Alright people, this is your chance to be "Scott Coker" for a day. The unthinkable has now happened - Fedor has lost. So what do you do with him, Werdum and Overeem? Sound off!!
Do you do a rematch of Fedor vs Werdum? Perhaps in Russia, if that helps the cause, but the important component here is the matchup. Or do you go with the Overeem vs Werdum title fight (which also is a rematch - Werdum won a few years back in Pride by submission)? And if you do the Overeem vs Werdum fight, what do you do with Fedor? Have him fight the winner (although, is he deserving, being that he's coming off a loss)? Maybe you have him fight someone else first - Brett Rogers again, or Josh Barnett or Antonio Silva?
The whole thing appears to be a mess, so give us your opinion on how to clean it up and keep Strikeforce on the map.
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11 comments:
Strikeforce needs to do a better job with there card space, especially the prelims. Strikeforce needs to stop asking a local fighter on the prelim slot or a local promoter to book there prelim slot. I wish I could take Bjorn Rebney's (Bellator promoter) brain and put some of that knowledge in Coker. Showtime really needs to start showing prelims.
Strikeforce really needs to stop asking 135 lbs & 125 lbs female fighters to balloon up to 145 lbs to fight cris cyborg. There are weight classes in female divisions for a reason. Don't give me this all female divisions are thin. No they are not. The 135 lbs Division and the 115 lbs Division are the deepest in female mma right now. Strikeforce needs to do some research out there.
Strikeforce really needs to get there 8-women 135 lbs & 8-women 145 lbs tournament going like they said there were going to. now i heard they are only planning to do a 135 lbs 8-women tournament. Did Scott Coker ever watch Hook N' Shoot? Hire Jeff Osborne to help with the female mma division.
Strikeforce, they really need to think about the future. It seems like they like to run there shows like someone who lives from paycheck to paycheck.
Why is it that after every Strikeforce event, Strikeforce doesn't seem to have a direction?
"Fedor Emelianenko fans are some of the worst fans I have ever encountered." - Jordan Breen (sherdog.com)
I think that M-1 Global management just lost some of there meal ticket. It seems as though that when Fedor Wins, Fedor's management & lawyers are more happy than Fedor himself. Also the Vice-Versa, it seems as though when Fedor lost, Fedor's management & lawyers seemed more pissed off about the loss than Fedor himself. I would like to be in Vadim's head right now to know what is going through his head.
So I am not The Cody right now I am The Coker, alright got it. Lets do this.
This will not happen I gurantee but again I am The Coker and I am just telling you what I would do. I would put together a super fight card for September. I would not take all of my stars and put them on this card but I would take most of them.
Now I would not have Fedor rematch Werdum or fight Overeem for the title. I would put him up against Bobby Lashley, here is why? You want to make sure you keep attracting fans eyes (especially the mainstreamers) so take your two biggest cash cows you have in Strikeforce and put them on the same card against each other. But that is not it, you also want a title fight probably have King Mo defend the title against somebody. Maybe have Dan Henderson move up in weight and fight for the title, or snatch up Keith Jardine and give King Mo that fight.
Then to round it off I would ask Nick Diaz to move up in weight one last time and have him fight Cung Le. Once again you have to big stars fighting each other that is sure to be an instant classic and that everyone is going to want to watch.
You will have to put this fight card on CBS, so that will be the most possible viewers you can get and you have to hold the event in Las Vegas maybe probably where MMA is most popular.
As for the heavyweight title situation, like it or not Fabricio Werdum defeated the best heavyweight in the world so he deserves a title shot so you have to give him one but on another fight card to help hold it together.
I know I am way off base and there is no way this would happen but you have to be logical. If Scott Coker wants to stay a relevant promotion and not be the next Afflition or EliteXC (which is funny because EliteXC DID go under after their number 1 star lost) you have to, like Tim Lee said put your fight cards together better. This fight card mainstream wise would be the biggest card of the year, and would surely right the wrong that was the Fedor loss for Strikeforce.
First of all, I have to question just how important Fedor is to Strikeforce. In his first fight in the US he was on network tv and the show reached out to a large audience. With this latest fight, it was just a regular showtime card.
How much money does Fedor really make with Strikeforce? Are the US MMA fans shelling out the cash and contributing enough ratings for Fedor to be such a huge draw?
If he has been bringing in buckets of cash, then him losing could be a problem, if he and M1 are taxing the finances of Strikeforce so much that they are barely making any real profit (as been alluded to through earlier reports), then I really don't know if Fedor losing is that big of a deal.
