Strikeforce and Fedor Stand Off
Jake Rossen Jul 7, 2010
As much as I find professional wrestling and acid reflux go
arm-in-arm, I will give them this: they actually treat their
manufactured titles with respect. Strikeforce does not.
CEO Scott Coker appeared on Sherdog.com radio last week and speculated that the reeling Fedor Emelianenko could fight champion Alistair Overeem next. This is the same Emelianenko who lost in just over a minute to a triangle choke orchestrated with Fabricio Werdum. While I would like to say Werdum crafted a flawless and strategic trap, he simply opened up his legs and let Emelianenko dive between them. Using this logic, the Russian should hope he never drops his car keys in the middle of a bear trap.
Strikeforce has a decision to make. Either the belts they promote and assign importance to are legitimate or they aren’t. For Overeem to spend two years out of the promotion and then fight Brett Rogers immediately after Rogers lost to Emelianenko is Moe Howard stuff. To deliver Overeem a second consecutive contender who lost his last fight is entering Curly territory.
The match would also violate a key law of promoters who do not enjoy the smell of burning money: do marketable matches as soon as humanly possible. Do not put them off for any reason. Emelianenko/Werdum has potential to be a viable CBS attraction, but its stroke goes out the door the second Emelianenko loses to Overeem or Werdum does the same.
Ideally, Emelianenko would fight Antonio Silva and Overeem would fight Werdum, with the winners meeting -- preferably on the same night. It’s a stunt, but then again, so is much of what Strikeforce does. I’d watch it, and so would you.
CEO Scott Coker appeared on Sherdog.com radio last week and speculated that the reeling Fedor Emelianenko could fight champion Alistair Overeem next. This is the same Emelianenko who lost in just over a minute to a triangle choke orchestrated with Fabricio Werdum. While I would like to say Werdum crafted a flawless and strategic trap, he simply opened up his legs and let Emelianenko dive between them. Using this logic, the Russian should hope he never drops his car keys in the middle of a bear trap.
Strikeforce has a decision to make. Either the belts they promote and assign importance to are legitimate or they aren’t. For Overeem to spend two years out of the promotion and then fight Brett Rogers immediately after Rogers lost to Emelianenko is Moe Howard stuff. To deliver Overeem a second consecutive contender who lost his last fight is entering Curly territory.
The match would also violate a key law of promoters who do not enjoy the smell of burning money: do marketable matches as soon as humanly possible. Do not put them off for any reason. Emelianenko/Werdum has potential to be a viable CBS attraction, but its stroke goes out the door the second Emelianenko loses to Overeem or Werdum does the same.
Ideally, Emelianenko would fight Antonio Silva and Overeem would fight Werdum, with the winners meeting -- preferably on the same night. It’s a stunt, but then again, so is much of what Strikeforce does. I’d watch it, and so would you.
