie and three-time Strikeforce vet Anthony Smith.

Smith dominated the first round, which was contested solely on the feet. However, in the second frame, Gracie scored a much-needed takedown, effortlessly worked to mount and threw some ground-and-pound before securing an arm-triangle choke for the win.

What we'll remember about this fight

Although he was beaten up in the first round, Gracie can do whatever he wants once a fight goes to the ground. His fight-ending submission was quick and decisive.

What we learned about Roger Gracie

He is still too tentative with his takedowns. Knowing that he was not going to beat Smith in the striking department, he should have made more of an effort to work this fight to the ground sooner.

What we learned about Anthony Smith

His game planning is great, even if it was unsuccessful in the end. Using leg kicks and thigh punches, Smith tried to slow down Gracie and defend the takedown.  

What's next for Roger Gracie

Jiu-jitsu matches can be thrilling when you have two elite grapplers going toe-to-toe. Let's hope that Gracie will get to show off his skills against a fellow submission artist in his UFC debut.  A matchup with Jake Shields would be tremendous, although I think Tim Boetsch is a more likely opponent. 

What's next for Anthony Smith

Although the current crop of UFC middleweights may not be as strong as the welterweights and lightweights, the division has more than enough talent and no need to add any dead weight. 

Although there is no shame in being submitted by a Gracie, Smith didn't look particularly worthy of a UFC contract on Saturday night. He should take a fight or two on the independent circuit or look for work with Bellator. 

If the UFC does offer him a contract, I'd like to see Smith take on a lower-ranked striker such as Alessio Sakara.

With a main card full of mismatches, it's easy to say guys like Dion Staring or Nandor Guilmino are fighters with the most to gain. They're both huge underdogs and obviously a win would provide a career salvation for either man.

In the interest of looking beyond the obvious, I'm going to look at Tarec Saffiedine as the fighter with the most to gain.

The Team Quest fighter is one of the top prospects in the welterweight division and outside of Tyron Woodley, has been one of the true diamond in the rough finds for Strikeforce. The former kickboxer has lost only once in a Strikeforce cage with that being a unanimous decision loss to the former Division-I wrestling standout Woodley.

In 16 professional fights Saffiedine has yet to be finished and is one of the more durable fighters in MMA. He's also on a three-fight winning streak including wins over Roger Bowling and Scott Smith.

With Woodley loosing to Nate Marquardt in 2012, Saffiedine was bumped up to title contender due to the lack of depth. Saffiedine is a highly regarded prospect but most of the MMA world is picking Marquardt—and for good reason. The former UFC middleweight contender is one of the most experienced competitors in MMA and has looked great since dropping to 170 pounds.

A loss effectively cements Saffiedine's place as a prospect in the UFC's welterweight division, which could mean years of hard work to get into title contention. The welterweight division once cleaned out by Georges St-Pierre, has now become a hot bed of talent with new challengers emerging each show.

Moving up the rankings also means facing a number of talented wrestlers, the type of fighter that has proven to give Saffiedine trouble in the past.

If the Belgian can take out Marquardt, he will undoubtedly shoot up the ranks into title contention. With only 16 fights and very few wins over "quality competition," it could become the chance of a lifetime should Saffiedine get past Marquardt.

Although Saffiedine will still likely garner a roster spot even with a loss, the chance for a quick UFC title shot is one chance that he will not want to miss out on.

Saturday night will feature the culmination of years of hard work mixed with some success and a lot of failure for the Strikeforce promotion. The promotion's final card features some big names, but also big mismatches.

With so many names on the card predicted to win and win big, which one has the most to lose should an upset occur?

It'd be easy to say Nate Marquardt or Josh Barnett, due to the nature of their mismatches, but both likely know their fate if they lose. Barnett has been in Dana White's dog house for years and isn't guaranteed a roster spot even if he wins. Marquardt has been on good terms with the UFC, despite his impromptu firing, but will likely get another chance to step in the Octagon with a win or a loss.

That leaves just one of Strikeforce's big names who stands to lose the most with a loss—Daniel "DC" Cormier. The former Olympian skyrocketed up the heavyweight rankings after winning the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix and will likely be put "in the mix" for a heavyweight title shot (should Cain Velasquez drop the belt) or light heavyweight if he chooses to drop down in weight.

However, a loss will likely be a monumental setback for the AKA fighter. His opponent Dion Staring is a relative unknown and is also predicted to lose by a wide margin. Anything less than pure domination by "DC" will ultimately be viewed as a failure.

At 33 years old, Cormier may not get enough time to make another title run if he loses to Staring. With the UFC placing themselves on a pedestal far above the Strikeforce level, a loss in a Strikeforce cage is a virtual death sentence in terms of UFC rankings.

Adding in Cormier's tendency to injure his hand could mean Cormier not only plummets down the rankings but also fails to get another immediate opportunity to bounce back. For someone like Cormier who has years of competition under his belt, time isn't a luxury.

Strikeforce is on its death bed. Its final event, held in Oklahoma City Saturday night, is imminent. How did the promotion that once fancied itself the Pepsi to UFC's Coke get to this point? I talked with the most important players—the men and women who built the brand—to find out in this definitive oral history.

This is the history of Strikeforce, in their words.

The first entry in this two-part series, chronicling the early days of the promotion, can be found here.

*

One source of world-class fighters came from a well no major promotion had ever tapped until Strikeforce and Elite XC took the plunge in 2006 and 2007. Women had been fighting on smaller shows like Jeff Osborne's Hook N Shoot for years. But even their staunchest supporters couldn't have predicted the response to women fighting in the cage on national television. Simply put, it was a hit.

With superstar, and future movie star, Gina Carano leading the way, female fighters didn't just find a place on the card. They shattered the glass ceiling and made their way all the way to the main event. Where Gina led, others quickly followed. Soon the promotion had a handful of incredible female fighters, many of whom wowed fans with their good looks almost as much as they impressed them with their fighting prowess.

Scott Coker (Strikeforce promoter): I grew up in a martial arts school where we trained with females all the time. They were doing everything the guys were doing. So when we started Strikeforce kickboxing we always had female fights. We had a girl named Kim Messer fight Lisa Smith in kickboxing in one of the greatest fights I've ever seen in person.

Mike Afromowitz (Strikeforce media relations): Scott was always the big believer in giving women the opportunity to fight. He thought they were martial artists just like men were martial artists. He promoted women's kickboxing before he promoted women's MMA fighting. He looked at them as fighters. There were women who fought just like there were men who fought.

Coker: In 2006, when MMA became legal in California, women's MMA was not legal. We tried to get the commission to allow us to do a female fight on our first card and they wouldn't let us do it. We had to wait until December of 2006 to do the first sanctioned women's bout, Gina Carano fighting Elaina Maxwell.

We were only allowed to have them fight for two-minute rounds because the state wouldn't allow us to do five-minute rounds like the boys. It was ridiculous, but what could I do? Those were the Commission's rules and the Commission could shut you down. I had no choice.

