UFC vs. Strikeforce: The War Begins

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Dana White and Scott Coker have maintained a cordial relationship for years. It’s been impossible to get White to say anything bad about Strikeforce, at least publicly, and White has stated numerous times that he likes the business model Coker built for his promotion.

All of that changed the moment Coker inked Fedor Emelianenko to a contract.

At today’s pre-UFC 101 press conference, White signaled that the gloves were off. He referred to his newfound competition as “Strikefarce” and said that Coker will soon discover that signing Emelianenko was not financially prudent decision.

“He’ll put them out of business,” White said in regards to Emelianenko. “They have no money. They have no money, and they have no distribution. Four [expletive] people watch Showtime. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight, 245,000 people watched that fight (on Showtime). That’s nothing. … They should have stayed the way they were.”

White wasn’t through with his comments regarding Coker and Strikeforce, though. Not by a long shot.

“They’re a small-town show,” White said. “Cung Le hasn’t defended the title since like 1997. Josh Thomson hasn’t defended the belt in like two years. Who is their other champion? Alistair Overeem – he hasn’t defended the belt in like two years. It’s Strikefarce. It’s a little regional show with no one in it.”

“We’ll see how it goes,” White said. “If they want to fight me, we’re going to fight. We know how that goes, and we know how it ends.”