When it was first announced that UFC star Frank Mir would be crossing over to Strikeforce to take on their tournament champion Daniel Cormier, fans hoped this was the start of a new trend, but it turns out that’s not the case.
“You’re not going to see more of it, this is a one-time situation,” UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta tells ESPN.com.
“It was a situation where Cormier had to fight one more time for Showtime. All the Strikeforce heavyweights had come to the UFC and that didn’t leave us with a stable of guys [in Strikeforce]. We wanted to put on a very relevant fight that is credible.”
Interestingly, Fertitta goes on to explain that they had to seek permission from FOX in order to make the fight happen, and they only agreed to it due to the fact that it had already been established that Cormier was coming over the UFC immediately afterwards.
Needless to say it’s disappointing to have it confirmed that Strikeforce’s other major stars like Gilbert Melendez, Nate Marquardt and Luke Rockhold won’t be afforded the same opportunity as Cormier, and with FOX apparently having a big say in it there’s unlikely to be much room for negotiation on the matter in the future.
