Strikeforce offers no guarentees

Posted by Joshua Wood (Editor in Chief)

May 19

Within an hour after Strikeforce Heavy Artillery was completed Scott Coker sat behind a table located somewhere inside the Scottrade Center ready to field questions after a solid (none controversial) event. That event saw Alistair Overeem’s first Strikeforce Heavyweight title defense after winning the belt roughly 30 months ago over Paul Buentello. Overeeem (32-11) faced off against Brett Rogers (10-1) and made short work of the aggressive knockout artist who actually looked very tentative in the fight. The champ punished Rogers on their feet and when the fight went to the canvas it wasn’t long before the referee stepped in to stop it. The fight lasted only 3 minutes and 40 seconds and when asked what’s next; Overeem called out Fedor Emelianenko and even added that Fedor has been docking him for years. There couldn’t have be a better setup for a mega fight then that.

Back to Scott Coker at the post fight press conference where the obvious question on the media’s mind gets asked. If Fedor Emelianenko defeats Fabricio Werdum next month will Fedor fight Overeem next? The room gets quiet as they all wait for Coker’s response…

“There’s no guarantee an Overeem-Emelianenko fight is in the cards. To be very honest, the situation with Fedor, who’s fighting on June 26, of course we have to wait and see what happens.”

Cleverly worded to sound as if to say we need to wait and see who wins the Fedor vs. Werdum fight before we book Fedor vs. Overeem. You cannot put Fedor in that fight yet because he hasn’t won, but what’s the harm in saying the winner of Fedor vs Werdum gets the next title shot? The harm here is M-1 Global who will be co-promoting the Strikeforce event on June 26^thand to hear Coker say that M-1 and he will have to sit down after the fight should bother all fans.

Scott Coker should have made the announcement that the winner of the June 26^thfight between Fedor and Werdum will be next in line at Overeem. Both fighters have a great storyline in facing the champ yet the problem is Strikeforce has its hands tied here. Negotiations between Strikeforce and M-1 Global at times have been contentious and accusations of ducking fighters have come up before. So if Coker makes that statement and Fedor does indeed win and M-1 declines the fight with Overeem, Strikeforce and Coker look bad.

This is not to say the mega fight would not happen if Fedor defeats Werdum but should serve as a warning to fans to not get their hopes up.