Oral History of Strikeforce: Coker/ Shamrock/ Chou/Renallo/ Quadros/Gross/ Vadim/Kogan...

The Rise and Fall of the Pepsi to UFC's Coke: A Strikeforce Oral History, Pt. 1
bleacherreport.com - January 11, 2013

Strikeforce runs its final show this weekend to little fanfare. The promotion that once packed raucous crowds into the HP Pavilion in its home territory of San Jose, Calif., will go out with a bit of a whimper in Oklahoma City on Saturday night with Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine.

When the show goes off the air, it will mean the end of Strikeforce, a promotion that has survived 27 years in the tumultuous world of combat-sports promotion. What's next for promoter Scott Coker is a mystery.

How did it come to this? How did a promotion that once seemed on the verge of challenging the mighty UFC itself end up in the dust bin of history?

I talked with the most important players, the men and women who built the brand, to find out in this definitive oral history. This is Pt. 1 of the history of Strikeforce, in their words. Pt. 2 in this two-part series, chronicling the death of the promotion, may be found here.

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The Ernie Reyes team in action

Frank Shamrock (Strikeforce main event star and broadcaster): I knew Scott through Ernie Reyes Sr. Ernie was my student in mixed martial arts and Scott was Ernie's student for many years. He received multiple black belts from him. Ernie was always learning in the martial arts, so when MMA came along he decided "I've got to study this." I became his teacher. I was 25 at the time; he was probably 55. That's how Scott and I got in the same circles. Scott was always a promoter. That was his journey. He was on the demo team and the promotions team for Ernie and he saw the promotional side, liked it and started promoting kickboxing.

Scott Coker (Strikeforce promoter): I was actually teaching at Ernie Reyes' school, a couple of classes a week, and I had a student there that said, "Hey, there's this Professional Karate Association, the PKA, and they're looking for a promoter in San Jose. Would you be interested in promoting?" I was 21 years old and had no idea what I was doing. So of course I said, "Sure, let's try it." That's how I got into promotion.

That first event, in March 1985, was held at the San Jose Civic Auditorium in front of... (read more)

Full article - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1479906-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-pepsi-to-ufcs-coke-a-strikeforce-oral-history

The Death of Strikeforce: The Oral History of the UFC's Great Alternative, Pt. 2
bleacherreport.com - January 11, 2013

Strikeforce is on its death bed. Its final event, held in Oklahoma City Saturday night, is imminent. How did the promotion that once fancied itself the Pepsi to UFC's Coke get to this point? I talked with the most important players—the men and women who built the brand—to find out in this definitive oral history.

This is the history of Strikeforce, in their words.

The first entry in this two-part series, chronicling the early days of the promotion, can be found here.

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One source of world-class fighters came from a well no major promotion had ever tapped until Strikeforce and Elite XC took the plunge in 2006 and 2007. Women had been fighting on smaller shows like Jeff Osborne's Hook N Shoot for years. But even their staunchest supporters couldn't have predicted the response to women fighting in the cage on national television. Simply put, it was a hit.

With superstar, and future movie star, Gina Carano leading the way, female fighters didn't just find a place on the card. They shattered the glass ceiling and made their way all the way to the main event. Where Gina led, others quickly followed. Soon the promotion had a handful of incredible female fighters, many of whom wowed fans with their good looks almost as much as they impressed them with their fighting prowess.

Scott Coker (Strikeforce promoter): I grew up in a martial arts school where we trained with females all the time. They were doing everything the guys were doing. So when we started Strikeforce kickboxing we always had female fights. We had a girl named Kim Messer fight Lisa Smith in kickboxing in one of the greatest fights I've ever seen in person.

Mike Afromowitz (Strikeforce media relations): Scott was always the big believer in giving women the opportunity to fight. He thought they were martial artists just like men were martial artists. He promoted women's kickboxing before he promoted women's MMA fighting. He looked at them as fighters. There were women who fought just like... (read more)

Read full article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1480248-the-death-of-strikeforce-the-oral-history-of-the-ufcs-great-alternative-pt-2

I will say this, ufc isnt coke it will never be coke, we all agreed on something back in 07, PRIDE was coke and ufc was pepsi(at best). That was a saying we used all the time back in the day. Imo If ufc is pepsi Strikeforce must be mountain dew and everyone knows mountain dew>pepsi....

Bellator is a fine wine

strikeforce is a bottle of piss

UFC is a bucket of feces

stu3ufc wrote:Bellator is a fine wine

strikeforce is a bottle of piss

UFC is a bucket of feces

well said.