Strikeforce + Dream = UFC Declaration of War

August 3rd, 2009 a date which will live infamy, The Ultimate Fighting Championship was hoodwinked by those Crazy Russians and Strikeforce as they stole the best heavyweight in the world right out from under our noses. Now the forces of Strikeforce have joined with those of the mysterious phantom promotion of M-1 Global. If that revelation wasn't cryptic enough our enemies have sought out the cooperation of the Empire of the Rising Sun Dream. This new triple alliance represents a direct threat to our imperialistic hegemony and plans for world domination. Thus the forces of Zuffa will align themselves into direct hostilities towards the M-1 Dream-Force alliance.

Alright,  the above speech is a pure concoction of WKR oddity but I can dream that Dana White made the speech to Zuffa employees doing his best FDR impersonation can't I?

Still it appears that the UFC and Zuffa are positioning themselves for war with Strikeforce and their new Triple co-promoting alliance. 

Already the UFC has sent a cease and desist letter to Strikforce regarding the Mousasi-Sobral fight on August 15th. Zuffa is claiming that they have a right to Mousasi as he had a contract with Affliction. Whether this will start a new batch of legal battles or is simply a scare tactic we will have to wait and see. 

If there was any doubt that the UFC and Strikeforce will be at war, Randy Couture laid out what the future would look like to MMA Fanhouse. 

"The back-and-forth is starting now between the UFC and Strikeforce," Couture said Tuesday. "There were a lot of competitors out there for the UFC, and Strikeforce is the last one standing. So it was only a matter of time before the adversarial relationship started between them, I think, with the Affliction stuff and those contracts being up in the air and both organizations trying to sign those fighters."    

Strikeforce CEO, Scott Coker, doesn't subscribe to Couture's description, 

Why would one fighter create a war?" 

"I would hate to think this would be the catalyst for this to escalate. To me, I'm still of the feeling that everything's going to be OK. We're running our business the way we're running it and they're going to continue with their successful business. I guess they say only time will tell."     

While Coker may think that both sides can peacefully co-exist, Zuffa's legal challenge and Couture's description of the facts elicit the impression that the UFC and Strikeforce have entered a period of open hostilities, at the least from the UFC's viewpoint which is all that really matters.  

In other news Strikeforce added middleweight Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. Speculation is that he will fight Jake Shields for an interim middleweight belt in October this year. 

Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg coverage