Strikeforce was an American
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world.
In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
and
kickboxing
Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...
organization based in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
that operated from 1985 to 2013. It was headed by CEO
Scott Coker.
Its live events and competitions have been shown on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, debuting on November 7, 2009, and
Showtime in the United States. Internationally, Strikeforce events have been broadcast
Super Channel in Canada, Primetime in the United Kingdom,
SKY PerfecTV!
is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that provides satellite television, audio programming and interactive television services to households in Japan, owned by parent company SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.
SKY PerfecTV! is also a dire ...
in Japan,
HBO Plus in Brazil,
Space
Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
in Latin America and the Caribbean, and on the
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...
.
In early 2011, Strikeforce was purchased by American
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...
owner
Zuffa LLC, which eventually closed the promotion and brought the remaining fighter contracts into the UFC roster.
History

Founded as a kickboxing organization, Strikeforce later expanded into
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world.
In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
. Its first MMA event, ''
Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie'', was held on March 10, 2006, at the
HP Pavilion in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
.
The event was California's first regulated
MMA
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world.
In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...
event and broke the previous record for the largest audience at an MMA event in North America, with 18,265 in attendance. The record was since broken by
UFC 129. Strikeforce spent much of its early days as a regional promotion, but one that had a higher level of talent than most promotions due to its California base. It made its television debut with
Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Baroni, a co-branded event with the
EliteXC
Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States–based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decem ...
promotion which featured the Strikeforce-contracted
Frank Shamrock
Frank Shamrock (born Frank Alisio Juarez III; December 8, 1972) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship (later renamed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship) ...
in its main event.
In February 2008, Strikeforce, in conjunction with Brian Halquist Productions, held its first event outside California with ''
Strikeforce: At The Dome'' at the
Tacoma Dome
The Tacoma Dome is an indoor multi-purpose arena in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It is located south of Downtown Tacoma, adjacent to Interstate 5 in Washington, Interstate 5 and Tacoma Dome Station. It is currently used for basketball tou ...
in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...
. This was also the promotion's first show on cable television, as it was aired as part of the
HDNet Fights block. Starting in 2009, most Strikeforce events were held in other states (15 in total), including 5 events in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
from 2011-2012. They still ran multiple shows a year from HP Pavilion, as the owners of that building's main tenant, hockey's
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...
, had purchased a significant share in the promotion.
In March 2008, Strikeforce partnered with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
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
Nicholas Robert Diaz (born August 2, 1983) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Diaz is a former Strikeforce, WEC and ...
,
Jake Shields
Jake Shields (born January 9, 1979) is an American former mixed martial artist and podcaster. As a mixed martial artist, he was the last Rumble on the Rock Welterweight Champion, the only Elite XC Welterweight Champion, a former Shooto Welte ...
,
Robbie Lawler
Robert Glenn Lawler (born March 20, 1982) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed between 2001 and 2023. He is a former UFC Welterweight Champion, former EliteXC Middleweight Champion, and has formerly competed in ...
and
Scott Smith from
ProElite
ProElite, Inc. is an American entertainment and media company involved in the promotion of mixed martial arts (MMA).
First incarnation
Founded by boxing promoter Gary Shaw and his son Jared in 2006 in partnership with Showtime Networks Inc. (a ...
, owner of the defunct
EliteXC
Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States–based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decem ...
promotion. Days later it also announced it had taken over EliteXC's three-year broadcast deal with
Showtime for up to 16 events per year, as well as a deal with
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
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.
During August 2009, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced that it had signed formal alliances with
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese MMA-promotion
Dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...
and
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n promotion
M-1 Global. Coker said the partnership would allow for co-promotion and fighter exchanges for events both in the US and Japan to creating the best match ups possible that would not have existed before. As a result, Dream fighters such as
Shinya Aoki
is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and grappler competing in ONE Championship's Welterweight division. He also competes in DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is a former three-time DDT Extreme Champion. A professional competit ...
,
Tatsuya Kawajiri
is a Japanese mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight (MMA), Bantamweight division. He is a former List of Shooto champions#Lightweight Championship, Shooto Lightweight Champion, and has also competed in the Ult ...
,
Sergei Kharitonov,
Melvin Manhoef
Melvin Manhoef (born 11 May 1976) is a retired Surinamese people, Surinamese-born Dutch people, Dutch mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and Kickboxing, kickboxer. In kickboxing, he is a former It's Showtime (kickboxing), It's Showtime Middl ...
,
Jason Miller,
Gegard Mousasi
Gegard Mousasi (born 1 August 1985) is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. Mousasi most recently competed in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. He is also the former DREAM Light Heavywe ...
