Strikeforce and DREAM will announce a partnership that could see an exchange of fighters between the two promotions.

Strikeforce Chief Executive Officer Scott Coker revealed Monday night in a radio appearance on The Carmichael Dave Show that the number two mixed martial arts promotion in the USA will enter into an "alliance" with Fighting Entertainment Group, the parent company of the number one mixed martial arts promotion in Japan.

The partnership could open up new possibilities for the recently-signed Fedor Emelianenko, who had seemingly only Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum as opponents in Strikeforce. Fedor could also find himself fighting in Japan after his fall Strikeforce on Showtime date. The former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion is well-loved in the country and from 2003-2007 took pride in a tradition to compete every New Year's Eve in Japan's annual blockbuster year-end show.

"We've talked about (the partnership) for a long time," Coker said on the Northern California sports program. "It's finally going to happen now so maybe (Sergei) Kharitonov could fight Fedor at some point."

Besides more options for Fedor, there's an entire pool of new opponents for each promotion that could also give a clearer understanding to world rankings outside of the UFC.

The current champions and direct title contenders under DREAM are Joachim Hansen (lightweight champion), Shinya Aoki, Marius Zaromskis (welterweight champion), Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Bibiano Fernandes, Joe Warren, Hiroyuki Takaya and Hideo Tokoro.

Meanwhile, the champions with Strikeforce are Alistair Overeem (heavyweight), Renato "Babalu" Sobral (light heavyweight), Cung Le (middleweight), Josh Thomson (lightweight), Gilbert Melendez (interim lightweight) and the August 15 winner of Nick Diaz versus Jay Hieron.

The two promotions already share the services of former DREAM Middleweight Champion and current number one Strikeforce light heavyweight title contender Gegard Mousasi, who also happens to be under contract with Fedor's management, M-1 Global.

Coker added that more details on Fedor's future, including the date and opponent, could be announced as early as Thursday.

In a follow-up to the story about UFC President Dana White nixing a proposed fight between current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. (picture), despite both fighters wanting the bout, GracieFighter.com is reporting that Strikeforce founder Scott Coker would like to match Jones against Nick Diaz. Diaz had challenged Jones to a boxing-rules fight after his victory over Frank Shamrock last month. "We would absolutely set this fight up," Coker reportedly said. "Of course we would have to run it by Showtime for final approval, but I don't see why we wouldn't have this fight."

According to some source, Coker denied making that quote during yesterday's Strikeforce media call, saying "I've had several calls from different people saying, 'Roy Jones vs. Nick Diaz, Roy Jones vs. Cung Le, Roy Jones vs. this guy or that guy, but it's something that we haven't really talked about. I really don't even know how serious it is. But the question is, 'Does he want to fight in MMA? Does he want to fight in just boxing?' These are all things that haven't been fleshed out."

"I did get a call from Nick's manager asking me if I'd be interested in looking at a fight between Roy Jones and Nick. I said, 'Are you talking about boxing? Are you talking about MMA?' He says, 'In MMA.' I said, 'Well, that's something we can definitely have a conversation about. That just happened this morning. That's the extent of it."

Showtime Senior Vice President Ken Hershman was even more poignant, saying that the fight "would be a very long shot of ever happening".

"It has nothing to do with money," Hershman noted. "I think it's an insult to the integrity of mixed martial arts to think Roy Jones, or any professional boxer, could just come in and fight Nick Diaz in a mixed martial arts context. In a boxing context, it's completely different."

"But beyond that, it's not the strategy we're employing. We're looking to build the best mixed martial arts brand. I believe we have the best professional boxing brand on television, and I think our fights month in and month out prove that. I don't see the need to combine the two at the moment."

Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz will be streamed live on Saturday night from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, for a price tag of $24.95.

The online option is for those without subscriptions to Showtime, but an incentive to order the online stream is the options to choose camera angles and audio commentary.

Below is the fight card for the event:

Showtime bouts:

• Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz

• Josh Thomson vs. Rodrigo Damm

• Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach

• Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs. Hitomi Akano

• Brett Rogers vs. Ron "Abongo" Humphrey

Preliminary bouts:

• Luke Rockhold vs. Buck Meredith

• Eric Lawson vs. Waylon Kennell

• Raul Castillo vs. Brandon Michaels

• James Terry vs. Zak Bucia

• Jeremy Tavares vs. Shingo Kohara

Shooto is getting ready for the final event of its Tradition series, which celebrates the venerable Japanese MMA promotion's 20-year history. They will look to celebrate with a bang as former top ranked lightweight Takanori Gomi, who returns to Shooto for the first time in nearly six years, will face current Shooto Welterweight Champion Takashi Nakakura on May 10 event at the JCB Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Gomi, former Shooto Welterweight Champion and PRIDE World Lightweight Champion, is currently on a two fight losing streak with his losses coming to Sergey Golyaev at Sengoku 6 and Satoru Kitaoka at Sengoku no Ran 2009. Once considered the top lightweight, Gomi hasn't looked the same ever since he lost to Nick Diaz at PRIDE 33: Second Coming, which was later ruled a no-contest due to Diaz testing positive for marijuana.

