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« | Home | »

Strikeforce booking Fedor vs. Overeem makes no sense at all and yet makes all the sense in the world

By Zach Arnold | July 8, 2010

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To set the scene here, a passage from Wednesday’s Observer radio show:

DAVE MELTZER: “Well, I mean, you know, I guess the new idea is that they want Fedor against Overeem for the championship and have Fedor sign the champion’s clause, which means if he wins then you know he’s going to be champion, he’s going to stay and defend the championship.”

BRYAN ALVAREZ: “So the exact same clause that he refused when they were negotiating with UFC because he didn’t want to be tied down supposedly forever?”

DAVE MELTZER: “Yes.”

BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Just checking.”

DAVE MELTZER: “So, but this also could be, I mean, you know you don’t know what chess games are being played here. It could be that… you know, he’s holding that because the idea is if they really want Werdum, I mean the worst thing they could do is put Fedor against Werdum. Actually there’s one even worse. But one of the worst things they could do is put Fedor against Werdum in a rematch, Fedor wins so you got no contender for the championship and then Fedor goes and doesn’t re-sign and he leaves. That’s a complete disaster. So there’s no upside to that. If Fedor agrees to this, to Fedor/Overeem. You know, it is an interesting fighting in the sense if Overeem wins, Fedor’s got two losses in a row and you can ditch him, you know really, you can just say OK I don’t need to deal with M-1 and you know I’ve made my champion because Overeem will have beaten Fedor, you know, and Overeem will be established in this country as somebody, so I mean I can see that upside. Fedor beats Overeem, well, you know, Fedor’s back in the hunt, you know, so that’s a positive because you know no one’s going to go undefeated forever. As long as Fedor wins his next, he’ll replenish a lot of what he lost and what he’s losing right now and Fedor does need a win real, real bad right now. So, I mean I can see all this making sense from Coker’s side even though the idea of a guy losing by submission in 1 minute and 9 seconds in a championship elimination match and then getting the title match is completely absurd under normal circumstances but this isn’t normal, so but yeah, you know the thing is with M-1 and everything, I mean, they are not dealing from power right now for the first time. So, they, you know, we’ll see how this all goes down. But it’s an interesting game. I wasn’t expecting Coker to go with the Fedor/Overeem fight, but I see why he’s doing it.”

Remember that these comments are being made from someone who, right after the San Jose event, was totally blasting anyone who said that SF should book an immediately Fedor/Werdum re-match. Now, all of a sudden, Fedor vs. Overeem “makes sense.”

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 mangled.

After a Pro MMA radio passage on this subject, I’ll give you an answer in regards to why this article has the title that it does.

LARRY PEPE: “Strikeforce is like the gift that keeps giving if you’re doing a talk show. NOW, Scott Coker is out there saying that they may do Fedor/Overeem and Werdum gets the winner, which I guess proves that you lose to get a title shot in Strikeforce, which must make Pat Healy chomping at the bit for his (Gilbert) Melendez title fight for the Lightweight strap.”

JESSE HOLLAND: “It really makes no sense whatsoever other than I don’t know who’s behind this or if… you almost want to blame M-1 but you can’t because, well maybe you can because Brett Rogers got that shot against Overeem. Who knows what’s going on over in San Jose and it’s a shame, too, because Strikeforce is a good promotion. They put on great cards, the fighters always deliver, but some of the matchmaking really makes you scratch your head. I mean, you know, if you want to put Fedor against Overeem when Werdum clearly has won that spot, there’s already a story behind it, he has a win over Overeem in PRIDE, you know, there’s history there and it’s a very intriguing match-up. You know if you want to get Fedor in for his last fight, I’m sure there’s plenty of other people you can match him up against but coming into Overeem on the loss? I don’t know, I don’t like it.”

LARRY PEPE: “But Jess, why not this, this is what I wrote the night of the fight, like why not Werdum/Overeem for the title and then let Fedor fight the winner in his final fight under that Strikeforce contract? I just can’t understand how you can lose and get the title shot. Now some people can say, yeah, but he’s going to get the title shot off the loss because you’re going to match him up, Overeem and Werdum. Well at least the winner of the fight is getting the first shot at the title and then if Werdum beats Overeem, he’s clearly established himself as the guy which puts even more meaning towards the Fedor win and if Overeem wins, now you have Overeem/Fedor which is the fight you always wanted anyways. I just don’t get it.”

