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A phrase to describe the current direction of Strikeforce matchmaking…
By Zach Arnold | July 3, 2010
“What the hell is going on out here?” — Vince Lombardi
If you have not listened to Scott Coker’s interview with Sherdog radio, you should really listen to it.
(Starts about 16 minutes into the show.)
I didn’t transcribe it because it was 30 minutes long, but it’s an interview you have to listen to in order to get the vibe of complete scatterbrainedness about what’s coming up next for the promotion.
The Heavyweight picture
When asked about setting up a rematch between Fabricio Werdum and Fedor, the promoter said about M-1/Fedor and getting a new contract, “Maybe it’s time to renegotiate, huh?” Mr. Coker noted that there is nothing solid with M-1 yet for fight talks but that “they want Fabricio Werdum right away.”
“But when I think about, you know, M-1 and Fedor and Fabricio, there’s dialogue but you know it might go slow, it might go fast, but by no means is there a guaranteed rematch in October in Russia. That has not been talked about, so far as I’m concerned that fight is not happening.”
Regarding where the rematch would take place as far as television platforms are concerned, “It’s a fight that I think we can promote on PPV.”
After stating that, Scott said that he will sit down and consider Fabricio fighting Fedor in a rematch and Alistair Overeem fighting Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. No wonder Overeem took the booking against Ricco Rodriguez in DREAM.
Speaking of Overeem, when asked about fighting in this year’s K-1 tournament, Mr. Coker stated about Bas Boon and Overeem’s management:
“Their priority is going to be fighting in America. … (Fighting in K-1) We’ll schedule around that.”
Back to Fedor. Is a new deal in the works? “No, that has not started yet.”
20 minutes into the interview, Mr. Coker says that he’s now thinking about Fedor vs. Alistair Overeem with the winner facing Fabricio Werdum.
The Middleweights
Scott stated that the fighters for the Middleweight tournament will be booked by next week. He indicated that it will be an 8-man tournament, not a 16-man tournament. Regarding the guys who got suspended from the Nashville brawl, their suspensions won’t be up until September. When asked if he would delay a Middleweight tournament in order to get those guys booked, he said yes and that he could do it by breaking up the 8-man tournament into two 4-man tournaments.
More intriguingly, Mr. Coker said that the tournament would take place over two shows. This means that there will be an initial round and then there will be two fights (semi-finals and finals) on the second show. As for who will be on the show, the promoter floated the names of Dan Henderson, Jacare, Tim Kennedy, Luke Rockhold, Benji Radach, and Robbie Lawler. He said that he has to talk to Robbie’s agent, Monte Cox, and that one of the issues will be whether or not fighting in the tournament counts as one fight or two fights contractually-speaking in terms of a payout.
Adding to the drama, Mr. Coker said that there’s a possibility of both a Middleweight title fight and a Middleweight tournament happening as opposed to just having the tournament crown a new champion.
Regarding the August 21st event (still in Houston?), Jorge Gurgel’s camp has confirmed that he will be fighting KJ Noons. If Gurgel actually goes for a takedown or two, this will be a long night for Mr. Noons.
Everything else
Regarding dealing with fighters who speak out against the promoter’s wishes on certain fights happening:
“At the end of the day, you know how I feel is these guys are professional prize fighters making a living being fighters and you know they do have friends and I understand that but if you’re a titlehodler and you’re a buddy of his, then you should either drop weight you know or you’re never going to get that shot. So, to me, you know, drop weight, go to a different weight, gain weight, go to a different weight class, or you know sit behind your friend the whole time. I mean, just, to me it doesn’t make sense.”
Regarding drawing a little over 12,000 at HP Pavilion for Fedor’s fight:
“I think it was a victory.”
“The fans could have stayed home and watch it for free on Showtime.”
When asked about setting up a Cris Cyborg vs. Erin Toughill fight, Mr. Coker seemed very nervous about it happening. He stated that in Erin’s contract that she will have to have a tune-up fight first, most likely in September or October, and if she wins then she could fight Cyborg.
“I heard she’s a great fighter.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Coker is impossible to defend. Doing Fedor-Overeem right after losing would be a huge joke. Then again, they let Brett Rogers get KTFO for a title shot so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe that’s how they plan to stand out from UFC: the losers of fights actually advance in standings.
It’s funny how I used to think Strikeforce were a good promotion. Even Dana said they “did things the right way”. I guess that was for a small regional promotion, which on that level they are quite a high class promotion.
When they try to be one of the “big leagues” it becomes clear just how far off the UFC they are. I’d be quite amazed if Strikeforce is at their current level in 2 years time. They’ll either be back to being a regional promotion or out of business.
I think this article speaks for itself. It’s sad how unorganized they are.
Why on earth would Coker do his money match in Russia? Not only is the gate going to suffer and not only is he alienating his fanbase, but now he’s talking about PPV? Yeah, let’s tape-delay our first PPV offering to run a show in a blackened out arena in Leningrad. Just doesn’t compute.
And Zach, you nailed it with “scatterbrainedness,” the man doesn’t know what he’s going to do from minute to minute.
The open classroom approach to controlling fighters has not paid of for strikeforce. I’d say they are doomed to failure, but they never even seemed to try.
They’re like that new part time mexican restaurant… they have a great burrito no one else has, but the rest of the food is marred by poor prep work and they are closed half the time for repairs or illness. The rest of the time they have a “sorry out of Fedorrito” sign up in the window.
Uh….interesting comparison? I get at what you are saying, but the “closed half the time for repairs or illness” isn’t accurate because that would entail that they cancel shows and/or only have shows once every few months, which is far from the truth. That is a more apt description of a promotion like DREAM or Sengoku who only run shows every so often and have canceled shows. The rest of your comparison is pretty accurate of Strikeforce.
[…] This passage sets up a longer passage from Pro MMA Radio with Larry Pepe yesterday, who talked with Jesse Holland of MMA Mania about the chaos happening in Strikeforce and how this promotion turns something simple into the biggest disorganized mess you can possibly find. If you haven’t caught up on the latest happenings in Strikeforce, read my article from last week on how the Middleweight tournament on paper is being twisted and mang…. […]