("Yeah, I’ll take the soki soba, an Asahi, and 25mg of the…uh…you know…the usual." Photo courtesy of ESPN.)
We know what you’re thinking: Strikeforce’s 2011 Heavyweight Tournament isn’t nearly chaotic enough as it is, and it would be …
("Yeah, I’ll take the soki soba, an Asahi, and 25mg of the…uh…you know…the usual." Photo courtesy of ESPN.)
("I’m thinking of a number between 1-20. First person to guess it gets to be Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion. No shit, we’ll give you a belt and everything." PicProps: Canvas Chronicle)
So, in a nutshell? Strikeforce held a confer…
("I’m thinking of a number between 1-20. First person to guess it gets to be Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion. No shit, we’ll give you a belt and everything." PicProps: Canvas Chronicle)
Some other oddities in the tournament “rules” revealed yesterday: In the unlikely event of a draw, the promotion will call upon a fourth judge to break the tie. That’s cool, because draws suck. It’s also shitty, because the “fourth judge” will reportedly be appointed by Strikeforce, not an athletic commission and therefore stands to be even less trustworthy than the blind simpletons who normally score MMA fights. Also, in the very likely event that someone can’t continue in the tournament due to injury (or some other reason) a five-person “tournament committee” comprised of Strikeforce officials will handpick a replacement. If you think this concept is obviously rife with major conflicts of interests, well, you’re right. Don’t worry though, it will all sound very official. Kind of like in the ’80s when “Jack Tunney” used to be the “president” of the WWF.
Anyway, after the jump, some meditations on how all the things we told you in the above two paragraphs could potentially make this tournament go all fubar. We have questions, people. Tons of questions.
(The winner of the tournament will take home a case of Rockstar Energy Drink and one of each item from the summer collection of Gus Johnson’s new clothing line.)
Scott Coker made a somewhat surprising announcement today during the promotion’s conferenc…
(The winner of the tournament will take home a case of Rockstar Energy Drink and one of each item from the summer collection of Gus Johnson’s new clothing line.)
Scott Coker made a somewhat surprising announcement today during the promotion’s conference call ahead of its heavyweight grand prix that left a few on the call scratching their heads.
According to the Strikeforce president, the first round bouts of the tournament will consist of three rounds, meaning that the Overeem-Werdum bout will not be a title fight. In fact, Coker went on to explain that only the tournament final will be five rounds, but even if Alistair is one of the contestants of that match, it will be a non-title affair.
Coker, who didn’t say what the prize for winning the tournament would be, blamed the change in the planned format on the various host city commissions who he says refused to sanction five-round non-title bouts. According to Coker, "It wouldn’t have been fair to make some of the guys fight five rounds and the others only fight three," which is why they decided to put the belt on the shelf until the tournament is over.
("You think it’s easy being the only reasonable person on Earth? I got news for you, it is *not* easy." PicProps: MMAFrenzy)
MMA’s most infamous steroid cheat says he hasn’t quite decided if he’ll be present next month when …
("You think it’s easy being the only reasonable person on Earth? I got news for you, it is *not* easy." PicProps: MMAFrenzy)
As of right now, we’d guess that we shouldn’t plan on seeing “The Baby Faced Assassin” compete in any of the “major” combat sports states like Cali, Nevada or New Jersey anytime soon, especially if he ghosts the CSAC next month. Naturally, Barnett is taking a typically nonchalant, borderline combative stance on the whole thing. Dig it: "There are still some things I have to figure out … with (legal) counsel and Strikeforce and also to hear something from the commission (about) what exactly they intend to do or want," he told MMAjunkie.com this week. "I definitely don’t want to spend my time and fly up there to be ambushed."
(According to a clause in his new contract, Fedor gets to play with half the Batman Legos set now and the other half when he shows up for the semis. PicProps: Showtime)
There’s just something about brackets, man. The human male would probably tun…
(According to a clause in his new contract, Fedor gets to play with half the Batman Legos set now and the other half when he shows up for the semis. PicProps: Showtime)
(Sorry little lady, you must be as tall as the Fabricio Werdum sign in order to ride the rock-o-planes. PicProps: ProMMANow)
Everyone’s favorite Portuguese-to-English MMA news resource is at it again this weekend, posting a lengthy (and adorably …
(Sorry little lady, you must be as tall as the Fabricio Werdum sign in order to ride the rock-o-planes. PicProps: ProMMANow)
The answers (in order) are: Good, not so good, Kharitonov and Barnett. Though he is fully recovered from the elbow he jacked up while shocking the world in defeating Fedor Emelianenko last June, Werdum doesn’t sound particularly psyched about his upcoming date with Overeem. Weirdly, the fact that he’s reportedly getting a shot at the Strikeforce heavyweight belt in the first round of the GP doesn’t even come up. He does however indicate that he’s looking forward to a second meeting with Fedor in the semis, which he casually mentions could be on pay-per-view. Werdum says he’s been “working on his bang” to get ready for The Reem but still plans on taking the bout to the mat, where he’ll use his conditioning and “smartness” to get the victory.