As of late the power of the world of mixed martial arts appears to be shifting. Strikeforce is widely considered one of the top promotions in the world behind the UFC and has made some major acquisitions recently that have to be making UFC president Dana White a little nervous.

First and foremost Strikeforce was able to sign Consensus #1 world ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelienenko after the UFC could not come to agreement with the co-promotion of Emelienenko's managers. This is a big deal because Fedor has a huge following from his former days in Pride fighting championships. With a November 7th date pitting Emelienenko against Heavyweight contender Brett "The Grim" Rogers on national television the owners of the UFC have to be grinding their teeth. This event has the potential to draw in more viewers than any UFC payperview ever has simply for the fact that its free and its on network cable TV. This major MMA event couldn't have happened at a worse time for the UFC after a dissapointing fight between UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in which many fans believe Shogun should have came away with the belt. To make matters worse UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is withdrawing from his title defense against Shane Carwin next month due to illness. However thats not all the UFC has on its hands. They are currently in a contract dispute with former pride champion and current UFC contender Dan Henderson who has been openly flirting with the Strikeforce fight promotion.

Strikeforce is continuing to add talent and has shown great marketing skills by promoting many new up and coming fighters such as Gegard Mousasi who is quickly climbing the light heavyweight ranks after quickly dispatching former UFC fighter Renato Sobral in one minute of the first round of his last fight. Strikeforce also showed genius business skills by promoting Maxim babe Gina Carano in a main event against Christiane "Cyborg" Santos for the first ever women's 145 pound title match. Even though Gina Carano was beaten in the title bout people are still googling her name in record numbers. Promoting Kimbo Slice wasn't a bad move either and Dana White is now following suit with his latest season of The Ultimate Fighter.

If Fedor Emelienenko manages to get past Brett Rogers on the November 7th card which also boasts Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Theirry Sokodjou, and they luck out and make a major signing of mma legend Dan Henderson, Then the UFC could be in a lot more trouble than anyone had previously anticipated.

Of course the UFC still has a major upperhand over the other promotions in talent and buying power but for now thats just food for thought. :)