Affliction is dead as a promotion. As is the promotion that CBS previously aired, Elite XC. I don't think I'm stepping on any toes to say that Strikeforce is the second biggest American promotion in MMA right now.
They have a few very talented fighters, though on whole they don't approach the UFC in their talent level. The heavyweight division is probably their strongest (Fedor, obviously, their champion kind of Alistair Overeem who hasn't fought for Strikeforce in ages, Rogers, Andrei Arlovski, Werdum, and Silva), with a handful of up and coming light heavyweight fighters (Moussasi, their champion, appears to be legit. They've also signed Bobby Lashley and Mo Lawal in the last month or so who have at least shown some promise, and Babalu Sobral is a good formerly high level fighter that they have, who is now worth...a name. Same can be said for Sokoudjou).
They've been around for a few years and, before signing Fedor, made a pretty big splash a few months ago by having the first US MMA card headlined by women fighters, Gina Carrano vs Cyborg Santos. Recently, they were rumored (By Dana White, in one of his many attempts to be a dick) to be in talks with Dan Henderson.
I'm sure I've missed something, I don't know anything of their history before this year really. I remember seeing on Wikipedia a while back that they previously had some fighters that ended up as successful UFC fighters. Can't think of any off the top of my head.