,
Ronaldo Souza
Ronaldo Souza dos Santos (born 7 December 1979), nicknamed " Jacaré" (), is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist, submission grappler and 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.
Souza was a multiple time BJJ World ch ...
,
Hiroyuki Takaya, and
Marius Zaromskis competed in Strikeforce between 2009 & the partnership's end in 2011.
On August 15, 2009, Strikeforce events were available to be viewed online through the
Showtime website. For a small cost, an online interactive event named "Strikeforce: All Access" could be streamed 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 was attached to the referee and fans were able to see from their perspective in real time. "Strikeforce: All Access" added 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.
Arrival of Fedor Emelianenko
On August 3, 2009, former
Pride
Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...
and reigning WAMMA Heavyweight Champion
Fedor Emelianenko signed a 3-fight contract with Strikeforce, with events he competed on co-promoted by his promotional team
M-1 Global. On November 7, 2009, he made his Strikeforce debut at
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on the promotion's first nationally televised card on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. Emelianenko faced
Brett Rogers, and won via knockout in the 2nd round. Emelianenko proved to be a huge rating draw, bringing in just under 5.5 million viewers.
Emelianenko's next fight was at
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum, where he suffered his first loss in 10 years to
Fabrício Werdum via submission. Emelianenko next fought as part of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament, losing again to
Antônio Silva via doctor stoppage. Emelianenko was battered by Silva during the second round, causing his right eye to swell shut.
After exiting the tournament, Emelianenko last competed against Strikeforce light heavyweight champion
Dan Henderson
Daniel Jeffery Henderson (born August 24, 1970) is an American former mixed martial artist and Olympic wrestler, who last competed as a Middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the last Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champi ...
in a heavyweight superfight, losing via first-round knockout. After the loss, Emelianenko left the promotion to finish his career overseas. Despite his three-fight losing streak to end his Strikeforce run, all of his appearances for the promotion attracted over 500,000 viewers, among the highest ratings in Strikeforce's history on Showtime.
Purchase by Zuffa LLC
On March 12, 2011,
Dana White
Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who is the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at . Out ...
revealed on
AOL
AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc.
The service traces its history to an online ...
to
Ariel Helwani that
Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the
UFC, had purchased Strikeforce. White went on to explain that Strikeforce will operate as an independent promotion and that Scott Coker would continue to run the promotion. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced the return of Fedor Emelianenko on an unspecified July or August event and said that the Zuffa-owned company would continue to co-promote with M-1 Global. Following the purchase, the UFC signed many of Strikeforce's top stars and champions, such as
Jason Miller,
Nick Diaz
Nicholas Robert Diaz (born August 2, 1983) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Diaz is a former Strikeforce, WEC and ...
,
Dan Henderson
Daniel Jeffery Henderson (born August 24, 1970) is an American former mixed martial artist and Olympic wrestler, who last competed as a Middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the last Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champi ...
,
Alistair Overeem
Alistair Cees Overeem (born 17 May 1980) is a Dutch former professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and was the first fight ...
,
Luke Rockhold, and
Cung Le
Cung Le (; born May 25, 1972) is an American actor, former professional mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. Le is perhaps best known in mixed martial arts for competing in Strikeforce, holding a record of 7–1 with the organi ...
.
Under Zuffa's ownership, Strikeforce made a number of changes, including reinstating
elbow strikes previously barred in Strikeforce, dissolving the men's weight classes below lightweight, and ceasing promotion of amateur undercard bouts. After an extension was reached with Showtime to continue Strikeforce through 2012, the promotion's heavyweight division (sans Heavyweight Grand Prix finalists) was merged into the UFC, and the promotion's Challengers series was ended.
The final Strikeforce show was
Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine on January 12, 2013, after which the promotion was dissolved and all fighter contracts were either ended or absorbed into the
UFC. Notable fighters included
Nick Diaz
Nicholas Robert Diaz (born August 2, 1983) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Diaz is a former Strikeforce, WEC and ...
,
Daniel Cormier
Daniel Ryan Cormier (; born March 20, 1979) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler, and current color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweig ...
,
Josh Barnett,
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Jean Rousey ( ; born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, and former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is best known for her tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and WWE.
She was the first Am ...
and
Luke Rockhold. Following a brief period away from fight promotion, former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker would then go on to join
Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) was an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney and operated until 2025. The promotion takes its name from ''wikt:bellator, bellātor ...
in June 2014, replacing
Bjorn Rebney
Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bellator MMA from 2008 until June 2014.
Background
Rebney attended Ohio University on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney did l ...
as its new president.
Many Strikeforce fighters went on to become UFC Champions. In 2015, after Luke Rockhold defeated Chris Weidman to become UFC Middleweight Champion, former Strikeforce fighters owned UFC Titles at Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, Middleweight, and Welterweight at the same time.
