Ken Pishna of MMAWeekly brings us the latest news regarding Strikeforce’s next CBS event scheduled for April, which is likely to feature a heavyweight bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum.
“It’s not confirmed… (but) on that fight card, you’ll most likely see Fedor fighting Fabricio (Werdum),” Coker revealed. “It’s not guaranteed, but you will see Dan Henderson fighting on that card, and Gina Carano, we’ll invite her if she’s ready.”
Henderson’s opponent hasn’t been finalized yet either, but he is expected to challenge current middleweight champion Jake Shields under the watchful eye of CBS.
Pressed about heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, the CEO said, “We’re probably gonna invite Alistair to fight on the CBS card,” dispelling initial plans for an earlier return.
Coker also has big plans outside of the April fight card, particularly in the lightweight division. He intends to expand on Strikeforce’s relationship with Japanese fight promotion Dream.
First up are bouts for Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson, who had another battle in their rematch on Saturday night.
“(Shinya) Aoki and Gilbert and do (Tatsuya) Kawajiri vs. Thomson,” said Coker, mapping the road for his two top 155ers, intending to pit them against two other top lightweights in the world.
He insists those are plans for Melendez and Thomson, not just hopeful talk. He’s targeting the second quarter of 2010 to make both those fights happen.
Payout Perspective:
The news of Fedor-Werdum is likely going to disappoint those that are clamoring for Fedor-Overeem, but it’s a fight that makes sense for a number of reasons:
– Werdum is a familiar face having fought on the last CBS show.
– Overeem, despite being the champion, is largely an unknown in North America.
– Thus, the organization is also looking to build Fedor-Overeem before it happens (ostensibly by getting Overeem onto a card underneath Fedor).
– Strikeforce likely views Fedor-Overeem as a PPV calibre fight, which it wants to use to launch its first PPV event in late 2010.
Sherdog.com has an interesting 5 minute interview with Coker similar to the comments above, but he goes into further detail. Specifically, he mentions that it’s not enough just to have the Dream alliance – he wants to use it. In regards to the lightweight division, he talked above Melendez vs. Aoki and Thomson vs. Kawajiri, but he also noted that Strikeforce could use their own fighters like Shaolin Ribeiro and KJ Noons in place of Aoki and Kawajiri, respectively.
Coker, again, noted that the organization is looking to hold 20 events in the next fiscal year – March, 2010 to March, 2011 – and that would include 8 Challenger events, 8 Showtime events, and likely 4 CBS events.
He’d also like to do a PPV at some point, but that would seem contingent on a lot of things going correctly over the next few months (match-ups, injuries, a positive response in awareness and interest as the result of the Showtime and CBS cards, etc.).
Strikeforce and CBS had better be prepared for a Kimbo Slice-headlined Fight Night on Spike on the same night.. Fedor and Henderson on CBS will likely win the ratings battle, but that won’t be enough. They need to improve on the first show’s ratings of 4m average/5.5m peak viewership, and I think that will be impossible if they’re going head to head against Kimbo. The UFC will win the war if they can depress Strikeforce’s ratings enough to drive them off CBS for good.
Ed,
Strikeforce/CBS have been pretty clever not to announce dates. What goes against the UFC is that they announce events months in advance and usually have 2 events per month minimum. I would not worry about what you mentioned above.
20 events for Strikeforce seems like a lot. I think they should stick to 8-10 major events (Showtime/CBS), 1 PPV and 8 Challengers. The roster just isn’t big enough to be holding 12 major events in my opinion. Then again, these are Coker’s plans, may not come to pass. He said the same thing last year.
mma guru: I also think that 12 major event is a bit stretch. I think they can make the 8 challengers, these work very good for them, but I don’t believe they can be fast enough to make 4 CBS appearances in 2010 (when they start in april and each CBS event is planned few months in advance). More like 2-3.
BTW: Nice strategy from Strikeforce, that they used this weekend is schedule their card head to heacaideld with WEC or at least the weekend WEC is on. Because Zuffa won’t counter own live WEC card with own live UFC card 🙂
Yes Caidel, I’ve mentioned that in the past how Strikeforce would be smart to book on a WEC event night (if landing on Saturday) as Zuffa would not counter.
Fedor has beaten Overeem, Werdum is too easy. Find someone else, please.
Robert, Fedor has never fought Overeem. Overeem was a LHW in Pride, and only moved to HW after Pride folded.