Anyway if I were Coker here is what I do.
1. Kick myself for not having "My" champ Overeem be the one to take the prestige of ending Fedor's streak.
2. Touch base with Fedor and see where his head is. Did this loss make hm question his future in MMA or did it reignite a passion in him to compete? If so, then we start him on the comeback trail and get him fighting regularly.
3. Either way, I don't worry. I don't think losing Fedor is the end of the world. If I want people to watch my program that much I will just sign somebody like Kimbo Slice and put him on a couple of cards. Kimbo vs Herschel Walker, a lot of people would like to see that. There is always a way to generate excitement.
I'm am so glad to see Fedor get defeated. Now the first thing Coker should do is renegotiate the contract with M1 and pay them no more than 5% of the money for each event and no more of this 50%+ co-promotion BS. If they do not agree cut him...
after the fedor lost, is jerry millen on a suicide watch yet?
he only tapped once the rule is you tap 3 times big john i think stopped it a little premature but werdum did have a tight triangle \ armbar .............i want to see a rematch
jiu jitsu charley,
big john said on taggradio (now known as mmajunkie radio) back in 2007 that "there is no on how many taps equals a tap out."
Tim you mean Jerry Millen should be on cement boot watch... lol
From Miguel Angel Torres twitter:
RT @MiguelTorresMMA: I have a weird feeling Alexander just got murdered in a basement of a bar in Russia. The kgb don't play no games.
LOL
submitted by TLOS listener, Barry Pape.
Fedor lost. Let’s all sit down, take a deep breath, and come to terms with this fact. Fedor Emelianenko lost. The man voted most likely to resemble a Terminator robot showed he was mortal after all, getting caught in a Triangle Armbar at the 1:09 mark of the first round by Fabricio Werdum, handing Fedor his fist lost since the controversial doctor stoppage due to cuts against Tsuyoshi Kosaka in a RINGS event in December of 2000.
The hanging question now is simple; What now? What should Strikeforce do? What is in the best interests for Strikeforce, Fedor, and everyone else involved?
What Strikeforce should do in their best interests is to set up a card, be it on CBS or Showtime, that has as the main event, Alistair Overeem versus Fabricio Werdum as the main event, and Fedor fighting in the co-main event against an opponent to be named later.
This option accomplishes a couple of things. First, it matches the established championship (Overeem), against who is now the legitimate number one contender for the title, as confirmed in the ring. Werdum won. He beat Fedor fair and square. The victory was not a fluke win, a la Scott Smith’s victory over Cung Le in December 2009.
Strikeforce can also promote this fight easily. Although they do not have access to the tape library of PRIDE (thanks Dana), Scott Coker and the guys at Strikeforce can hype the fight as a rematch, letting everyone know that Werdum has a victory over Overeem by submission in May 2006. Not having access to the tape library does work against them, but by constantly telling people over and over about that fight will make savvy, internet minded folk go out and search for it to watch.
The second thing this option accomplishes is that it potentially gets Fedor a chance to get an easy win. By matching him up against someone else, be it Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Bobby Lashley, or Shane Del Rosario, to name examples, Strikeforce is giving Fedor a chance to get a win under no pressure. By having a Fedor as the co-main event, it establishes in the audiences mind that he is still someone important. If Fedor beats his opponent handily, and the title fight is immediately after that fight, it also establishes in the audiences mind that Fedor is next for whoever wins the title fight. If Werdum wins, then the rematch is able to be hyped, and hyped easily. If Overeem wins, and Overeem-Fedor match is what Strikefoce fans have been asking for all along.
The other option for Strikeforce is to schedule an immediate rematch of Fedor versus Werdum. While this option is great for the people at M-1 Global, it does almost nothing for Strikeforce and I believe would be a step back for the organization. As mentioned before, this was not a fluke win. Fabricio Werdum is one of the best no-gi grapplers in the world. He is a two time ADCC champion. Almost everyone knowledgeable in the sport of MMA knew that if Werdum was going to win, this was the way it would happen. Were this a stunning upset due to an injury to Fedor, then an immediate rematch would be a viable option, but in this case, Fedor got aggressive, got sloppy, and was submitted. True to form, Fedor was humble in defeat, even saying an amazing quote via his translator, and his popularity is still intact.
Please do the right thing for your company Strikeforce, and be a little selfish. Give us a good title fight between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, give Fedor a chance to get a comeback win, and then you can start to concern yourself as to what you are going to do about avenging Fedor’s loss.
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