Zuffa Purchases Strikeforce

Dana White buys them or kills them. Pride FC- buy. IFL - kill. WEC - buy .Elite XC, Affliction, Bodog. Kill Kill Kill! Now he has bought the only significant rival to the UFC.

With the purchase, Zuffa now controls the contracts of almost every top ranked fighter in the sport, other than a handful in Bellator and in Japan.

UFC President Dana White discusses the details in an exclusive interview with Ariel Helwani.

"It's literally official right now. We just closed the deal. As we continue to grow and expand in more countries, one of the things is we need more fights. Strikeforce is a brand that fans have come to like. They do have a following, people enjoy the fights that they are putting on and it made sense to us."

Why did Zuffa buy Strikeforce?
“As we go out and (continue to expand), we need more fights. Let's face facts. Strikeforce is a brand that fans have come to like and enjoy the fights that they're putting on. So it made sense to us. Our job is to put on the big fights that fans want to see, and as we continue to travel, we have to put on the right fights in these other countries.”

On Scott Coker:
“We've signed a deal with Scott Coker. He's staying on. You've seen me battle with guys over the years, but I’ve never had a bad thing to say about Scott Coker. I’ve known Scott since the K-1 days. Scott is a good guy.”

On Strikeforce:
"That's a separate business that has their own income. They have their own budgets and everything else that they do. They have they're own television deals. If they're that interested in acquiring (a fighter), it's no different than it was before."

On Showtime:
"Strikeforce is going to continue to run business as usual. There are contracts in place. These guys are on Showtime. Strikeforce pulls good ratings for Showtime. I think Showtime is happy with them. All those contracts will be honored. These guys are going to remain Strikeforce fighters ... Lorenzo can go over there and deal with Showtime. I'm sure the last time Showtime wants to see is me show up at the doorstep and go over and start having conversations."

"Could guys from the UFC leave and end up over in Strikeforce? Yeah,"

On Co Promotion:
"We won't be doing any superfights. Even when we own it, we don't co-promote, period."

On figures like Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko, Paul Daley, Frank Shamrock, Pat Miletich, etc:
"There's a lot of guys on that side of the table who don't like me. I don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable over there. ... If we didn't own the company, you wouldn't see me hanging out at a Strikeforce event, and you probably won't see me at one now that we do."

Terms of the purchase were not immediately disclosed, but White characterized the transaction as "a good deal." source- mmafighting.com