Afromowitz: We discovered Gina in Vegas when she fought kickboxing for us on the K-1 USA undercard. We knew her back before Strikeforce was an MMA promotion. When I first saw her ringside at K-1 I said "This girl could be a star." This girl was an awesome athlete. I didn't know it at the time, but her dad was a backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. So she had those athletic genes.

Gina Carano (women's MMA pioneer): It feels like I was fighting just to (be able to) fight. It was just one big fight for five years. It's been a chance for me to show people that there's a different kind of female out there. There is a different kind of female who isn't always worried about her weight and becoming anorexic. There's a different kind of female who might be more physical and might not be the best at giving speeches and always saying the right things.

After her fight in Strikeforce, Carano went on to become a major star with Elite XC under the guidance of promoter Gary Shaw. When she came back to Strikeforce, her main-event push continued, literally. She and Cris Cyborg became the first women fighters to headline a national event, taking the lead spot on Showtime on August 15, 2009.

Carano: I just think that the problem has been exposure for women. People walk away from female fighting and they talk about it like it's the main event. It's just a matter of exposure.

Coker: I asked Showtime if they would consider this main event and they said, "Of course, we would love to have it." It was the first time in martial arts history that there had been a female main event on that level. Once Showtime got behind it, we went full steam ahead.

It was one of the pinnacles of Strikeforce. Cyborg became the Mike Tyson of MMA, knocking everyone out. And Gina went straight from the fight to the movies. It worked out well for both of them.

Cyborg's decimation of Carano created a new star, and others soon joined the party. While Cyborg and Carano competed at 145 pounds, it was the 135-pound weight class that ultimately took center stage. Fighters like Miesha Tate, Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen were competing at a high level, and their success made sure women's MMA was more than the Carano show. It was a full-fledged sport.

Sarah Kaufman (former Strikeforce bantamweight champion): I think a lot of women's fights are extremely exciting. You have technical fights, you have brawls, you have a mix of everything. And because we are a lighter weight, generally the pace is a little quicker.

Frank Shamrock (Strikeforce main-event star and broadcaster): Girls, when they fight, they don't hold back. They completely go for it. They seem to have a different intensity level. And it makes magic when you pit two of them against each other.

Miesha Tate (former Strikeforce bantamweight champion): When you get two female athletes out there who are well trained and well prepared, I think it really catches people off-guard if they haven't seen it before. That's good. That's what we need.

Damon Martin (Lead Reporter, MMAWeekly.com): The women always fought with a chip on their shoulders and something to prove, and they never disappointed when given the chance to shine.

Rich Chou (matchmaker): A lot of times, the women's fights would steal the show. The decision was made to really push them because we liked what we saw in front of us and wanted it to grow.

Shamrock: The girls are usually attractive and the fights are kind of edgy. They're used to fighting for their lives, so they are like "Come on bitch, let's go for it."

Coker: These girls were well trained martial artists. This wasn't some cat fight.

Kaufman: Of course there are people that are still unsure about seeing girls hitting each other. Kind of an old-fashioned sense of "You don't hit girls." It's one of those things that's getting overcome, but it's taking some time. It really is a great sport.

Knapp: I'm as old school as they come. Coming up through the ranks, when men would talk about women and fighting, it was usually "Find me a hot chick, Shannon." It was never "Find me the best athlete." So I was always a little biased about giving women those opportunities. I saw it as taking a place away from one of my male athletes.

I watched them and said "Wow, women can really fight." Working with Strikeforce gave me the opportunity for the first time in my life to actually work with female athletes. I saw Gina, Cris Cyborg, Marloes Coenen, Miesha (Tate)—athletes that were actually training in the game and serious about their careers. It changed my perception.

Tate, Kaufman and Coenen traded the title back and forth in a series of thrilling bouts. Many of them, however, were relegated to Strikeforce's secondary show, the Challengers series. But soon the quality of fights and fan demand helped the newly minted women stars find a home on the big shows.

Martin de Jong (Golden Glory, trainer of Marloes Coenen and Alistair Overeem): Marloes was always on the main card. We were very happy that she got that chance, and although I would have loved to have her fighting three or four times a year, she did fine with twice a year. Having her fighting on the Challengers cards probably didn't make sense, because of her purse.

Marloes has a big following in the U.S., and she always performed in a spectacular way. Showtime loved her, and I think that's why she was always on the main cards on the big shows.

Kaufman: Those looks of Gina got people watching. But from there, the casual fan began to appreciate the women's fights more and more. Now there is less emphasis on just looking good. It matters how you fight.

Tate: There are so many women coming out of the woodwork every day. More amateurs turning pro. And new women becoming amateurs. It's growing pretty fast, and I think that people are becoming more accepting of it. Girls are like, "Wow, I didn't even know I could do that. I want to do that and I can do it, because she's doing it." It's important and exciting to see the sport progressing so much.

Chou: Now we're seeing Ronda Rousey headline a UFC pay-per-view, and I'd like to think we have Strikeforce and Elite XC to thank for paving the way on Showtime.

Strikeforce developed some of its biggest stars internally. None shined brighter than the motley crew from Cesar Gracie's school in Pleasant Hill, California. Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez and Jake Shields catapulted to the top of the promotion doing things their own way.

Coker: Interesting guys. But you know what? There were amazing fighters at Cesar Gracie's gym. Tough guys who walked the walk. If they don't like you, you'll know in the cage.

Cesar Gracie: We wanted to show we were the big dogs in California.

Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce lightweight champion): It's more than training partners. We're a family. Someone like Nick, Nate and Jake, they've all helped me become the fighter I am.

Gracie: We really enjoyed Strikeforce in the rock and roll days. Strikeforce was emerging as one of the bigger shows, and we kind of ruled Strikeforce back in the day. We had three champs, and they just wouldn't lose. Nick was undefeated, Jake was, and obviously Gilbert had the one loss and he was champ forever. We kind of ruled over that, and it's kind of been our backyard over here.

While Melendez and Shields were arguably more successful in the cage, it was Nick Diaz who became a breakout star in Strikeforce, propelled into the main event against Frank Shamrock in April, 2009, the man who had beaten his trainer and mentor in Strikeforce's very first show.

Shamrock: I'd seen him grow up from a young kid. This is what he was born to do.

Gracie: He pretty much has bad blood for everyone who steps in the cage with him. That is what motivates him; it's not a personal thing. They are going into battle, and they are not friends with the person they are fighting. That is what makes him exciting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAa9w0Xmns0

Afromowitz: He was very difficult to deal with at media functions. And you can see that to this day. It's just his personality. I'm not blaming him—that's who he is. But the promoter's job is to promote the fight. He needs the fighter to meet certain media commitments and other functions that go along with it

Shamrock: That's Nick Diaz. That was the beauty of being in Strikeforce's infancy. It was real. And some of it was out of control. Nick was out of control. We had to chase him down, corral him, keep him in rooms. But the purity of that made brilliant television because he was real as can be.

Afromowitz: It's funny. I guess we built him, but he also built himself. Nick, just by being who he is, made himself this outlaw. And he became bigger than he was in the UFC. He put on exciting fights and was a star already, but he became bigger than that as time went on. Along the way he became the bad boy. As he was on Showtime more, as he was in the public more, people started to like him more. He may have done the same things in UFC and Elite XC, but now he was doing them in the spotlight.

