2011 was unquestionably one of the greatest years in the short existence of mixed martial arts. The UFC has continued to grow and expand, Bellator has begun to find a stable foothold and produce stars, and Strikeforce will continue to air on Showtime, handled as a completely separate entity from the UFC, despite the fact that Zuffa now owns the promotion. Although the Japanese scene continues to struggle, MMA has caught like wildfire in the United States, and only promises to reach more households worldwide as time unfolds, which could certainly see a turn-around for promotions based in Japan.

The Strikeforce/UFC’s Continual Merger: Dana White has made it abundantly clear that Strikeforce isn’t going anywhere. However, White and the UFC have been importing some of their sister promotion’s finer talents, like Alistair Overeem, Nick Diaz and Fabricio Werdum, to name just a few. With the influx of new talent in the UFC, the depth of each division slowly swells, making for some intriguing scenarios and a pool of potential match ups that we would not be privy to if not for Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce. Gone are the days of champions “cleaning out the division”, there’s now plenty of new talent to factor into the equation, and it’s going to make for some truly fascinating matches come 2012.

Written By: Aiden Rudd

“When Strikeforce was purchased by the UFC’s parent company Zuffa LLC in March, Strikeforce chairman Scott Coker, has professed that it is ‘Business as Usual’ for the companies. Strikeforce was still to operate as a separate promotion, it would still co-promote with M1-Global to keep the whole Fedor fiasco from collapsing. However, 7 months later is that statement still realistic?”

With several big attractions defecting to the UFC in search of bigger fights and even bigger paydays, can Strikeforce still operate as a ‘Major Promotion’? With talent such as Nick Diaz, Jason Miller, Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson trickling down to the UFC, the promotion’s increasingly obsolete titles are for the large part vacant. As out of the 5 male weight divisions, only two have currently got a title holder. Luke Rockhold recently defeated ‘Jacare’ Souza to capture the Middleweight title, and Gilbert Melendez, who has been documented as being unsettled at the promotion’s lack of legitimate contenders to his Lightweight title, that he is currently preparing to defend for the 3rd time in December against Jorge Masvidal.

The title says it all.  You punch a guy after the final horn, you should get fired.  What doesn’t Paul Daley get about that?

After the embarrassing and stupid actions Daley performed following his loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 113, the UFC rightfully released him, and President Dana White said he would never fight for the UFC again.  With the UFC’s purchase of Strikeforce, Daley has now become a Zuffa fighter.  A fighter in which White promised to allow to finish his contract before anything will happen. 

A variety of news bites from the Ultimate Fighting Championship were released on December 15th that will set the stage for some events to come.

UFC is going back to Brazil

The biggest news of the day came from what some people may consider the motherland of mixed martial arts: Brazil. During a live conference that was hosted on numerous MMA media sites, UFC President Dana White, confirmed that the organization would be returning to Rio in 2011. Set for August 27th, the event will be held in the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

In a conversation with MMAfighting.com UFC President, Dana White, discussed the possible coaches for the 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which is set to begin taping at the beginning of the year. He stated that a decision has not been made at this time, however some names have been thrown around.

Potential names for the coaches of the next season included MMA icon Wanderlei Silva coaching against the brash talking Chael Sonnen. However, the UFC may be hesitant to place the limelight on Sonnen with the recent allegations and hearings surrounding his usage of testosterone. Sonnen has to serve a six month suspension which would make him eligible to fight sometime in March of 2011.

In recent news, controversy has arisen over the criticism that Ultimate Fighting Championship’s president, Dana White, shot towards prominent MMA trainer Greg Jackson and his camp. At UFC 122 Nate Marquardt, who is trained by Jackson, was facing off against Yushin Okami for an opportunity to challenge for the Middleweight Championship. In what many people considered a slow bout, Okami was able to outpoint his opponent. While there must always be a winner and loser for every competition, the issue began during the post fight conference.

Up and coming knockout artist, Gerald Harris was released from his UFC contract after his first lost in the organization. Harris was defeated by Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves at UFC 123.

Goncalves used his punching abilities to stun Harris multiple times during their fight. During the first round, Harris was in danger of tapping to a rear naked choke, but was saved by the bell. Round two saw more of the same action as Goncalves once again took Harris’s back and threatened with a submission. The third round was vastly different than the first two as Goncalves coasted to a unanimous decision victory while Harris followed him around the ring.