(George Galanis is an MMA fan and BPL contributor.)

The mixed martial arts industry has undergone a drastic change with the announcement that Ultimate Fighting Championship parent company, Zuffa, LLC, has purchased the UFC's biggest competitor, Strikeforce.

UFC president Dana White announced that the company has purchased San Jose based promotion Strikeforce in what he called a "good deal."

With the news comes a series of questions regarding the future of Strikeforce, but White says things will remain the same for the time being. "Strikeforce is going to continue to run business as usual," and CEO Scott Coker will remain on with the company, said White.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but like the purchase of Pride in 2007, Zuffa will now gain access to the extensive video library of fight footage from past Strikeforce events. Existing contracts between Strikeforce and its employees will be honoured, according to White, who believes that the current network deal between Strikeforce and Showtime would remain in effect.

"There's contracts in place," said White. "These guys are on Showtime. Strikeforce pulls good ratings for Showtime. I think Showtime is happy with them. All those contracts will be honoured."

White has had public feuds with Strikeforce roster members such as former UFC fighters Paul Daley and Josh Barnett and has stated that neither will ever compete in the UFC again. The brash UFC president has also had choice words for Showtime's General Manager of Sports Programming Ken Hershman. According to White, this situation will be handled by having Coker and UFC executives, such as Lorenzo Fertitta, take care of negotiations with individuals who have had disputes with White in the past.

Though White has assured that things will be "business as usual," a phrase he repeated multiple times during his interview, the future of Strikeforce remains uncertain. Once the promotion's current deal with Showtime is up, Strikeforce could be merged into the UFC; as PRIDE, WEC and much of the IFL and Affliction were in the past. Roster space may then become an issue, though White states that the UFC is still in desperate need of more fighters for more fights.

A key point that White addressed again is that the UFC does not feature female fighters and fights.

Should Strikeforce continue to operate largely in the same capacity as it does now, women's fights will likely remain. However, in the event that a merger does take place, it is unknown whether the UFC will adjust its stance on female fights or whether fighters will be forced to look for employment elsewhere.

Many questions still remain, but the landscape of MMA has certainly changed with the announcement.