As exciting as Diaz was, finishing Shamrock's Hall of Fame career, the best for Strikeforce was yet to come. Like Elite XC, the T-shirt company Affliction had tried to move too fast, too soon and squandered millions on high-priced, high-profile fighters, including Fedor Emelianenko. Long considered the best heavyweight in the world, the former Pride champion had a big name—and an even bigger price tag.

The UFC went after him hard, but ultimately couldn't come to an arrangement with M-1 Global, the promotional company Fedor owned a piece of and wanted to use to co-promote all of his bouts.

Evgeni Kogan (Operations Director, M-1 Global): The co-promotion that was brought up so many times in the media, had probably 10 percent importance to the overall deal. Ninety percent of our concern was the financial side.

When the UFC dropped out, Coker and his partners, once again, had an important decision to make.

Coker: I brought it to them and said "Guys, this is what it's going to take and this is what it will do for the brand." They always supported me. They said "Let's go for it." It was never a matter of "I don't know, that's a lot of money for Fedor." They asked "Do you think it's worth it?" I said "Yeah, I think it's worth it."

Josh Gross (ESPN Senior MMA Writer): To land a guy of his caliber, that people care about, it was a shot over the bow of the UFC, and it was the one move that put them on the UFC's radar in terms of being an actual "competitor." It wasn't getting on Showtime or gobbling up Pro Elite. It was signing Fedor. It said "these guys are trying to create something that is not a regional show." Fedor is a global talent and the best heavyweight in the world. If he's there, people are going to start paying attention.

Chou: Scott could do things that no other organization could do. UFC tried to sign Fedor forever and couldn't. They get everybody they want. I can't think of a time they didn't. We got him. That changed the game overall. That elevated Strikeforce to a new level. It meant we were a real player and sent a message to Zuffa. That was when things started changing. (UFC President) Dana White used to speak very highly of Strikeforce and was very supportive. The Fedor signing changed things. They felt the heat turned up and started treating us as a real competitor and coming after us a little more aggressively.

Emelianenko's first bout with the company was also Strikeforce's debut on CBS. The Tiffany network had also broadcast Elite XC and was willing to take a chance on a new sport. Fedor proved his worth, both in the cage against Brett Rogers, fresh off a win over former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski, and at the box office, where he attracted a live crowd of 11,512 at the Sears Center near Chicago and another five million on television.

Afromowitz: With the escalation of costs came a lot of opportunity, especially with CBS.

Coker: I think it was timing as well. We didn't start with Showtime until April of 2009 doing these fights by ourselves. The timing was right, the main event was right. It all just worked out perfectly.

Vadim Finkelstein (M-1 Global, Fedor's manager): The audience cheered for Fedor even though Brett Rogers was actually born in Chicago.

Kogan: They were all very excited to see Fedor. He, by far, had the best reception of the fighters fighting there, and it was very surprising, actually, to see how well he was received by the U.S. fans.

Coker: If you saw the reaction in L.A. when he was fighting for Affliction, you could clearly see that this guy has a huge fanbase. I think if you brought him in, even today, he would still bring a big fanbase. If he came out of retirement and had a big fight, his fans would come out. Because they loved this guy.

Kogan: They were elated to win the fight, of course, but you have to understand the cultural differences. The team itself is pretty stoic, much like Fedor. All the guys who traveled with him and his friends, his priest—and it was priests plural for later fights—were all very stoic. They weren't like some of the other teams that created this huge fanfare when their fighters won. They didn't change, very much, the way they conducted themselves.

After the fight came the first of what would be many renegotiations with Fedor and his team. Although Emelianenko was reported to have signed a three-fight deal, his contracts didn't seem to be written in stone.

Coker: They never signed a contract they didn't want to renegotiate. That was one of my personal issues with them. Why not honor the contract that you signed?

Kogan: Negotiations and then renegotiation with Strikeforce after the Rogers fight, and all the subsequent renegotiations, were often over the phone or Skype...There was a discrepancy between the amount of money we were under the impression was going to come out of that deal and the amount of money that actually did.

Chou: There were times we were certainly frustrated. Things didn't flow as smoothly as we'd like. It wasn't a perfect world, that's for sure. But that's the fight game.

Kogan: It wasn't that Strikeforce or Scott did something underhanded—the projections we made just didn't work out. The financials didn't work out in that market. So we went back to them and said, "This isn't how we'd like to continue the relationship." It wasn't that Strikeforce wasn't doing what they were supposed to be doing. We thought they showed good faith throughout.

Afromowitz: When you deal with a big star, there are a lot of hands there. There's a lot of interest involved. The bigger the star, the more opportunity they bring to the people around them. So getting a deal done with someone of that caliber is not easy.

Chou: There were times we had to walk away and hit the reset button. Cool off. But we always came back to the table and tried to make things happen.

Kogan: It was around that time that Showtime started actively becoming a part of the conversation. They were basically taking over the Strikeforce side and negotiating with us. Things between us and Strikeforce weren't going that well, and Showtime felt like they could really be a big help.

Coker: The most frustrating part of the Fedor experience was having to have that conversation with those guys every time. I guess that's how they do things? I have no idea. 

Kogan: When it became obvious that we weren't going to be able to come to an arrangement with Strikeforce that suited to both sides, and it looked like the deal might be ending altogether, I think Showtime realized that it was probably an important thing for Strikeforce to remain in a relationship with Fedor.

Afromowitz: It's too bad we weren't able to get him on the next CBS card. It would have changed a lot of things.

With Fedor temporarily out of the picture, his fight with Fabricio Werdum was pulled from consideration for the main-event slot of the second CBS show in Nashville. Instead, the newly signed Dan Henderson, fresh off a knockout win at the biggest UFC show in history, took on Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields.

After nearly being knocked out in the first round, a cautious Shields grounded Henderson on his way to a tepid decision. The ratings were dismal, but worst of all was what happened after the fight. Jason "Mayhem" Miller sneaked into the cage to challenge Shields, saying "Where's my title shot, buddy?" Shields pushed Miller, and Shields' training partners—Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez—quickly jumped in as a full-scale brawl erupted on network television.

Frank Shamrock: They wanted a cage fight. They got a cage fight.

Chou: Bob (Cook) and I are starting to walk away from the cage after the fight. We knew we had some fights that weren't going to be appreciated. The matchups on paper were terrific—but they just weren't exciting. I remember Bob and I walking away from the cage and I said to him '"At least it can't get any worse, right?'"

I s--- you not, as I was saying it we hear this commotion in the cage and we run back, jumped back in there and with the help of the staff and everybody restored order. It was that kind of night. But uttering those words—maybe it was my fault? As soon as I said that, the universe responded.

Coker: I didn't see it. I was on my way to the press conference. Until I saw it online I didn't really understand how big a melee it was. It was a black eye for Strikeforce.

Shamrock: I was so sick to my stomach watching it happen. Because I couldn't believe that's what our youth was doing to the sport in that moment. One of the biggest opportunities ever for MMA. I knew after that happened that we were going to take a major step backward.

