Dream was a former MMA organization run by former Pride FC and K-1 promotions. The organization was a Japanese run promotion founded on 2/13/08 and ending 6/3/12 by Business man Sadaharu Tanikawa. The company held 24 events in all w/ tournaments and featured notable fighters such as Fedor Emelianenko, Cro Cop, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt and more…

FINAL CHAMPIONS:
HEAVYWEIGHT: ALISTAIR OVEREEM
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: GEGARD MOUSASI
MIDDLEWEIGHT: GEGARD MOUSASI
WELTERWEIGHT: MARIUS ZAROMSKIS
LIGHTWEIGHT: SHINYA AOKI
FEATHERWEIGHT: HIROYUKI TAKAYA
BANTAMWEIGHT: BIBIANO FERNANDES

Elite XC was a United States based MMA promotion owned and run by ProElite. The company was founded in November of 2006 and lasted until October of 2008. The promotion can be credited for launching the Woman’s MMA division w/ Gina Carano. The company ran 20 events in all and launched the career of names such as Carano, Kimbo Slice and more. Other names involved w/ Elite XC include Jake Shields, Nate Diaz and of Course Cris Cyborg. They ran numerous events in which they co promoted w/ companies such as Affliction, Dream and Cage Rage. The end of the company was sealed on October 4th when Ken Shamrock was to headline against promotion superstar Kimbo Slice. On the day of the Event Shamrock was forced out of the bout and replaced by undercard and former UFC fighter Seth Petruzelli. The fight lasted less than 30 seconds as Seth KO’ed Kimbo in dramatic fashion. After the bout Seth made comments suggesting that EliteXC offered money to use certain techniques such as keeping the fight on the feet w/ Kimbo because he had no ground game and was a boxer. In the midst of these comments, allegations came down upon the company that led to The athletic commission launching an investigation into the fight. This toppled w/ the deep dept that the company was in led to the company announcing a cease of operations…

FINAL CHAMPIONS:
HEAVYWEIGHT: ANTONIO “BIG FOOT” SILVA
MIDDLEWEIGHT: ROBBIE LAWLER
WELTERWEIGHT: JAKE SHIELDS
LIGHTWEIGHT: K.J. NOONS
BANTAMWEIGHT: WILSON REIS
All Fighters Except Noons Went on to successful careers in the UFC. Robbie Lawler captured the Welterweight title while Silva challenged for the Heavyweight belt. Jake Shields went five rounds w/ GSP for the Welterweight championship.

Pride FC was the Japanese based MMA company that rivaled the UFC in the early days of MMA hitting the mainstream. It was founded in 1997 and eventually bought out by The UFC in 2007. Nobuyuki Sakakibara was the was the founder and headquarters was in Tokyo, Japan. Pride was known for its tournaments and all events took place inside a ring instead of an octagon. Yellow cards were given out for lack of action in the bouts and other differences included kicking a downed opponent. Fighters such as Wanderlie Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Rampage Jackson, Shogun Rua and others rose to fame in their pride days. Events where glamorous affairs w/ elaborate entrances and fireworks as well as Pride’s own theme song. For many years MMA fans wondered what it’d be like to see Pride fighters take on UFC fighers w/ names like Fedor, Big Nog, Cro Cop and of course Wanderlei Silva. Some UFC fighters made the trip to Japan to take part in Pride events most notably Chuck Liddell mixing it up w/ Rampage Jackson. The organization hosted historic bouts such as the trilogy between Rampage and Wanderlei Silva, Fedor vs. Kevin Randleman, Sho Gun and Rampage Jackson. Mirko Cro Cop vs. Silva and many others. The company hosted numerous Grand Prix tournaments as well which was a staple of the organization. In 2007 The UFC purchased Pride and bought out all the fighters remaining contracts. Most fighters entered the UFC w/ a few notable names missing such as Fedor. The Acquisition allowed for Dream bouts such as Chuck LIddell Vs. Wanderlei Silva and Liddell Vs. Shogun.

Final Champions
HEAVYWEIGHT: FEDOR EMELIANENKO (CONTRACT WAS EVENTUALLY DISSOLVED INTO A STRIKEFORCE DEAL)
MIDDLEWEIGHT: DAN HENDERSON (UNIFIED PRIDE & UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT BELTS IN A BOUT AGAINST RAMPAGE JACKSON)
WELTERWEIGHT: DAN HENDERSON (UNIFIED PRIDE AND UFC WELTERWEIGHT BELTS IN A BOUT W/ ANDERSON SILVA)
LIGHTWEIGHT: TAKANORI GOMI

Strikeforce as a MMA Organization founded in 1985 by Scott Coker in San Jose California. The company acquired many of the EliteXC contracts upon his disbanding. It was the first organization to put MMA on local television by way of CBS. The partnership w/ Showtime was the highlight of the companies exposure as it was a long standing relationship. The brand kicked off w/ a Event headlined by Frank Shamrock and Cesar Gracie, pitting two guys from one of the most historical family rivalry’s in MMA history. On August 15th 2009 they put on the first event headlined by women when undefeated Gina Carano (7-0) took on Cris “Cyborg” Santos. The bout would crown the first ever Strikeforce Woman’s Featherweight champion. Cyborg came out on top by TKO w/ one second remaining in round one. It would be the final time Carano fought. Another Huge date in Strikeforce history is 2 weeks prior on August 3rd 2009 when Fedor Emelianenko signed a 3 fight contract. Fedor debuted in the US against Brett Rogers and defeated him in the first round. His second fight under the strikeforce banner was opposite Fabricio Werdum. The bout was not expected to be close as Fedor was a huge favorite, however Werdum would go on to Tap him out marking the first loss for the Russian hero in over 10 years. The Last Emperor would finish his Strikeforce tilt at 1-3 losing to Big Foot Silva and then ending his run losing to Dan Henderson. Nick Diaz was a large part of the Strikeforce history as well as he held the Welterweight title nearly his entire tenure w/ the company.
In April of 2010 their event “Strikeforce: Nashville” marked the end of MMA on network TV for years after the main event ended in a brawl. The event was headlined by Cesar Gracie athlete Jake Shields taking on MMA legend Dan Henderson. The end came w/ Jake winning the bout by decision and retaining his Middleweight title. During the post fight interview Jason “Mayhem” Miller entered the cage and demanded a rematch (the two had recently fought to a decision that Jake won thereby winning the vacant strap). After Jakes corner including Gilbert Melendez and Nate Diaz began pushing Miller big brother Nick threw the first punch and a melee ensued. Officials and members of Dan Henderson’s camp eventually broke it up but not before it left a black eye on the sport. Major sports outlets covered the story and MMA was put down a notch in the mainstream as a result.
2003 saw the end of the road as Zuffa Inc bought the company and dissolved fighters contracts into the UFC obtaining Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez and other top names, one man who never signed w/ the UFC was Fedor, who has to this day never fought for the organization.

FINAL CHAMPIONS:
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem (went to UFC and Fought for UFC gold)
Light Heavyweight: Dan Henderson (Returned to The UFC)
Middleweight: Luke Rockhold (Went to UFC and won Middleweight title)
Welterweight: Tarec Saffiedine (Entered UFC)
Lightweight: Gilbert Melendez (Entered UFC and Fought for Title)
Woman’s Featherweight: Cris Cyborg (Entered UFC and reigned as champ)
Woman’s Bantamweight: Ronda Rousey (Entered UFC as first ever Woman’s Champion for UFC)