The opponent, Nakakura is currently riding high on a five-fight winning streak. His most recent win came over Bendy Casimir at Shooto Tradition 4 back on November 29th, 2008.

"We're going to continue supporting women's MMA and we're going to be inviting Gina to come fight on April 11. And we've already got confirmation from Cyborg that she is available if we can put that match together. We will be supporting women's MMA in Strikeforce," said Strikeforce President Scott Coker.

Coker has been working feverishly behind the scenes to put together what would be seen as the biggest fight in the history of women's MMA, a matchup between undefeated media favorite Gina Carano (picture) and the highly skilled Brazilian Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

Coker announced last week that Santos had signed with the promotion with the intent of facing Carano. And sources have indicated that the company is working hard on securing the fight for it's first Showtime event this April 11.

The show looks to add Carano versus Cyborg to previously announced match-ups featuring former UFC Champion Frank Shamrock going up against Nick Diaz and Scott Smith facing off against Benji Radach.

MMANews.com was able to catch up with Ken Shamrock prior to his fight this weekend at the WarGod's and KSP St. Valentine's Day Massacre show on Feb 13th in Fresno, CA and when the topic of Frank Shamrock, his adoptive brother, came up, Ken was not to pleased about the way things have turned out for their proposed match up.

"Frank's been talking about fighting me forever. Every time it comes down to fighting me though, he backs out. From early on I was very skeptical about fighting him because all he does is get all the press he possibly can out of fighting me - doing interviews and getting time on TV and stuff - and then when it comes time to fight he doesn't. This is the fourth time he's back out of a fight with me. It's the same thing with Kimbo Slice. He wants none of me because he knows he'll get his ass kicked."

When asked about Frank recently stating that Ken was the one who didn't want to fight, the UFC Hall of Famer had the following reply:

"Dude, I've given that many interviews about this and not one time have I ever said I didn't want the fight. He is the only one that ever brings anything up about not fighting. Every single time this is what happens and I keep telling people that. You've never heard me say I don't want to fight Frank. He will always come up with an excuse to not fight me. He did it with Wanderlei Silva, he did it with Sakuraba, and he did it with Rickson Gracie. He challenges people to fight because he wants the press and people to cover him but when it comes down to fighting he always finds a way out of it."

Frank will be fighting April 11th against Nick Diaz for Strikeforce on Showtime and Ken was surprised to see that fight happen when they had been planning a fight.

"Tell me this; I was supposed to fight Frank. Who is he fighting now? He's fighting a 155lb Nick Diaz instead of me because he is telling people I was having personal problems. He's a chump, he's a poser, and he's a punk. He needs to either get in there with me and fight or he needs to shut up."


"Frank wants attention. He wants people to think he is a legend. He wants people to call him a legend. No one ever called him a legend. He started calling himself a legend, he gave himself that name. He'd an idiot. He tries to get people to buy into him. For so long people have been trying to get him to fight somebody credible and he won't fight them."

Shamrock is not getting any younger and there will come a point where Ken's body may not have the go it used to. He wants the fight with his brother but it seems to be just getting tiresome for him at this point.

"I'm tired of talking about it. Every time I do Frank uses it to get media attention. I say this over and over again, I want the fight but it won't happen because Frank will make an excuse when it's time to fight for it not to happen. If he comes to me again with the fight what am I suppose to do? This is four times now. What are people going to think? I want the fight. If he walked in front of me today I'd punch a hole in his head because he's a poser and a fake. He's a chicken."

Ken also says that this is the most personal the fight has ever been due to the fact Frank won't go and visit there dying father, Bob.

"My father is lying in a bed dying. My father went to prison when Frank was in there and would help him out and took care of him while he was in prison. When Frank got out he took him in and asked him me to take care of him. I put him up in my house. My father took care of him and I trained him. I got him fights, I took him to Japan, I got him to where he needed to be and then he walked out on us. My father is dying in a hospital bed and has asked Frank to go see him numerous times and he doesn't go see him. He's supposed to be his son. I want to put Frank in a hospital bed. He's been doing this for years and I'm just tired of it. I'm sick of him talking. He's a pussy. He needs to put up or shut up."