Chou: We don't have the same luxuries other sports do. We see this happen in other major sports, but those sports are established. We don't have that luxury. We're still fighting for respect. And there are still people at the top that don't like this sport. You give them something like that to work with and it's a lot of ammo for somebody still skeptical about MMA. Their worst fears were realized.

Coker: It was my low point as a martial arts promoter. I got into this business to support martial arts, and I thought that was a disservice to our mission statement. It was very disappointing.

Afromowitz: When I first saw it I said, "This is not good." And I turned to one of my colleagues from Showtime and asked, "Is this going to be a problem?" And they said, "Nah, don't worry about it." And then, of course, it was a problem. Of course it's a problem. CBS was a public company, and there were people within that company who didn't think MMA belonged on that network.

Knapp: If it had been Showtime instead of CBS, it wouldn't have been blown out of proportion the way it was.

Chou: I remember all of us being uncertain about the future. It was a really big deal. This thing went all the way up the Showtime and CBS ladder. MMA never appeared on CBS again.

Coker: It was definitely a consideration, but I don't think (the brawl) was the only consideration. They felt like this was a great product for Showtime but they weren't sure if it was a long-term play for CBS. They were very honest about that.

With Strikeforce gone from CBS, Emelianenko's next fight was on Showtime against Fabricio Werdum on June 26, 2010. In a shocking upset, Werdum ended a 28-fight winning streak, shocking the entire MMA world. But Fedor's mere presence had attracted some of the other top big men in the sport to Strikeforce, including Alistair Overeem, the promotion's long-absent champion.

de Jong: Alistair was getting paid good money fighting in Japan. Although we'd loved to defend the Strikeforce title at that time, the purse offered by Strikeforce didn't make sense. You also have to understand that there is a tax treaty between Holland and Japan which makes it very attractive to fight in Japan for us.

The signing of Fedor made Strikeforce a much more attractive place indeed. Also, Strikeforce signed the deal with Showtime, which gave us a lot more exposure and budget to make it work.

Overeem coming into the fold gave Strikeforce a heavyweight roster that matched anyone's in the sport, including the UFC's. It also inspired Coker to borrow an idea from Pride's glorious past—he was going to run a tournament that would last throughout 2011. Joining Overeem and Fedor in what became known as the Heavyweight Grand Prix, were Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, Sergei Kharitonov, Antonio Silva and former UFC champions Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski.

Gross: I know it was Scott Coker's hope that the tournament would lift them to a place they hadn't been in the past. He was extremely excited by it. He had been bouncing the idea around for a couple of months, picking people's brains about it. He loved it and wanted to put it together. He liked the idea of bringing together heavyweights from around the world.

Coker: I went out and signed all these guys, and Fedor was the key. Alistair kept saying "If Fedor's in, I'm in." Josh Barnett was the last guy to agree, but I know he really wanted to fight Fedor. Arlovski wanted to fight Fedor again.

Knapp: Building that heavyweight division. I'm going to say I'm quite proud of that...That's probably the highlight of my career. You always know "He who has the heavyweights wins." That's the way we looked at it...We beat the odds. How likely was it that some promotion out there other than the UFC was going to acquire and amass a heavyweight division like that? The sadness in all of it is that we didn't have the money to support it, to see it through.

Coker: Once I had all the fighters, I flew to New York to meet Showtime. They, in the past, had not supported the tournament format in mixed martial arts, but I told Ken Hershman, who was then the main guy at Showtime sports, "This is going to be great."

We had a PowerPoint presentation and I walked him through it, told him who everybody was, and he signed off on it. It's something I'm going to be very proud of for the rest of my life. I think it was an unbelievable event.

Afromowitz: A lot of people wrote us off after Nashville, but I think it was an even bigger story how we came back after that. We could have gone away after that, but we came back even stronger. It took some time, but we put on some great shows and then we announced that heavyweight tournament and were right back in the game.

Kogan: Fedor was happy to remain in Strikeforce. The level of competition was fine, especially coming into the Heavyweight Grand Prix. That was going to be the most important event of the year in all of MMA. Fedor really relished his participation in that tournament. I think everyone did.

de Jong: The heavyweight tournament was promising to be the most anticipated tournament in MMA since the old PRIDE days. The only thing I don't understand is why they didn't lay out the dates from the start so every one knew exactly when they were fighting and who they would be fighting.

Shamrock: You could feel the growth swell. Once we got the heavyweight tournament going, there was a different feeling. It popped it to the next level. When we were in New York doing that media, you could feel it.

Before the event at the Izod Center in New Jersey, huge crowds came to see the fighters in New York, and media flocked to the press conference like it never had before. It was exhilarating for all involved, but there was one moment that had Coker's heart racing uncomfortably.

Kogan: We were all in the same hotel. Vadim, Scott Coker, myself. One of our acquaintances in New Jersey had a driver he loaned us to drive us around New York City on this trip. As we were leaving for the press conference, there wasn't a car for Scott, so we offered him a ride. It was me, Vadim, Scott and this 300-pound guy from Latvia as our driver. Somehow he had no idea where anything was.

Coker: I realized we weren't anywhere near where we were supposed to be. We're on the other side of the river.

Kogan: The hotel was quite close to the press conference, so we realized something was quite wrong when we were two-thirds of the way through the Lincoln Tunnel...We were sitting there assuring Scott that this wasn't part of our plan, to drive him into the middle of nowhere in New Jersey. We're all Russian speakers and the driver spoke no English. Scott was just looking at us as we tried to figure it out.

Coker: OK. I've seen this in Goodfellas. I watch Sopranos. I know what's going on here.

Kogan: With everyone having seen so many television programs where that sort of stuff happened, I think there was an instant where he might have believed we were kidnapping him. It was really funny in hindsight. The whole thing was really comical. We ended up being just 20 minutes late.

While excitement bubbled up in both the Strikeforce office and the hardcore MMA fanbase, few knew that while Coker was negotiating with fighters to participate in this tournament, an entirely different set of negotiations was threatening to blow it to smithereens.

Coker: Negotiations (to sell Strikeforce) were already under way. That happened probably a month before the tournament. It wasn't that the tournament happened and then negotiations with the UFC started for the purchase of the company. It was ongoing.

The tournament began with no one the wiser. Emelianenko lost for the second time in a row, this time to Antonio "Big Foot" Silva. While there was still plenty of buzz surrounding the tournament, Fedor's elimination was a huge letdown for fans who dreamed of potential fights with Overeem and Barnett.

de Jong: I think it was a big mistake in matchmaking, lining Fedor up with tough and heavy fighters Werdum and Big Foot. If they would have done it right, Overeem vs. Fedor could have been a huge draw—even a potential first PPV fight for Strikeforce.

Damon Martin: It was a huge moment, but it's hard to ignore what became of it. At the time, however, it felt like Pride was alive again and we were about to witness something truly special. Unfortunately, that moment fell apart in rapid fashion. But for a brief moment we all thought this was Strikeforce's chance to challenge the UFC's dominance in the American market in at least one division.

One month after the first bouts in the Grand Prix, UFC President Dana White announced to the world and MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani that Zuffa had purchased Strikeforce for an undisclosed sum. Strikeforce employees were shell-shocked, but they had gotten an early warning when ESPN's Josh Gross broke the news to them that a sale was imminent.

