It's been a long time coming, but it appears that Jake Shields' exit from Strikeforce is official, and his move to the UFC could come at any day. Shields was released from his Strikeforce contract on Wednesday as first reported by Sherdog.com, and sources speaking to MMAWeekly.com said that negotiations are underway with the UFC, and could be finished any day. Strikeforce president Scott Coker appeared on MMAWeekly Radio on Wednesday night and all but confirmed Shields' exit from the promotion after a contract could not be settled due to financial reasons. "The numbers, there was a big gap between what we thought was real, and what we thought was going to work, and I call that the numbers dance," said Coker. "It is what it is, and we're going to probably be moving forward with that tournament." The tournament is a possible 8 to 16 man middleweight tournament to fill the void of the championship vacated by Shields who won and defended the title successfully until his exit from the promotion on Wednesday. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=11921&zoneid=13
Losing a champ in his prime is messy situation for Strikeforce. They have looked pretty bad through this ordeal. Big question--are they giving Henderson more? Epic fail if so.
Strikeforce is an epic fail. I don't know why they tried stepping to the big stage and competing with the UFC.