On January 12th Strikeforce will officially hold its final event. The card will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Nate Marquardt and Tarec Saffiedine.
Strikeforce founder and CEO Scott Coker made the announcement on Thursday.
“Since 2009, Showtime has been a great partner and we appreciate its support of Strikeforce and our athletes. For our final event, we’ve loaded the card with some outstanding fights. This is going to be a memorable night for the sport of mixed martial arts.”
Strikeforce has produced many big MMA stars since they came onto the scene in 2006 including women’s star Ronda Rousey.
“We are proud of our association with Scott Coker and the entire STRIKEFORCE team,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “From Gina Carano to Ronda Rousey, Fedor Emelianenko to Daniel Cormier, Nick Diaz to Gilbert Melendez, SHOWTIME Sports and STRIKEFORCE have built some of the biggest stars in the sport and have produced many of the most watched and most intriguing fights in the history of MMA. We look forward to another night of competitive and explosive STRIKEFORCE fights on SHOWTIME on January 12 in OKC.”
The final night of fights was dubbed ‘Champions’, however many of the Strikeforce champs have fallen off of the card. The card will still feature several high caliber stars including Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier and former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.
Full Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine fight card
MAIN CARD (Showtime)
Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine – for welterweight title
Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring
Josh Barnett vs. Nandor Guelmino
Gegard Mousasi vs. Mike Kyle
Ed Herman vs. Ronaldo Souza
PRELIMINARY CARD (Showtime Extreme)
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal*
Roger Gracie vs. Anthony Smith
Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Smith
Ryan Couture vs. KJ Noons
PRELIMINARY CARD (un-aired)
Jorge Gurgel vs. Adriano Martins
Michael Bravo vs. Estevan Payan