Gross: I got wind of it a month maybe before the deal was consummated. I did make phone calls and talk to people inside Strikeforce and, as sometimes happens, was the one to inform them of what's happening. It was one of the more interesting stories I've ever had to report on. As I dug into it, it was clear that something was there.

Chou: I didn't officially know until I got a call from Josh Gross. But a lot of things we were looking into and exploring, things going on behind the scenes, (so) it all made sense when Josh called. I put two and two together.

Shannon Knapp (matchmaker): When I talked to Josh, I was shocked...There's that old saying—build it and they will come. If I were them, I would have wanted that heavyweight division too.

Coker: My partners, the Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment Group, felt like it was time for them to get back to focusing on hockey, their core business. With all our events and the expansion, all their key guys were helping us, and it was just taxing on them as a company. They felt that, for them, it was the right time.

Knapp: (Strikeforce) was losing a bunch of money. That's true. I know it was. They were looking for a new partner or an infusion of cash. It was sold by Scott's partners because they thought it needed to be. It needed something. They were in a position where they needed help or a buyout, and that opened it up for Zuffa.

Shamrock: I know Scott didn't want to sell the company. But his money guys had an aversion to risk. And when we got into the heavyweight tournament with Fedor and the other fighters, we started signing really big checks. They saw a huge investment that was increasing in risk and returning little. And they wanted to get out.

Afromowitz: They are business people. MMA wasn't a passion for them.

Coker: When you have partners you have to be sensitive to their needs as well. They were really good partners to me. (Selling) was the right thing to do. Did I ever think that I wouldn't own the name Strikeforce? No, I never thought that was going to happen.

Gross: He didn't want to do it. Strikeforce was his baby.

At the time Gross reported that Coker had attempted to find outside funding to wrest back control of the brand, but was unsuccessful.

Coker: There was not really too much conversation about getting other partners...there was an offer on the table and it caught everybody by surprise. This thing went down so fast. Once the offer was made and once I met with Silicon Valley and they wanted to do it, everything else moved very quickly.

Chou: The guys at the top, they're business people. They were not as passionate about MMA as the Strikeforce team was. They were presented with an opportunity to make a return on their investment. Ultimately, they decided the time was right for them. They were presented with a terrific deal from Zuffa, and it was just a business deal for them. And I understand that. There was no guarantee. We had a ton of momentum and were becoming a viable alternative to UFC. And we were going to continue to grow. But there are no guarantees in this game.

Martin: It was a tough moment, and the sad part was Strikeforce really died that day when Zuffa bought them. Not because Zuffa planned on torpedoing the entire show right then, but because the people that made up the heart and soul of the promotion disappeared. Scott Coker became a figurehead with no power. Mike Afromowitz, who had done the public relations for them forever, was dumped. Rich Chou, who took over matchmaking after Bob Cook bowed out, was let go so Sean Shelby could take over. It was just a systematic dismantling of the promotion, and it was sad to see some of those mainstays go away.

The promotion continued under Zuffa, running 17 more events. Although some of the shows were lackluster and stars like Overeem and Diaz left for the UFC, the new Strikeforce wasn't without its own set of magical moments. Dan Henderson finished Fedor in the legend's final bout in the promotion. Daniel Cormier, an alternate, eventually won the Heavyweight Grand Prix by smashing Barnett. And Ronda Rousey emerged as a star.

As his creation enters its final days, founder Scott Coker finds himself remembering those who made it what it was.

Coker: We could have never become a national brand without Frank Shamrock and Cung Le. I'd like to thank the Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment guys. Jim Goddard and Greg Jamison really believed in the sport and got behind it. Without them it wouldn't have been possible.

Bob Cook and the American Kickboxing Academy, especially Javier Mendes. And my whole staff. Mike and Rich and Shannon. Andrew Ebel. Mike Rand. Alice Jones. Jen Cooke. Keri Aana, who is still with us and been my assistant for 15 years. I want to thank those people.

And I'd like to thank Showtime television. Without them and their belief in us, we'd have never grown into what we became. They provided us an amazing platform, and I hope they continue because mixed martial arts is a great sport.

Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine will take place on January 12, 10 p.m. ET/PT, at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. The event will air live on Showtime.

Strikeforce runs its final show this weekend to little fanfare. The promotion that once packed raucous crowds into the HP Pavilion in its home territory of San Jose, Calif., will go out with a bit of a whimper in Oklahoma City on Saturday night with Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine.

When the show goes off the air, it will mean the end of Strikeforce, a promotion that has survived 27 years in the tumultuous world of combat-sports promotion. What's next for promoter Scott Coker is a mystery.

How did it come to this?

How did a promotion that once seemed on the verge of challenging the mighty UFC itself end up in the dust bin of history?

I talked with the most important players, the men and women who built the brand, to find out in this definitive oral history. This is Pt. 1 of the history of Strikeforce, in their words. Pt. 2 in this two-part series, chronicling the death of the promotion, may be found here.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoaFA7xsLa4

Frank Shamrock (Strikeforce main event star and broadcaster): I knew Scott through Ernie Reyes Sr. Ernie was my student in mixed martial arts and Scott was Ernie's student for many years. He received multiple black belts from him. Ernie was always learning in the martial arts, so when MMA came along he decided "I've got to study this." I became his teacher. I was 25 at the time; he was probably 55. That's how Scott and I got in the same circles. Scott was always a promoter. That was his journey. He was on the demo team and the promotions team for Ernie and he saw the promotional side, liked it and started promoting kickboxing.

Scott Coker (Strikeforce promoter): I was actually teaching at Ernie Reyes' school, a couple of classes a week, and I had a student there that said, "Hey, there's this Professional Karate Association, the PKA, and they're looking for a promoter in San Jose. Would you be interested in promoting?" I was 21 years old and had no idea what I was doing. So of course I said, "Sure, let's try it." That's how I got into promotion.

That first event, in March 1985, was held at the San Jose Civic Auditorium in front of a few thousand fans. Eventually, as a kickboxing promotion, Coker's Strikeforce ended up going worldwide. It was on ESPN almost immediately, starting in the fall of 1985, with fights featuring greats like "Bad" Brad Hefton, Dennis Alexio and future MMA trainers of note Javier Mendez and Mike Winkeljohn.

In 1992, ESPN launched "The Deuce"—a new network in desperate need of programming. Coker, now flying the ISKA banner, was more than willing to oblige with 30 hours of programming a year. With ESPN's backing, it became the first U.S. promotion to hold a show at the Mecca of Thai boxing, the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, and helped to introduce new stars like Alex Gong and Cung Le.

In 1999, Coker ramped Strikeforce back, making it a regional promotion again as he took an offer from K-1 to help launch the kickboxing powerhouse in America. From the Bellagio and Mirage hotels, K-1 ran shows on ESPN from 2000-2007.

Stephen Quadros (Former Pride and Strikeforce announcer): He had built the Strikeforce brand, which was originally a kickboxing-only platform, with a clear game plan that delivered decades of success. Scott wasn't some fast-talking jive-ass who thought he had all the answers. He was a calm, even media-shy thinker with drive, patience and humility. Bucking the vogue of the tyrannical-fight-promoter stereotype, Scott Coker was shockingly easy to work with.

