The rumored Strikeforce purchase of Pro Elite is a done deal. The California based promotion issued a press release today indicating that they’ve acquired “certain fighter contracts” as well as the EliteXC tape library. It’s not mentioned in the release, but they’ve also worked out a deal with Showtime for quarterly live events on the pay cable network:

In a transaction signaling the dawn of a new era in the world’s fastest growing sport, world championship mixed martial arts (MMA) organization Strikeforce®, has acquired certain fighter contracts from ProElite, Inc, the parent company of former Strikeforce ® co-promoter, Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC).

Strikeforce® also acquired other specific assets of ProElite, including a library of EliteXC events, which were distributed live on either CBS or Showtime Networks.

“This is a tremendous development that will bolster the Strikeforce® roster and allow us to produce even more competitive matchups between top fighters,” said Scott Coker, Founder and CEO of Strikeforce®. “Some of these athletes have been on the sidelines for a while now and are eagerly waiting to return to competition. We look forward to providing them with the opportunity to do so in the next few months.”

Now the question becomes which specific fighter contracts Strikeforce has acquired, whether these include the big names of the organization including Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano, and what will happen to the fighters who weren’t among the “specific contracts” acquired.

In any case, its good to see the MMA competition in the US heating up again after a few dormant months….

Strikeforce inks deal with Pro Elite @ Strikeforce website

UPDATE: The LA Times is reporting that Carano and Kimbo are part of the deal, as are Robbie Lawler and Jake Shields. All told, 40 EliteXC fighters are now going to be fighting for Strikeforce. We’ll try to get a complete list of the fighters involved.