LOS ANGELES, CA. (February 5th, 2009) - 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."

Strikeforce® and EliteXC joined forces to deliver the first live SHOWTIME PPV® MMA event, "Shamrock vs. Baroni," on June 22, 2007. In the headlining contest, former UFC middleweight champion and MMA legend Frank Shamrock submitted knockout artist Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni in the second round, where upon Shamrock became the first Strikeforce® World Middleweight Champion.

On March 29, 2008, the two promotions collaborated once more to deliver a live telecast on SHOWTIME® featuring one of the sport's most anticipated showdowns - Shamrock versus undefeated world kickboxing champion Cung Le. In a battle that has since been proclaimed "Fight Of The Year" by critics, Le seized the Strikeforce® middleweight crown by pouring on a relentless offensive and fending off Shamrock's counter attacks before breaking the defending champion's arm with a hard roundhouse kick. Shamrock retired from the bout after the third round of a five round match.

A martial arts promoter for over 23 years, Coker has gained widespread acclaim among industry colleagues and the media, including Rolling Stone magazine, Yahoo! Sports, and The San Jose Mercury News. Coker elevated his 14-year-old Strikeforce® organization to become a major player in the World's fastest growing sport. Strikeforce's® inaugural MMA event hosted a capacity crowd of 18,265 at San Jose's HP Pavilion on March 10, 2006. The live gate figure also broke the then all-time record for attendance at an MMA event held in North America.

EliteXC burst onto the MMA scene with "Destiny," the first live, SHOWTIME®-televised MMA fight card in history, on February 10, 2007. Held at Southaven Mississippi's DeSoto Civic Center, the main event pitted Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert, Renzo Gracie. 

The promotion made history again by bringing, for the first time, a live MMA event to the CBS Television Network on May 31, 2008.

SHOWTIME JOINS FORCES WITH STRIKEFORCE
FOR ALL-NEW LIVE MMA SERIES

Strikeforce Press Release

Series Debut Scheduled for Saturday, April 11, 2009 on SHOWTIME

NEW YORK (February 5, 2009) - Showtime Networks Inc. and World championship mixed martial arts (MMA) event producer Strikeforce have joined forces to create an all-new series of MMA events that will air live on SHOWTIME® as part of the SHOWTIME Sports franchise. The news was jointly announced today by Ken Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Sports and Event Programming, Showtime Networks, and Strikeforce Founder and CEO Scott Coker.

The multi-year agreement calls for SHOWTIME to produce and televise up to 16 live events per year including Strikeforce world championship events as well as a series dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming fighters in the sport. The initial championship event is schedule for Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The fight card will be announced at a later date. 

"We are very excited to have the opportunity to deliver live Strikeforce events on the SHOWTIME premium television platform," said Coker. 

"SHOWTIME is a forward-thinking innovator with a reputation for producing outstanding original programming in sports and entertainment. They have been a phenomenal partner in the past and we are looking forward to growing our relationship with them and bringing the Strikeforce brand of MMA to millions of SHOWTIME subscribers." 

"Strikeforce has a history of presenting high-quality, compelling mixed martial arts events and we are thrilled to be able to bring their world-class events to our subscribers," said Hershman. 

Hershman was responsible for pioneering the network's entry into MMA in 2007, when SHOWTIME became the first premium network to televise the explosive sport. 

He continued, "This relationship with Strikeforce will allow SHOWTIME to continue to deliver some of the best MMA match-ups in the rapidly growing sport as well as to expose the future champions of MMA to our audience." 

The agreement reunites SHOWTIME and Strikeforce following their successful "Shamrock vs. Baroni" event, presented by SHOWTIME PPV® in 2007. In the main event, former UFC middleweight champion and MMA legend, Frank Shamrock, submitted knockout artist, Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni, in the second round of action whereby Shamrock became the first-ever Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion.

The historic event was followed up with a live SHOWTIME telecast of one of the sport's most anticipated showdowns of all-time - Shamrock versus undefeated world kickboxing champion Cung Le - on March 29, 2008. In a battle that has since been proclaimed "Fight Of The Year" by industry experts and critics, Le seized the Strikeforce middleweight crown by pouring on a relentless offensive and fending off Shamrock's counter attacks before breaking the defending champion's arm with a hard roundhouse kick and forcing Shamrock to retire from the bout between rounds three and four.

A martial arts promoter of over 23 years, Coker has gained widespread acclaim amongst industry colleagues and the media, including Rolling Stone magazine, Yahoo! Sports, and The San Jose Mercury News, for positioning his 14-year-old Strikeforce organization as a major player in the world's fastest growing sport since its inaugural MMA event that hosted a capacity crowd of 18,265 at San Jose's HP Pavilion on March 10, 2006. The live gate figure also broke the then-all-time record for attendance at an MMA event held in North America.

About Strikeforce:
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its "Shamrock vs. Gracie" event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose's HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with "Shamrock vs. Gracie." Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship "Shamrock vs. Baroni" card on June 22, 2007 followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29, 2007.

About Showtime Networks Inc.:
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.