Mike Afromowitz (Strikeforce media relations): When I first started working for Scott back in 2001, the first show I worked was K-1 USA. I remember Scott and I, Maurice Smith and Ray Sefo sitting in a suite at the Bellagio and talking about the potential launch of an MMA league. It went on the back burner as we developed K-1 USA, but we revisited it when MMA was going to be legalized at the end of 2005.

Coker: The reason we didn't get into promotion of MMA earlier, is that it was illegal in the state of California.

Josh Gross (ESPN senior MMA writer): There was a lot of "We'll get to it this year." But it just seemed to take forever. There was confusion about rules, and in the end, bureaucracy was really the stumbling block. A ton of red tape and the state didn't do anything for six years.

By late 2004, Coker had his ear to the ground with contacts in the California Athletic Commission. When it was finally legal to put on an MMA show in California, he was going to be ready.

Coker: I went to the HP Pavilion and said, "Let's do this. Let's be the first ones. I think it will be historical." I'd had a promoter's license in California for more than 20 years—we should be the ones to get it.

I kept calling the commission and the legislation kept getting pushed back. Finally, I get a call, first week of January, from the athletic commissioner, Armando Garcia, saying, "The first date available is March 10. If you can make it happen, we'll give it to you." I called the arena, I called the fighters and the fight was pulled off in a very short window.

Strikeforce's first MMA event was headlined by Cesar Gracie and former UFC champion Frank Shamrock. He had been out of action for three years and his return was much anticipated in MMA's hardcore-fan community. It wasn't clear how the show would perform, or how competitive Gracie would be in his first official MMA fight.

Damon Martin (lead reporter, MMAWeekly.com): Strikeforce was a regional promotion out of San Jose—they didn't have a big television partner pushing them or the promise of pay-per-view. This was just a fledgling promotion making a push, putting a big fight together for their area and selling a boatload of tickets for a live show. Let's also not forget one of the guys in the fight, Cesar Gracie, had never even had a fight before that time. I mean that show did numbers UFC shows can't pull to this day. It really says something about what Strikeforce was able to do.

Afromowitz: It was the oldest rivalry in the sport. The two first families of the sport. It was on from there.

Shamrock: I saw a business opportunity. I'd never heard of the guy. But he had the Gracie name.

Coker: I told the arena, "Let's set it up for 7,000 people. I'm not sure what it's going to be like." I didn't know if it was going to be a hit or a bust.

Afromowitz: We didn't know what to expect. We just kept opening sections of the arena to accommodate demand. Every media outlet in the Bay Area was covering it, for better or for worse. California legalizing it, there was controversy there. Curiosity was at its peak.

Coker: Frank's a great promoter. The guy had instant credibility and he can sell a fight like nobody else. Cause a lot of controversy, get people pissed off at him. To have a local guy as marketable as Frank out in front of the public was great. This was a great scenario. I figured that we'd at least get a base hit out of it. Or a double. But I think we got a grand slam out of the first one.

Shamrock: That last week before the fight, I knew we were riding something extraordinary. You could feel it. Because the news stations just kept calling and showing up and asking for more and more. I knew when I was live on the 5 o'clock news at the weigh-in that it was bigger than big.

Gross: It wasn't a surprise to me because California was a hotbed for this sport. North and South, it had been going on for a long time, mostly on Native American lands. People would drive hours and hours to watch the sport. The fact that it was finally regulated and in a major building—the attendance, in the end, wasn't surprising. People were dying for it.

Cesar Gracie (Strikeforce fighter, trainer and manager): That's the thing, it started off with a bang, and I was happy to be a somewhat small part of that, and my fighters were a very big part of that and they had a lot of success there.

Coker: The San Jose Sharks partnered with us on the fight and they have big marketing muscle, a season-ticket-holder base and a good infrastructure. They got it out to the people, and that's one of the reasons we were so successful there. When they made the calls, the San Francisco Chronicle picked up the story. The San Jose Mercury News picked it up. They could get media that I couldn't have dreamed about.

Afromowitz: To look up at the arena and see every single seat filled, from the bottom all the way up to the stars—I couldn't believe it. 18,255 people and we had to turn people away, walk-ups. We might have been able to fill over 20,000 seats if the arena setup could have accommodated it.

Coker: The day before the fights, I get a call from the arena and they tell me we are sold out. I said, "Completely?" and they said, "Completely." And I said, "I hope you saved my tickets for my friends and family." But of course, they didn't. So I was scrambling for tickets that night. It's a pretty good problem to have—but I have some friends that are pissed off still from that night.

The attendance set a North American record that would stand for almost a year before the UFC eclipsed it in Ohio in early 2007. More importantly, it immediately established Strikeforce as a promotion worth watching. The second event featured Vitor Belfort and Alistair Overeem in the main event and local star Cung Le lighting up the undercard. But there was trouble brewing in the form of Pro Elite, a new MMA promotion that signed Frank Shamrock to fight Renzo Gracie on Showtime.

The problem? Shamrock had agreed to terms with Strikeforce for his next bout.

Shamrock: I had this relationship with Strikeforce that included getting all these investments and really building the brand up, moving it in the right direction. I was constantly looking for financing and opportunities. So when Pro Elite came along, I went down there as a co-promoter and businessman. All they wanted was for me to fight for them. We signed an agreement that involved Strikeforce, the whole team. But when it came down to it, they weren't interested in teamwork. We just immediately butted heads and I got caught in the middle of it. It was supposed to be that we were all brothers. It ended up being the opposite. When it went to court, we all had to shut up and let someone else decide.

Rich Chou (Former Elite XC and Strikeforce matchmaker): When the dust settled, it required us (Elite XC) to do co-promotions. We did two great shows together in San Jose, Frank versus Phil Baroni and Frank versus Cung Le. But it was a forced relationship and not a natural, organic relationship between the two organizations. Once we got there, we were civil and put on great shows together. But it wasn't really on the friendliest terms. We didn't sit down and break bread.

Gross: It was ugly. It was definitely an arrangement that was unique to mixed martial arts. It had to be that way because of the legal wrangling.

Coker: I think it was a big misunderstanding. I think it's something that worked out for us in the long run. If Frank had never done that, we wouldn't have co-promoted those events and we wouldn't have the relationship with Showtime that we ended up having to this day. Think about this—the two fights we co-promoted were Frank vs. Baroni and Frank vs. Cung. They both had huge gates. I think Frank's fight with Cung was our first gate over $1 million. I'm sure it got Showtime's attention because they are coming to San Jose for these big fights. When they were traveling elsewhere with Pro Elite, I'm sure it wasn't as big.

The first co-promotion was a grudge match between Shamrock and Phil Baroni, a slugger who was a major star for Zuffa's UFC in the early 2000s. Once again hosted by the HP Pavilion in San Jose, almost 10,000 fans turned out to see the bout. Shamrock, known primarily as a grappler, had taunted Baroni mercilessly in several pre-fight videos, promising to knock him out. Would Shamrock stand and bang? The intrigue made the fight, which otherwise might have seemed like a blasé affair, into an event.