JESSE HOLLAND: “Yeah, it’s a strange situation, but in the end we’re talking about a guy who wants to sign Batista to possibly fight Bobby Lashley so I guess in the end nothing makes sense.”

LARRY PEPE: “Well, and Jess, in the end you know you said they are a good promotion. I agree with you about the fights, I agree with you about the fighters, they have some talented guys. They put on some great cards. The Strikeforce cards usually deliver. So, I give them credit for all that, but my God, the way that they’re running things, the lack of any divisional integrity. Now it comes out that a Middleweight tournament that was going to start at 8 now it might down to 4, then it might not be for the title because they might do a title fight and do the other guys to establish a contender, and then I look on the list of who’s potentially in the tournament and who’s sitting there BUT NICK DIAZ! He’s their Welterweight champion! Why would he be in a Middleweight tournament, unless he’s going to vacate the belt because they haven’t hooked him up in a title fight since he beat Zaromskis for the title. I mean, I just sit there and when these things come out, I think c’mon man is this like, you know you ever see when some of those sites on April Fool’s, they do [expletive] and put all these goofy stories and then hahahaha, oh yeah, I forgot it’s April 1st? That’s what I think I’m reading sometimes!”

JESSE HOLLAND: “Well, here’s the problem with Diaz. They were going to match him up with Jay Hieron but Hieron’s coming off a win, but that pretty much stops those two from fighting.”

If you’re looking for an answer as to why Fedor vs. Overeem is being discussed now by Scott Coker, let me frame the discussion in this manner.

Strikeforce counted on Fedor winning the fight against Werdum and, in essence, they are proceeding with their booking as if that result actually happened. In other words, the result of Werdum pulling off the upset is being ignored in favor of long-term plans. Say what you will, but this was their plan all along and they wanted to have Fedor vs. Overeem on CBS or on PPV. So, win or lose, the fight seems destined to happen.

However, there’s a problem with this long-term plan. Strikeforce never actually thought about the fact that Fedor went into the Werdum fight with two fights left on the contract. Every fight Fedor has in SF, Scott Cokers tells the media that he has to sit down with Fedor to figure out what’s next. Fedor’s camp wants an immediate re-match with Werdum to avenge the loss. Coker, meanwhile, is stuck with the prospects of having a ‘hot’ re-match with Fedor and Werdum, but he can’t book it because if Fedor wins he will likely leave for the UFC. Rather than tear up the contract with two fights left in the deal and get a five-fight deal in a manner UFC likes to do with some of their bigger names, Strikeforce proceeded as if Fedor would beat Werdum and then face Overeem, win the belt, and get stuck with the promotion under the champion’s clause until he lost and then his value would be shot.

Now, they’re stuck with a guy who they still like but he has a loss on his record and his aura is largely damaged. They have a fighter who could bail on them to the UFC. On top of that, they have a fighter in Alistair Overeem who may be involved in this year’s K-1 tournament and that could take him out of action for a while if he gets injured in a tournament match. Throw in Strikeforce’s plans for getting back on CBS and getting on PPV with Fedor vs. Overeem and Batista vs. Bobby Lashley as the original plan and all of a sudden they are forced to go ahead with their initial “long-term plans” by ignoring Fedor’s loss and basically having to admit that their title belt means nothing.

It’s hard to find any sort of comparison in the MMA world to what Strikeforce is doing, but I can give a recent example and how another promoter handled the situation differently. Bellator had booked a “showcase” fight between Rosi Sexton and Zoila Frausto in Louisville, KY. The purpose was to highlight Rosi for their upcoming 115-pound tournament… by putting her against someone who normally fights at 120 or a little higher. Red flag there. On top of it, Bellator admitted that on paper they did not have Zoila ranked in their top 10 at 115 pounds nor was it believed that she could make the weight cut for it. The end result? She knocked out Rosi Sexton and all of a sudden, Rosi was medically suspended and could not be involved in the 115-pound tournament.

