No Comment On Strikeforce Shutting Down Rumours

By Jarrod Atkinson /

When someone says €œno comment€ it can mean many things. It can mean that the person can€™t comment at this time due to contracts or legal measures. It can mean someone has to prepare a proper statement. But in the case of Zuffa€™s "no comment" on the status of Strikeforce, it can mean that the rumors of the organization ending might be true. The injury bug has hit the MMA world hard in the past few months. Dan Henderson€™s injury caused the eventual cancellation of UFC 151. Anderson Silva had to step up and save UFC 153 after Jose Aldo was injured. Several fighters have been removed from cards recently. UFC has been scrambling to fill spots in fight cards all year. Strikeforce- owned by UFC parent company Zuffa- has had worse luck in these situations. An injury to Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez caused his title fight at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy to be pulled. Without the title belt as the headlining match, Showtime decided not to air the card at all. The fighters on the undercard were paid some of their money, which is more than the fighters on the UFC 151 card can say. Strikeforce€™s big names include Women€™s Champion Ronda Rousey, Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold, and Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion Daniel Cormier, who has his final fight in Strikeforce scheduled for November 3rd. Cormier€™s opponent was to be former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. Mir was making a one night only stop in Strikeforce to give Cormier a true test before he went on the greener pastures of the UFC. Rockhold was added to the card to defend his title and up and coming women€™s fighter Sarah McCann was scheduled to fight Liz Carmouche with hopes of become the next challenger to Rousey€™s title. That€™s a great stacked card. Guess where I€™m going with this? Mir dropped out of the fight with an injury. That was September 19th. Here it is almost a month later and Cormier€™s opponent is still listed as TBD. It gets better. Rockhold drops off the card with a wrist injury. McCann drops out with an injury. Then the rumors start to swirl. I know that everyone has been saying that Strikeforce was as good as dead the second Zuffa purchased it, but this seems different. FrontRowBrian, the unknown man on Twitter who seems to know everything hours before it€™s announced posted a tweet indicated that Strikeforce was indeed dead. He said that he €œgot rumor from excellent source. Cross checked it with a high profile journalist who said he/she heard same thing from 4 excellent sources€ and €œThere was also a Facebook post from the wife of a Zuffa exec saying SF was shutting down. The post was then deleted. This was earlier today.€ FrontRowBrian has been known to be wrong every now and then, but most times he has the inside scoop. Enter Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting. He has been Dana White€™s go to man in the MMA journalist community. Helwani scored the interview with White when Strikeforce was purchased. According to Helwani, he spoke to a Showtime executive and the November 3rd card was still on and €œThey said they would be €˜beyond shocked€™ if that show & the promotion were shut down.€ But here is where I start to wonder: €œZuffa had no comment.€ No comment. Why? Why not end the rumor right there and stop all the talk dead in its tracks? I hope that the rumors are just that. Strikeforce is a shell of what it once was but it gives fighters a chance to be in the Zuffa family and be able to get on the radar and make their way to the UFC. It is also the highest profile organization for women€™s MMA. And I€™m not just saying this because I have tickets for the November 3rd event. I€™m saying this as a fan of the sport. Here€™s hoping €œNo Comment€ means something other than what we€™re all thinking it means.