There was also the undercurrent of something real amidst the pro-wrestling-style hype. Shamrock had once trained at the American Kickboxing Academy with fighters who were now Baroni's teammates. Some fighters at AKA felt Shamrock had been a bully and too aggressive in training, often injuring fighters he was working with. He was even accused of giving inside information to fighters competing with members of the AKA team. His departure was less than amicable, and the bad blood was legitimate.

Josh Thomson (AKA fighter and former Shamrock teammate): Frank had talked to Clay (Guida) right before I fought him and I heard all these reports that Frank was telling Clay all these things about me, my training, my grappling. It was a slap in the face. I'd trained with Frank all my UFC fights and he was one of my main sparring partners. It was a little bit of a betrayal.

Shamrock: Once again I saw an opportunity. Thomson was too small to fight me, but Baroni's a perfect character. I knew he was going to play his role, through and through. If you're going to tell a story, he's the guy you want opposing you. As soon as he opened his mouth, I thought, "Oh yeah, this is going to be a good one." I didn't know that it was going to have all the magic that it did.

Afromowitz: They had commentated a show together in December 2006. At one point during the show, Phil said to Frank, "Promise me you won't do that to me when we're fighting." And Frank said, "Are you kidding me? I'm going to be standing over you while you're unconscious." Phil says, "I'm the NYBA Frank. I don't get knocked out." It was definitely interesting. I think they knew they were going to fight.

Gross: Frank is good for copy and headlines. He's a tremendous interview and obviously has a great history in this sport.

Coker: I still remember that rap video Frank did. "My name is Phil Baroni, I'm full of bologna." He made his own videos and created his own hype and storylines. Frank's a marketing wiz and he knows "I've got this fight, I want it to be big, and I want everyone to see this fight." And as the promoter, he'll go out there and do your job for you. It's great.

Thomson: It was corny. I remember all of us sitting around in the gym at AKA and we're all laughing our asses off. We know Frank. It was just funny. We had a good laugh. There was really nothing else to do about it.

Afromowitz: We were rolling on the floor when we saw some of that stuff. Frank is like Muhammad Ali. He knows how to get in people's heads.

As the bout commenced, Shamrock made good on his promise to strike with Baroni. As his opponent faded, growing more tired by the second, Shamrock pantomimed a "nighty-night" gesture, like Baroni was a baby and it was time to go to sleep. Soon after, he dropped him and put him out with a rear-naked choke.

Shamrock: It just came to me. I was deep in Phil's head and riding this wave of chi. Everything was working, even though my knee was in bad shape and I could feel myself running out of steam. I knew I had to keep pounding on his psyche. I knew I was on to something, battling him on the mental side. (The "go-to-sleep" gesture) popped right out. I didn't plan it. It happened in the moment.

Martin: Simply brilliant. One of the most brilliant in cage antics I've ever seen. Along with Nate Quarry chasing Kalib Starnes around the Octagon mocking him, it's definitely one of the funniest and most well-timed moments in MMA history.

In between mega events with Shamrock, the promotion continued to book regular shows, all in California, most in San Jose. Many top stars made appearances, but Coker credits two young stars, in addition to Shamrock and Cung Le, with making the company special.

Coker: There are four fighters who were the pillar of our organization: Frank Shamrock; Cung Le, who fought with us since 1997; Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson. The company rode those guys' backs until we got the TV deal to take it to the next level.

Thomson: To this day, Coker will call me and say "Do you want to go play golf?" It's been a building of friendships from the beginning. He had a relationship with his fighters and that, to me, was something that I really counted on. He always delivered on what he promised me. I can't say enough about the guy. You could tell that the guy cared. You know how Dana White feels about Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar? I think me and Melendez are Coker's Griffin and Bonnar.

Martin: Strikeforce did deserve the lion's share of credit for how a regional promotion should be built from the ground up. They stayed small and invested in local talent and grew over time. They didn't try to take over the world on day one and they didn't sign unnecessary TV deals just for the sake of getting on television. They were and remain the model for how a regional promotion can make it big.

Shamrock: Strikeforce was Scott's little team. You could fit them all in the palm of your hand. We were a startup. It was just a few us winging it.

Afromowitz: It was about building organically. We were fortunate because Frank had a name. Cung Le had a name in kickboxing. And from there, we built it. We promoted guys who were coming up, especially in our area. We had that home market. Scott had built that market over the previous 25 years and he really owned that market.

Coker: In '06, '07, '08, we really did have a very small crew. And these guys worked their butts off. Everybody was 24/7, and we proved you can do it with a small crew and still do it very well. That came from the experience we had built of 20 years. We had done so many shows that we kind of had it down to a science.

By March 2008, Strikeforce was ready for another showdown, this time matching Shamrock up not with an established MMA star, but with local sensation Cung Le. A Strikeforce veteran from the kickboxing days, Le was a superhero to many in San Jose's Asian communities.

Cung Le (martial arts superstar): He did a great job of promoting me on ESPN and ESPN2. I had my second pro fight with him and have fought for him ever since. He was going to have his first MMA event at the HP Pavilion and asked me to compete, and I said I'd do it.

Coker: I first saw Cung fight in a traditional karate Shotokan tournament. He did traditional karate. He was a taekwondo guy. He did sanshou. He did kickboxing. He's a complete martial artist. It's not just a singular style. To me, it was like he can do anything. When it came time to do mixed martial arts, he said "I'm ready, I'm down, let's do this." There wasn't any hesitation.

Gross: Cung Le's influence and appearances at early Strikeforce events was really important to them. He played up his Vietnamese ties, and that was a major mover as far as getting people in the seats. The Cung Le-Shamrock fight was a really big one for the San Jose market. Frank made his home in San Jose like Cung. They were the linchpins of early Strikeforce shows. They put people in the seats and made people care.

Shamrock: We were going to fight over the city. That's how we laid it out, that's how I pitched it. It was the two super-tough locals going at it. The whole city had to choose sides. It was like old pro wrestling—a "loser leaves town" kind of thing.

Le: I knew what Frank brought to the table. He was definitely good at getting in a fighter's head before the fight. But I stayed focused...At the time, we were both big in San Jose, but Frank had come from UFC and was the middleweight champion of the world.

Shamrock: I remember doing an interview saying we were fighting over two million people. And the guy tells me San Jose doesn't even have a million people.(Laughs). Everybody was so into that idea. Years later, people will tell me very seriously, "Oooh man, I was sitting on Cung's side for that one. But you've proven to be a good man." I'm like, "Whoa!' We divided the city. It was pretty cool.

Many speculated that the bout would be decided by how well Le was able to defend Shamrock's takedowns and vaunted submission game. Instead, it was a standing battle that ended when Shamrock blocked a high kick that broke his arm.

Shamrock: It was the first time I'd really gotten hurt. In all this horrible stuff I've done. I thought, "Whoa, I can really get hurt doing this. I thought the doctors were joking."

