Strikeforce
Strikeforce's Scott Coker comments on his opportunity to purchase PRIDE in 2007
Mar 12, 2014 - 9:45:13 PM Strikeforce's Scott Coker comments on his opportunity to purchase PRIDE in 2007

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

John Nash over at BloodyElbow.com has been working on a really interesting series this week on some of the untold or lesser known stories in the history of Strikeforce. The former kickboxing organization went from regional powerhouse in California to one of the most successful alternates to the UFC this country has seen, putting on some major events and major fights before ultimately suffering a steady decline and getting sold off to Zuffa.

Before even hitting the stage as a national promotion, Strikeforce founder Scott Coker had an opportunity to make what would have been a shocking and major splash, as he had a chance to purchase Japanese promotion PRIDE.

Here's Coker in his own words discussing what nearly came to pass in 2007:

"PRIDE was the first group to extend us a hand. We had a friendly relationship with them and many of them were friends of mine that I had met while working for K-1. So they were very easy to work with. All they asked is that we were reciprocal with our fighters and send some of them back, which we did.

We did a lot of fighter sharing back then with Japan. Gilbert and Josh fought in Japan, and Aoki, Misaki and Kawajiri came here. We had an open policy, that if we could find a fight company that had built up their own market and that had some athletes that we wanted to put on the air, or had some potentially interesting fights and we had to share our athletes to make it happen, we would go ahead and do it.

I think the fighters like it too. I remember talking to Josh Thomson and he really loved going to Japan to fight. So the fighters had a little more flexibility fighting for us and they got to go to Japan and fight for PRIDE or later DREAM. We also later gave some fighters the ability to go box in their deals. Or do kickboxing. Nick Diaz, and I think King Mo [Lawal] could box and [Gegard] Mousasi and Alistair had it in their contracts that they could do K-1 or kickbox if they wanted. Which is great I think for fighters to be able to try other stuff.

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When I heard rumors that PRIDE was for sale I flew out to Japan in early 2007 to see if I could buy it. I met with Ken Imai and then we went and met with [PRIDE FC president [Nobuyuki] Sakakibara and that's where I believe I got to meet [PRIDE FC vice president Hiroyuki] Kato for the first time. I had some investment bankers putting up money and my plan was to keep PRIDE, keep it in Japan but to also expand it to the American market. Maybe get some television deals but definitely put it on live shows here and show it on pay-per-view. I definitely thought we could make it work as a pay-per-view product.

So Ken Imai got me a meeting and I made an offer to Sakikibara. It was a serious offer, but he told me he was already in talks with the UFC and that they were very far along in their negotiations. But he told me that that we could buy it if we agreed to close the deal right away. We had to do it within 14 days. And that there wouldn't be any due diligence. I know there's no way it's happening without any due diligence, so we didn't make the deal and I flew home. And about a month later it was announced that Zuffa had bought them. So I didn't buy PRIDE and turned my attention back to building Strikeforce."

Penick's Analysis: Given what he was dealing with as far as them trying to sell it quick with no due diligence, that's not something that would have actually come to pass. Still, it's quite interesting to look at what could have been, and the whole piece from Nason - both parts so far - is worth a look when you've got time. Strikeforce became so frustrating as an organization because there was obviously something there that endeared them to the fanbase off the bat, and they started really strong as a regional MMA promotion before transitioning to TV and a national audience. A number of things brought a downward trajectory for the organization, which allowed for Zuffa to purchase it in the first place, and then that last year of the organization was so far from what they were at their height. Still, there was quite a bit of good from them as well, and this series is an interesting look back into all of that.