Reports indicate that the San Jose, CA based promotion Strikeforce may purchase Pro Elite. According to MMA Weekly’s MMA Insider blog, the acquisition of Pro Elite could lead to MMA’s return to CBS as well as Showtime.
While the company that retains Pro Elite’s assets could find themselves on network television, it remains to be seen how many, or if any, of Pro Elite’s fighter contracts would transfer over. It has also been reported that an announcement of the purchase could occur sometime today or Friday. Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz came out yesterday and made it clear that no deal had yet been finalized.
“Any reports of a done deal are a complete fantasy. It’s complicated, and that’s why I don’t want to speculate. If anything is done, it will be very technical. It’s not as straightforward as you think.”
If Strikeforce could pull this off it would be a huge step for MMA. They have extensive experience in running a successful MMA promotion and could avoid many of the pitfalls that caused the demise of Elite XC during the ‘Kimbo-era’ of the sport’s evolution.
Stay tuned to PRO MMA (http://promma.info) as this story continues to develop.