Coker: Cung Le, to this day, has more skilled striking than 99 percent of the MMA guys out there. He can strike with any MMA fighter on the planet. The question was, were they going to be able to take him down? And I knew Cung had a wrestling background. A lot of people didn't know that. So I felt really comfortable.

Le: During the fight, we had this banter back and forth. He hit me and said, "Hey that was two points. I've got three points." So when I kicked him and knocked out his mouthpiece, I said, "Hey, pick up your mouthpiece. That's a point for me." It was just one of those great fights where you have a full three rounds to go back and forth. 

Shamrock: As a martial artist, I discovered that there's always so much more to learn. Maurice Smith told me 10 years earlier that you have to block those kicks with two hands. And then he told me at the beginning of fight camp. But for whatever reason, I was like "Whatever." I was like an obstinate child because I wanted to do something else. I learned a lesson the hard way—breaking my arm.

Afromowitz: Cung really shocked the world with that win. He shocked himself if you look at the reaction. Frank tried to stand with him, though. You've got to respect that.

Le: I feel blessed to have that fight against Frank, to get pushed by Frank. It was one of my best performances and best fights that I've had. It's my favorite moment in Strikeforce and one of my toughest fights.

As Strikeforce continued to grow, Coker wasn't the only one convinced he had something special on his hands. He had built a strong working relationship with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, a conglomerate that owns the HP Pavilion and the NHL's San Jose Sharks. 

Coker: In the summer of 2008, they bought 50 percent of Strikeforce.

Afromowitz: They came in in 2008 as a partner. They were a member of the arena network, which is a group of about 50 arenas throughout the country. They could get us in any arena in any market across the country. They really helped facilitate us moving into new markets. Definitely a valuable partner.

Coker: They brought a lot to the table. They pick up the phone and call the Izod Center in New Jersey; they know those guys. If it's somebody like myself, or somebody calling from the outside, I'm sure the deal that they got and the deal we would have got are much different.

Don't underestimate the (HP Pavilion) arena marketing, PR, the arena ticket sales department, the arena human resources department. All the infrastructure that Silicon Valley brought to our organization, including operations, was powerful.

After the Le-Shamrock fight, Strikeforce's promotional partner, Elite XC, imploded, leaving behind a collection of great fighters and a television contract with Showtime. Coker and his crew were ready and willing to jump into the danger zone and take a shot at the national stage.

Stephen Quadros: When EliteXC committed hari-kiri from what appeared to be operational gluttony, Showtime was looking for a viable replacement. When I was informed that it was to be Strikeforce that would become Showtime’s new MMA brand, I was ecstatic. I had known Scott Coker for eons and had loads of respect for him as a man and especially as a promoter.

Coker: In the fall of 2008, I went to Silicon Valley and said, "Here's an opportunity if you guys are interested. We have to do it very quickly." I explained to them about Pro Elite and told them, "If you guys want to buy their assets, we can run for it." And they said, "Let's go for it." They invested a lot of money into this brand.

They saw Strikeforce as a great sports opportunity and agreed to buy the assets of Pro Elite. They could see there was something special going on. And that's when we went from a four-event-a-year regional show, although a big one with national fighters, to 16 shows a year. That's a much different animal. It was a little bit overwhelming, but we made it happen. It was definitely taxing on all of us so we started ramping up our staff. It was something we were learning as we went.

Rich Chou: I've really got to thank Showtime and a lot of the fighters and managers I was working with at Elite XC. They stepped up and vouched for me and got in Scott's ear about bringing me on...I wouldn't have blamed Scott if he didn't want to pick up some baggage like that. There was a ship that sunk, not because I didn't do my job, but I was afraid I was going to be collateral damage.

Afromowitz: It was the next logical step for us. We were three years into it. We had paid our dues. And we had something that was unique that we had built. It was exciting. I remember going out to L.A. for the kickoff press conference and waking up at 3 a.m. just to do a news show for a local affiliate. It was a lot of fun. We were running on momentum.

Chou: It was a really small company. It was a true family. I think the fighters felt it and I think ultimately the fans felt it. We had a lot of people rooting for us. It was like David versus Goliath. The little family against the corporate juggernaut.

Mauro Ranallo (Former Pride and Strikeforce announcer): They could have easily hired 100 different people like Elite XC. But look what happened with Elite XC. Strikeforce knew to start small, just like any other business.

Afromowitz: At most, we were 12 people. On the fight side, we were a very lean company. Twelve people running 16 events a year on Showtime. That's a lot of work. It was learning as you go and keeping that entrepreneurial spirit.

Coker: When we did a fight, it wasn't just our six or eight or 10 staff members. The 100 people who worked at the arena were all pushing for us as well. They brought a lot to the table. When we went on the road, they'd send their operations department and their ticket department. There were a lot of people who came that don't get recognition, but they were on the road making stuff happen alongside us. 

With the additional shows to fill, Strikeforce became a ravenous monster, scouring the world for the best fighters available. Rich Chou joined the team as the official matchmaker of record, but the promotion always took a committee approach to matchmaking. Chou was eventually joined by Shannon Knapp, formerly of the IFL and Affliction, but the one mainstay of the committee was American Kickboxing Academy trainer, and fighter manager, "Crazy" Bob Cook.

Coker: I'll tell you, Bob was so valuable to us. He was there way before we even started promoting MMA, talking about the sport and giving me advice. Because I really did not know a lot about who the fighters were other than the ones I watched on TV. I'd say Bob was our chief strategist for the fight part of the promotion.

Gross: Coker's relationship with the gyms was a big deal. And it went beyond regular ties. Bob Cook was the one doing matchmaking for him and at the same time training fighters at the American Kickboxing Academy and operating as part of a management group with Zinkin Entertainment. There were a lot of ties and a lot of reasons fighters made it into Strikeforce. And the show benefited greatly from having access to that kind of talent.

Martin: It was an odd situation because no one from Strikeforce ever really acknowledged it publicly. We all knew Bob Cook worked there and fighters would mention it by name, but it was such an odd conflict of interest that you'd never see him at events or at press conferences, that sort of thing. Was there a conflict of interest? Absolutely. But do I think it ever instilled a sense of entitlement to the guys from AKA? I don't really think so.

Shannon Knapp (Invicta FC promoter and former Strikeforce matchmaker): Technically, it was a conflict of interest, certainly. But Bob's a good guy. And, the thing is, Bob wasn't the only matchmaker. It was always kept very honest. Rich and I were there and he didn't just make decisions like "I'm going to put my guy in and I'm going to pay him this much." There were times we said no. There were times, too, that Bob would take less for his guy than I thought he was probably worth. There was give and take.

Afromowitz: The matchmaking was always done by committee. Rich, Shannon and Bob and, of course, Scott played a role in that as the promoter. Bob was one piece of the pie, but he was a very valuable asset. We couldn't have done it without him on board. Besides being a really good guy, he was trustworthy. And it's hard to find people like that in this business.

Gross: There weren't a lot of voices in Strikeforce, but those that were there all had Scott Coker's ear. They all had a chance to make their case, often at a bagel shop in San Jose that Coker loved. I think they handled it as well as they could.

Coker: At the end of the day, the decision was my decision.

Click here for Pt. 2 of the series: The Death of Strikeforce.