Whether in happens in a ring or cage has been the question for many MMA fans out there, but with all the bad blood and heat between these two, it could happen elsewhere.

"I won't wait, because eventually I'm going to run in Frank. End of story."

Source: MMANews.com

According to an SEC filing (a public companies' financial statement or other formal document submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission) by ProElite, Inc. on Thursday, the company is refusing to close its doors without a fight.

On October 31, the company received a notice from Showtime Networks announcing the sale of ProElite assets at a public auction. On November 4, the cable network made an SEC filing announcing the sale and placed ads on several MMA websites advertising it. Showtime's Senior Vice President of Sports and Event Programming, Ken Hershman, also sits on ProElite's board of directors.

In line with a recent letter to fighter managers promising a return in early 2009, ProElite said it would do everything in its power to stay off the auctioning block.

"The Company plans to take all appropriate measures to prevent the sale from occurring," the filing states. "Such measures may include raising additional financing, filing a lawsuit enjoining the sale, filing a bankruptcy petition or negotiating a settlement with Showtime. There can be no assurances that the company will be successful in any of these actions."

According to some sources, ProElite's first tactic may be to sue CBS Networks over gate revenue produced by its third show, "Heat". The embattled company could argue the network forced them into default on a one million dollar loan from Showtime by misrouting the funds from the Sunrise, Florida, show.

A condition of Showtime's loan, dated June 18, said ProElite's assets could be sold or taken over if it did not maintain $550,000 in cash reserves.

"CBS took the gate revenue directly from Miami, and it was contracted to go through ProElite first," a source said. "If that had happened at the time that (Showtime) called in the note, there would have been enough money that they couldn't have called in the note. So there's a legal argument there."

"ProElite's claim would be that they could have raised the money in that time, but once Showtime called in that note, publicly, it ruined any chances of raising money."

An SEC filing on December 9 detailed an agreement between CBS and ProElite where CBS would cover all costs associated with the show, and "receive" all revenue from the event, though details on how that would occur were not specified.

The question now is whether ProElite can afford to go to battle with CBS in a civil court.

Requests to CBS and ProElite representatives asking for comment were not immediately returned.

The auction, however, could possibly determine the futures of fighters like Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler, Frank Shamrock, Nick Diaz, Cristiane Santos, Yves Edwards, Wilson Reis and many others.

The organization, whose last show featured a 14-second fight, calls it quits after losing $55 million.

It looks like Elite XC, the upstart mixed martial arts organization featuring Kimbo Slice, is down for the count.

ProElite, Inc., Elite XC's Los Angeles-based parent company, plans to file for bankruptcy, said T. Jay Thompson, an Elite XC executive consultant, whose Hawaii-based MMA organization was purchased by ProElite last year.

Elite XC has also informed fighters, office staff and others of immediate layoffs and has canceled fight dates, including a Nov. 8 card in Reno, Thompson said.

In an SEC filing Tuesday, ProElite said that Showtime Networks said it was in violation of a debt covenant because the MMA firm doesn't have enough cash on hand. ProElite has reported $55 million in net losses since January 2007, according to SEC filings.

Several ProElite executives declined to comment Tuesday.

"If I had to point fingers why this thing went bad, I'd have trouble, because I only have two hands," said Thompson.

ProElite, which opened two years ago, appointed boxing promoter Gary Shaw as president and he designated his son, Jared Shaw -- known by the nickname "$kala" -- a key executive with matchmaking powers.

Gary Shaw, who saw his role change from president to consultant this year, said Tuesday he "wasn't even a consultant anymore. I have no comment. I don't know anything about it. I don't know if they're done."

In another SEC filing, Pro- Elite acknowledged significant deficiencies in how it was operated, including wasteful spending by management and a finding that contracts it entered into were not adequately reviewed.

Thompson said he believes the company's fate was sealed when Slice, its biggest star, was knocked out in 14 seconds of the main event of a CBS show Oct. 4.

Slice was supposed to fight MMA veteran Ken Shamrock. Instead, a late injury replacement, Seth Petruzelli, was put into the cage. Petruzelli alleged in a later radio interview that Elite XC promoters told him he'd earn extra money by fighting a stand-up style that favored Slice's strength as a street fighter. A Florida commission is now investigating that claim.

