Strikeforce won’t outbid UFC for Shields
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is “tossing around numbers” with the manager of his current middleweight champion, Jake Shields, but he…
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is “tossing around numbers” with the manager of his current middleweight champion, Jake Shields, but he will not get into a bidding war for the fighter’s services.
To me, there’s going to be a value that we feel is fair, and that’s going to be it,” Coker today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I don’t think it’s good business to go into [the bidding] business.
If the two sides can’t strike a deal on a new contract, Coker said the promotion likely will hold an eight-man tournament that could begin at a planned Aug. 21 event in Houston. The winner would be crowned the new champion.
If it works out (with Shields), great,” Coker said. “If not, Strikeforce has a bunch of great middleweights, and we’ll go into the tournament business. We’re still fleshing out the details, but we’re leaning toward that.
Shields’ manager and father, Jack Shields, today opened the door to non-exclusive negotiations – known as the “matching period” on a fight contract – after the fighter’s exclusive negotiation period with Strikeforce expired earlier this week.
Jake’s a great fighter, and I consider him a friend,” Coker said. “It’s something that we’re working on, but we have a lot of great middleweights on our roster, and we look forward to the future to see what happens.