Rules

At the time of its closure, Strikeforce employed the
Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts
Most rule sets for mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have evolved since the early days of Vale Tudo. As a result of health, legal, and moral concerns, many different rulesets were created, which give different countries and promotions very dif ...
, and was fought on a hexagonal cage, as opposed to
UFC's octagonal cage (
The Octagon The Octagon may refer to:
*The Octagon, Christchurch, a former church in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand
*The Octagon, Dunedin, the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand
*The Octagon (Egypt), the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of ...
). Ordinary matches consisted of three five-minute rounds, while championship matches were five five-minute rounds. All rounds had a one-minute break between them. Prior to the acquisition by
Zuffa
TKO Operating Company, LLC (TKO OpCo), doing business as Zuffa (), is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta I ...
, Strikeforce did not allow elbows to the head of a grounded opponent.
Prior to June 2009, all women's bouts in Strikeforce consisted of three three-minute rounds as opposed to the men's five-minute rounds. However, on June 16, 2009, Strikeforce announced that it had received approval from the Washington and California State Athletic Commissions to use five-minute rounds for all women's bouts, including five five-minute rounds for its championship bouts.
Weight divisions
Judging criteria
The
ten-point must system was in effect for all fights; three judges scored each round and the winner of each received ten points, the loser nine points or fewer. If the round was even, both fighters received ten points. In New Jersey, the fewest points a fighter could receive was 7, and in other states by custom no fighter received fewer than 8.
Match conduct
*After a verbal warning the referee could stop the fighters and stand them up if they reached a stalemate on the ground (where neither are in a dominant
position
Position often refers to:
* Position (geometry), the spatial location (rather than orientation) of an entity
* Position, a job or occupation
Position may also refer to:
Games and recreation
* Position (poker), location relative to the dealer
* ...
or working towards one). This rule is codified in Nevada as the ''stand-up rule''.
*If the referee paused the match, it was resumed with the fighters in their prior positions.
*Grabbing the cage brought a verbal warning, followed by an attempt by the referee to release the grab by pulling on the grabbing hand. If that attempt failed or if the fighter continued to hold the cage, the referee could charge a foul.
*Under unified rules, antics were permitted before events to add to excitement and allow fighters to express themselves, but abusive language during combat was prohibited.
Strikeforce events
As of
Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, which occurred on January 12, 2013, there have been 63 Strikeforce events held, including 20 in the promotion's Challengers series.
Strikeforce Grand Prix
Strikeforce held tournaments in the men's heavyweight division from 2011–2012, and one-night tournaments in the men's middleweight divisions in November 2007 and the women's bantamweight division in August 2010. They were won respectively by
Daniel Cormier
Daniel Ryan Cormier (; born March 20, 1979) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler, and current color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweig ...
,
Jorge Santiago, and
Miesha Tate.
Final champions
Strikeforce records
In other media
Video games
*
EA Sports MMA was released in 2010 featuring Strikeforce fighters and branding, along with fictional global MMA organizations. This was the promotion's only video game, and Electronic Arts now produces the UFC video game franchise.
Action figures
Figures were available from the company Round 5.
A series of their figures includes
Cung Le
Cung Le (; born May 25, 1972) is an American actor, former professional mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. Le is perhaps best known in mixed martial arts for competing in Strikeforce, holding a record of 7–1 with the organi ...
and
Gina Carano
Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American actress and former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She competed in Elite Xtreme Combat and Strikeforce (mixed martial arts), Strikeforce from 2006 to 2009, where she compiled a 7– ...
. The
Cung Le
Cung Le (; born May 25, 1972) is an American actor, former professional mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. Le is perhaps best known in mixed martial arts for competing in Strikeforce, holding a record of 7–1 with the organi ...
figure was released at the 2009 San Diego Comic Convention. An exclusive special version of the
Cung Le
Cung Le (; born May 25, 1972) is an American actor, former professional mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. Le is perhaps best known in mixed martial arts for competing in Strikeforce, holding a record of 7–1 with the organi ...
figurine was released thereafter in which he has different colored shorts and design.
See also
*
List of Strikeforce alumni
*
List of Strikeforce champions
Strikeforce (mixed martial arts), Strikeforce was an American mixed martial arts organization. It crowned male champions in the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, and female champions in feather ...
*
List of Strikeforce events
References
External links
Official Strikeforce siteThe Rise and Fall of the Pepsi to UFC's Coke: a Strikeforce Oral History
{{MMA organizations
TKO Group Holdings
Kickboxing organizations
Mixed martial arts television shows
1985 establishments in California
Sports organizations established in 1985
Defunct brands
Defunct mixed martial arts promotions