STRIKEFORCE Inks Deal With Pro Elite

STRIKEFORCE ® 
INKS DEAL WITH PRO  ELITE
LOS ANGELES, CA. — In a transaction signaling the dawn of a new era in  the
world’s fastest growing sport, world championship mixed martial arts (MMA) 
organization Strikeforce®, has acquired  certain fighter contracts from ProElite,
Inc, the parent company of  former Strikeforce ® co-promoter, Elite Xtreme
Combat (EliteXC).
Strikeforce® also acquired other specific assets of  ProElite, including a
library of EliteXC events, which were distributed live on  either CBS or
Showtime Networks.   

“This is a tremendous development that will bolster the Strikeforce®  roster
and allow us to produce even more competitive matchups between top  fighters,”
said Scott Coker, Founder and CEO of Strikeforce®.  “Some of these athletes
have been on the  sidelines for a while now and are eagerly waiting to return
to competition. We  look forward to providing them with the opportunity to do
so in the next few  months.”
Strikeforce® and EliteXC joined forces to deliver the first live SHOWTIME 
PPV® MMA event, “Shamrock vs. Baroni,” on June 22, 2007.  In the headlining
contest, former UFC  middleweight champion and MMA legend Frank Shamrock
submitted knockout artist  Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni in the second round,
where upon Shamrock  became the first Strikeforce® World Middleweight Champion.
On March 29, 2008, the two promotions collaborated once more to deliver a 
live telecast on SHOWTIME® featuring one of the sport’s most anticipated 
showdowns – Shamrock versus undefeated world kickboxing champion Cung Le.  In a
battle that has since been  proclaimed “Fight Of The Year” by critics, Le seized
the Strikeforce®  middleweight crown by pouring on a relentless offensive and
fending off  Shamrock’s counter attacks before breaking the defending champion’
s arm with a  hard roundhouse kick.  Shamrock  retired from the bout after
the third round of a five round match.
A martial arts promoter for over 23 years, Coker has gained widespread 
acclaim among industry colleagues and the media, including Rolling Stone  magazine,
Yahoo! Sports, and The San Jose Mercury News.  Coker elevated his 14-year-old
 Strikeforce® organization to become a major player in the World’s fastest 
growing sport.  Strikeforce’s®  inaugural MMA event hosted a capacity crowd of
18,265 at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on  March 10, 2006.  The live gate  figure
also broke the then all-time record for attendance at an MMA event held  in
North America.
EliteXC burst onto the MMA scene with “Destiny,” the  first live,
SHOWTIME®-televised MMA fight card in history, on February 10,  2007.  Held at Southaven
Mississippi’s DeSoto Civic  Center, the main event  pitted Shamrock against
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert, Renzo Gracie.   
The promotion made history again by bringing, for the  first time, a live MMA
event to the CBS Television Network on May 31, 2008.   
About Strikeforce:
Strikeforce® is a world-class mixed  martial arts cage fight promotion which,
on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history  with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie”
event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts  fight card in California state
history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which  pitted legendary champion Frank
Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt  Cesar Gracie at San  Jose’s HP
Pavilion, played host to a sold-out record  crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, 
Strikeforce® has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for 
ESPN and after 12 years of success as a leading world championship kickboxing 
promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock
vs.  Gracie.”  Since then, it has  co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV® mixed
martial arts event in history with its  world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni”
card on June 22,2007 followed by the  first-ever mixed martial arts event at
the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29, 2007.