Instead of Bjorn Rebney saying that he would delay the August tournament in order to get Rosi booked in the event (ala the way Coker said he might modify an 8-man tournament in order to get the suspended Nick Diaz booked in September), he made the proper call and put Zoila in Rosi’s place in said tournament because he actually respected the match result. He didn’t think it would end up the way it did, but he faced the reality of the situation and gave Zoila her props.

(By the way, Jorge Gurgel says that he and Zoila are an item. And Josh Grispi is single, ladies. I feel like Chuck Woolery all of a sudden here.)

Bottom line: If the reports are true that Strikeforce & Showtime are trying to keep Fedor under control via a champion’s clause in a contract, then they have literally done the one thing that nobody thought was possible after Fedor lost and that is give him business leverage. Any time you negotiation from a position of weakness as opposed to a position of strength, you are asking to get run over. Somehow and someway, Strikeforce has set themselves up and flipped the script by allowing Fedor more business leverage because they afraid that he will more likely consider going to UFC because he lost a fight. You can’t make this up.

Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

27 Responses to “Strikeforce booking Fedor vs. Overeem makes no sense at all and yet makes all the sense in the world”

  1. Phil says:

    I still see no way that Fedor agrees to a champions’ clause if there wasn’t one in the original contract between he (or M1) and Strikeforce. And with all the whining that was done about Zuffa’s champi.ons’ clause, I really doubt there is already one signed

    • Steve4192 says:

      Agreed.

      M-1 is about as likely to accept a champions clause as Zuffa is to co-promote. That dog will not hunt. The sooner Strikeforce figures that out, the sooner we will get see Fedor back in the cage.

      • Steve4192 says:

        One other point in regards to a Strikeforce champion’s clause … unlike Zuffa, they have shown that they are more than willing to use it.

        For all the bitching and moaining about Zuffa’s clause, they have never invoked it. They have always extended the champions contract long before the champions clause has gone into effect. Strikeforce OTOH, has used it on Sarah Kauffman and would have used it on Jake Shields if he was not on a grandfathered EliteXC contract. I’m sure guys like Melendez, Diaz, & Lawal have taken notice about how trigger happy Strikeforce has been about invoking that clause.

        If I were a Strikeforce fighter, I’d be sure to miss weight for my title shot so that I wouldn’t get stuck with the belt and the clause.

        • Jason Harris says:

          Most guys fighting for a title in UFC don’t have much reason to leave after, and you’re right that they usually avoid that situation anyhow, but it came into effect in a big way when BJ Penn beat Hughes for the title.

    • T666 David D says:

      strikeforces champ clause may be an issue but i dont think that was the only issue fedor had with the ufc. the ufc also dont copromote meaning fedor would have to leave his own company m1 that hes been involved with for 10years and they would be nothing more than a clothing company in the ufc at best. also fedor and m1 wanted to have placements for other fighters from russia involved in the ufc which sounds reasonable to want to expand mma worldwide not just within usa but that was rejected. and lastly fedor mentioned about the negativity from the ufc toward fighters and unless your blind you can see the ufc are operating by buying everything of value they can get the hands on and trying to destroy everyone else. mma will never be a true sport like the other sports while the ufc own everyone. the ufc need to **** off and maybe a league or partnership between all the primary organisations can take place, exactly like in world tennis is today. get rid of these sleazebag promoters owning the sport they are only meant to promote an event

  2. Tradition Rules says:

    Look, I love Fedor,…but he just lost a #1 contender’s mat to Werdum.

    Werdum deserves the title shot.

    PERIOD.

    First, Rogers loses to Fedor and gets a title shot.

    Now Fedor loses to Werdum in a #1 contenders match and HE gets a shot at the champ?

    This company needs to completely eliminate announcing the verbiage of “winner gets a shot at the champion” from any promoting of big match-ups. just hype it up as a big match and leave it at that.

    I want Strikeforce to work and succeed, I really do.

    But everything about their match-making is just so far beyond ridiculous, it’s pathetic.

    • Steve4192 says:

      Werdum is injured and surgery will keep him out until the end of the year.

      Think of Fedor as an injury replacement if that helps you sleep at night.

      • edub says:

        What’s he have injured?

        • Steve4192 says:

          He did an interview on one of the Gracie websites where he said he has a nagging elbow injury that he has been fighting through and wants to get fixed. However, he never mentioned what kind of surgery he was considering, so the amount of time he would be out is up in the air.

