SC: No, I haven't spoken to Dana. However, I have spoken to some people that have spoken to him and there's no reason for anything to change. They have a lot of respect for us that we know what we're doing and the feeling is vice versa.
Q: Strikeforce has excelled promoting shows on a regional level but has yet to really make a go of it from a national perspective. How do you respond to pundits who question whether you can make that transition?
SC: Well, you know what? We'll just have to show them. I mean, the thing is that we know how to promote. I think we've put on some great fights and that we've already put some big fight cards together. And we have a home base, which I think is very important.
If you look at the UFC, their home base is Las Vegas. Even though they travel they've always had the home base to come back to and promote and we have that here in the Bay Area. And then we'll expand out and we'll go do our own thing.
Q: Is there any timetable as far as when we might see the first Strikeforce show on CBS?
SC: They finished all of the negotiating and when it came down, it happened so fast. And really, the three entities, we all haven't had a chance to sit down. We plan to do that at the end of this month in New York and plan out the year, so I could probably have more information for you at the beginning of March.
Q: Strikeforce also has a deal with NBC. Is that going to continue in the long-term?
SC: We have a contract with them and we're definitely going to honor our contract. It's two different properties though. The NBC show is a late-night, half-hour recap show of the greatest fights we've put on with Strikeforce and then we've got some features for our star athletes like Cung Le and Frank Shamrock and Josh Thomson. So it's a little different in that Showtime and CBS will be for the live events of Strikeforce.
Q: How long does the NBC deal run through?
SC: I haven't looked at the agreement but I think it ends sometime in late May.
Q: What are the plans for pay-per-view?
SC: My belief is that now we have a platform that helps our live events and helps us build some stars. To me, we jump in the pay-per-view business when we have fighters that people want to see on pay-per-view. It's about the matchup and how we've built the matchup and whether we have a fight that's relevant and works on pay-per-view. Then, at that point, we go into the pay-per-view business. But until we've built that fight up, it's something that I have no desire to enter into.
Q: In the time in which ProElite was on hiatus, contracted fighters such as Eddie Alvarez, Wilson Reis and Hector Lombard are all confirmed as having signed contracts with the Bellator Fighting Championship. Is Strikeforce giving up their rights to those fighters?
SC: To tell you the truth, Eddie Alvarez has a contract that's a little complicated. It allows him to fight for another organization so I don't think that's an issue. Since the transaction only happened a couple of days ago, we've reached out to as much talent as we can to set up some meetings. I don't think we've gotten to the fighters who have signed with Bellator.
Q: What's the status of Jake Shields? There are reports that he's not on board with Strikeforce.
SC: Jake's dad and I are in dialogue and I feel that the dialogue is going very well, so I am surprised to hear that.
Q: What does the future hold for Cung Le?
SC: I talked to Cung yesterday and he's ready to fight Frank Shamrock if Frank beats Nick Diaz. That will happen probably sometime in the summer if Frank beats Nick.
Q: You've been very favorable regarding Kimbo Slice while speaking with the public in recent days. If you do work with Kimbo, will you promote him differently than how EliteXC did?
SC: I think he's a talented athlete and obviously he can knock people out. I saw him knock out Tank and I said, "Jeez, this guy must hit really hard." But he was put in a situation where he was a main event fighter after only a few MMA fights. It's almost like putting an athlete in a no-win situation.
I think we would take a step back with his career and let him go get some fights and build his way back up. From my point of view, that's what I'm looking at but we have to sit down with Kimbo and his team. We've started some dialogue already, which has gone very well.
We have to find out what their goals are but we've reached out to him and to say, "Look, we think we need to take a step back here and then move forward," because the last thing you want is to have another situation and have it not work out. Basically, we want to take the pressure off of him and I think that will go a long way.
Q: There are rumblings that Fedor Emelianenko only has one fight remaining on his current deal with Affliction. Might we see Fedor fight for Strikeforce in the future?
SC: I would say that the possibility is yes. But how soon? Who knows? He has a contract with Affliction and I think they've been very good and very generous to him and I'm not sure if they have options on him. We haven't even explored it, to tell you the truth. But if there's a time when he's a free agent and if he wants to fight for Strikeforce, we'll have that conversation.
In addition to being a contributing writer for CBSSports.com, Sam Caplan is also the publisher of his own MMA website, FiveOuncesOfPain.com. You can contact him via e-mail at: SCaplan8@comcast.net.
