Strikeforce Needs to Answer, ‘What’s Next?’

Filed under: StrikeforceOn July 3, Brock Lesnar beat Shane Carwin in the UFC’s biggest heavyweight fight of the year. Cain Velasquez was sitting cageside and had already been declared next in line, and the UFC soon said Lesnar would fight Velasquez in …

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On July 3, Brock Lesnar beat Shane Carwin in the UFC’s biggest heavyweight fight of the year. Cain Velasquez was sitting cageside and had already been declared next in line, and the UFC soon said Lesnar would fight Velasquez in October at UFC 121. Fans are already getting excited about that fight, and the UFC’s heavyweight division hasn’t lost any of the momentum the Lesnar-Carwin fight built.

A week before Lesnar beat Carwin, Fabricio Werdum beat Fedor Emelianenko in Strikeforce’s biggest heavyweight fight of the year. Alistair Overeem was sitting cageside and was expected to be next in line, but the three weeks since that fight have provided nothing but confusion about what’s next for those three heavyweights.

Strikeforce puts on plenty of good fights, but its biggest problem as a promotion is an inability to do what the UFC did when it announced Velasquez vs. Lesnar: Strikeforce never has a good answer when fans want to know, “What’s next?”

Coker Doesn’t Care What M-1 Wants, Says Fedor Will Fight Overeem, Bigfoot or Kharitonov Next

(“Cheer up my friend, it is not so bad. No matter what, we will always have each other. And I will always have my nearly incalculable personal fortune. And you? Well, you squandered your fleeting fame and gave most of your money to the church &he…


(“Cheer up my friend, it is not so bad. No matter what, we will always have each other. And I will always have my nearly incalculable personal fortune. And you? Well, you squandered your fleeting fame and gave most of your money to the church … *cough* … did I mention we will always have each other?” PicProps: M-1 Global)

Despite claims by Fabricio Werdum’s manager that his client’s impending elbow surgery is not as severe as initially reported and that he’ll be willing and able to get back in action later this year, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker says a rematch with Fedor Emelianenko isn’t in the cards, at least not right now. Coker told Sherdog.com on Saturday that when he restarts negotiations about Fedor’s future with M-1 Global next week his short list of prospective opponents will include Alistair Overeem, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Sergei Kharitonov.

As for M-1’s insistence that Emelianenko be granted an immediate rematch with Werdum in the wake of the Brazilian’s stunning victory over Fedor late last month, well, the suddenly badass Coker doesn’t appear to give a damn about that.

“I just don’t think they’ll have a choice,” he told Loretta Hunt.

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Must-See: ‘A Clockwork Overeem’

(Props: Mifojei via CRE)
An Alistair Overeem highlight video edited to follow the dialogue and plot of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange? Why the hell not. After all, the Demolition Man has a way with the ol’ ultraviolence. If you’re unfamiliar…

(Props: Mifojei via CRE)

An Alistair Overeem highlight video edited to follow the dialogue and plot of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange? Why the hell not. After all, the Demolition Man has a way with the ol’ ultraviolence. If you’re unfamiliar with ACO, check out the beginning of the flick after the jump to see where this strange little vid gets its inspiration…

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DREAM 15 O’Brien-Mousasi Bout Back On After Gegard’s Camp Refuses Fight With Ricco Rodriguez

(GerardM? DREAM may be onto something awesome)
It’s seeming more and more like Ricco Rodriguez’s inclusion on the DREAM 15 card just wasn’t meant to be.
After Twittering early this morning that he may be stepping in for fellow MMA Agents repped fighte…


(GerardM? DREAM may be onto something awesome)

It’s seeming more and more like Ricco Rodriguez’s inclusion on the DREAM 15 card just wasn’t meant to be.

After Twittering early this morning that he may be stepping in for fellow MMA Agents repped fighter Jake O’Brien to face Gegard Mousasi in the opening round of the DREAM four-man light heavyweight grand prix tournament, it appears that the fight has reverted back to its original match-up as Mousasi’s camp has agreed to fight O’Brien in spite of the American reportedly being 21 pounds over the required 205-pound weight limit.

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Twitter Mailbag: Answers to All Your 140-Character or Less Queries

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceYou people sure have a lot of questions – especially about who would win in a fight between Brock Lesnar, Alistair Overeem, and Fedor Emelianenko. Naturally, a lot would depend on whether Don Frye is the special guest refer…

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You people sure have a lot of questions – especially about who would win in a fight between Brock Lesnar, Alistair Overeem, and Fedor Emelianenko. Naturally, a lot would depend on whether Don Frye is the special guest referee, but let’s not get into that right now.

It’s been a while since my last mailbag column and there’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get after it. Who’s first?

@ChampBossley can you think of any scenario where james toney can impact mma in a positive way (besides losing)?

Keiichi Sasahara Explains Alistair Overeem’s Absence

Filed under: DREAM, News, JapanDREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara met with the press Thursday to attempt to clarify the on-again, off-again situation regarding Alistair Overeem’s participation at DREAM.15. Well, clarify is probably the wrong wor…

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DREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara met with the press Thursday to attempt to clarify the on-again, off-again situation regarding Alistair Overeem‘s participation at DREAM.15. Well, clarify is probably the wrong word.

“Towards the end of the negotiations, because of reasons that I am not able to tell you, although the two fighters agreed to fight, it happened that these fighters could not fight. It’s not because of money, but if the reasons are something that I cannot tell you then you might be able to guess what they would be. Because of that, we are not able to have these two fighters fight.”

Ricco Rodriguez was at no point mentioned by Sasahara as Overeem’s opponent. Instead, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski was planned.

Sasahara’s full statement after the break.