        • edub says:

          Ah, thanx man.

    • edub says:

      Not to mention Babalu beating Lawler, and then pretty much pissing on Strikeforce’s LHW title…

  3. James says:

    Wow. What a shithole of a promotion STRIKEFORCE is. Clearly Coker should have stayed in his comfort zone as a regional promoter in San Jose. At least back then STRIKEFORCE was solid to pretty good.

    Now it’s just a complete farce.

  4. Ivan Trembow says:

    Strikeforce seems bound and determined to make sure that no one will ever possibly think of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title as meaning anything.

    If, after a fight that was presented as a #1 contender’s match for your promotion’s heavyweight title, your great big idea is that the loser of that fight should get a shot at the title instead of the winner of that fight, it might be a sign that you don’t know a damn thing about making titles seem important. In fact, it lets the fans know that you don’t consider your own titles to mean anything, so why should the fans feel any differently? It’s not rocket science. That kind of thing should be common sense.

  5. Wolverine says:

    People act like Strikeforce HW meant something in the first place. No it didn’t. Alistair won it beating Bunetello three years ago and defended it against Rogers coming off a loss.

    Fedor was a true HW champ in Strikeforce and now it’s Werdum. I actually don’t mind Fedor vs. Overeem title eliminator. Coker would be stupid to give M-1 a rematch on their last fight on the current contract. Still forcing champion’s clause on them is not a good idea as well.

  6. Fightlinker says:

    Yeah, I totally see Fedor’s camp getting suckered into a champ clause. NOT. Jeez, if Strikeforce is really going for this they are total idiots. Fedor’s management have run circles around every organization that’s ever tried to lock them down and the one loss might affect his leverage with the UFC but for Strikeforce they’re still a desperate company in desperate need for a headliner that people give a shit about. They will never have any leverage when it comes to Fedor. And Fedor is perfectly happy sitting on the sidelines waiting for Werdum to heal.

  7. Coyote says:

    Is a clever move for Strikeforce, the real deal here is all the promotions have to know: The fighters are whores, they deserve the treathment UFC gives them, this time UFC konws best.

    It happens with Penn….. and Zuffa remember very well, the champions clause is a good deal for the promotions, now M-1 is gonna seal Fedor to Zuffa for anything. They have the water in the neck.

    I just hope, M-1 gets out, and all their talent moves to Strikeforce or Bellator… I speak about all the Russian, Hollands and French talent they have hide in their promotion.

    Like Lucio Linaes, who was cut from UFC. 🙁

    Anybody know why M-1 dont get the visa for their fighters? This happens 3 times on differents events… Or are because they are Russians fighters?

    • Steve4192 says:

      I don’t know about any other visa problems, but on this particular event they got burned by a new rule requiring visa applications to arrive three weeks ahead of time as opposed to the old rule where only one week was needed.

  8. 45 Huddle says:

    Strikeforce is one huge mess. Their Heavyweight division is a complete joke right now due to their lack of credible matchmaking. Their Middleweight Tournament has already fallen apart. Fighters are refusing to fight certain other fighters and on top of that are avoiding title fights so they don’t have to get caught up in the champions clause.

    Coker is clueless on the national stage.

  9. HLAMNENADA says:

    Really? It doesn’t make scence? To give a fighter that has been unmatched in Combat in the last 10 years a title shot because of one lose. But it makes real good scence to give a guy that’s 3-1 a title fight for the “WHOLY GRAIL” of all MMA belts THE UFC HW CHAMPIONSHIP BELT! Oh yeah that makes more scence to me for sure. MIR AND NOG were the only two fighters that deserved to fight Couture for the title not BROCK. So again why did he fight for the title?

    • Wolverine says:

      because Mir and Nog filmed TUF

    • Alexander says:

      HLAMNEDADA, hard for you to spell sense? Anyways…Strikeforce made no attempt to legitimize the Heavyweight Belt now. Instead of having someone get the interim Heavyweight title(maybe they thought Overeem would get mad if someone else was labeled interim champion, who knows)…they should have done that in the first place. Now we see this mess that they have created.

  10. Who cares. The belt doesn’t mean anything. Werdum should be the one in the driver’s seat because he’s the actual linear champion, not the guy who won his title beating up Buentello 100 years ago.

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