Meanwhile, instead of gaining an investment by Showtime Networks that ProElite officials had said was vital for its survival, Showtime sent ProElite a default notice for $6.3 million last week, according to an SEC filing. "ProElite officials have advised us that they will not be able to put on the EliteXC event scheduled for exhibition on Showtime on Nov. 8," Showtime spokesman Chris DiBlasio said in a statement. "In view of Showtime's leadership role in sports programming, including boxing and mixed martial arts, we intend to explore other opportunities."

Thompson railed at what he called a cycle of wasted money by ProElite officials. Pro Elite would over-staff its fight cards with employees, bringing in "35 people who were running around, quite comically" at shows, he said. "It was mind boggling."

Earlier this year, in San Jose, a Pro Elite card generated a live gate of $1.2 million. Thompson, with 15 years of fight-promotion experience, said he advised ProElite officials to bring only a few employees north to maximize profits. Instead, he said, 23 employees worked the event.

A few Elite XC fighters, including champion Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz, may land at the top MMA organization, Ultimate Fighting Championship.

But Elite XC stars Slice and female fighter Gina Carano probably will have to look for fights elsewhere.

UFC President Dana White was not available for comment. But White's spokeswoman said he has previously insisted he wasn't interested in adding Slice to his stable of fighters because he didn't want to diminish the sport as "a freak show."

Carano's publicist did not return messages left for her, but the unbeaten female fighter, who has also performed as "Crush" on NBC's "American Gladiators," appears headed for a second-tier organization if she continues in MMA.

UFC's White has said that there isn't enough of a talent pool to start a women's fight league.

From day one of Elite XC's existence, White predicted a doomed effort.

"No one in that business has a clue how to do MMA," he said in December 2006. "These guys don't know the difference between MMA and thumb wrestling."

Taken from: http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-mma22-2008oct22,0,2976847.story

Nate Diaz will take on Josh Neer on September 17 at UFC Fight Night 14 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska.

The lightweight matchup was confirmed Wednesday by GracieFighter.com, the official website of Diaz's Cesar Gracie camp.

Diaz (9-2), the season five winner of The Ultimate Fighter, has competed at the past three UFC Fight Night events, tapping out all of his opponents with chokes. The most recent one was on April 2, when Diaz submitted Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Black Belt Kurt Pellegrino with a triangle choke.

Neer (23-6-1), a product of Miletich Fighting Systems, won a unanimous decision against Din Thomas at the last UFC Fight Night. The 25 years old out of Des Moines, Iowa will look to avoid suffering losses to both Diaz brothers. Neer succumbed to a kimura to Nick Diaz at UFC 62 in August 2006.

EliteXC has pulled Nick Diaz from competing against Katsuya Inoue at DREAM.3 on Sunday, reports Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated. Diaz's camp has also confirmed the report.

Diaz was given permission by EliteXC to take a fight against Marcelo Garcia on the DREAM.2 card on April 29, but his fight was moved to May 11 without EliteXC's knowledge.

Upon learning of the change on Saturday, EliteXC President Gary Shaw put the brakes on Diaz's return to Japan. Shaw didn't want to risk Diaz suffering an injury when he is scheduled to fight Muhsin Corbbrey on June 14 at an EliteXC on Showtime event in Hawaii.

DREAM has not yet found a replacement for Inoue. DREAM had planned for the winner of Diaz VS Inoue to face Hayato "Mach" Sakurai to crown the promotion's first welterweight champion.

Nick Diaz and Jason "Mayhem" Miller will join the DREAM.3 card on Sunday, May 11 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Diaz (15-7) will take on Pancrase star Katsuya Inoue (16-5-3) in a bout with a weight limit of 167.6 pounds. Diaz hasn't fought since November 2007, when he lost an EliteXC title bout via doctor stoppage to KJ Noons. He also has another fight lined up with EliteXC on June 14 against Muhsin Corbbrey in Hawaii.

Miller (20-5) will fight pro wrestler Katsuyori Shibata (2-3) in a middleweight bout. Miller has been bouncing around lately from promotion to promotion, as this DREAM appearance will be his fourth straight fight with a different organization.

DREAM.3 Lightweight Grand Prix 2nd Round

- Tatsuya Kawajiri VS Luis "Buscape" Firmino
- Caol Uno VS Mitsuhiro Ishida
- Joachim Hansen VS Eddie Alvarez
- Katsuhiko Nagata VS Shinya Aoki (if he is medically cleared)

Other Bouts

- Jason "Mayhem" Miller VS Katsuyori Shibata
- Melvin Manhoef VS Kim Dae-won
- Nick Diaz VS Katsuya Inoue
- Daisuke Nakamura VS Yung Jung-buk