Strikeforce: 8-Man Heavyweight Tournament

[Triple]

If Strikeforce can actually pull this off, this could be THE event that puts them on the course to direct competition with the UFC. There is so much that could go wrong, however: Werdum's injury, Barnett's suspension, Fedor's fuck-all management, Overeem's participation in other organizations, etc.

If they could pull it all together and air it on CBS or (finally) a PPV, this could be epic:

Emelianenko-Silva, HW Tourney Slated for Feb. 12 (http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Emelianenko-Silva-HW-Tourney-Slated-for-Feb-12-29152)

With competitive match-making, the winner of this tournament becomes the number one heavyweight in the world as far as I'm concerned. Especially if Emelianenko and Overeem are left as the top two, which I'm sure Coker and Co. would be praying for. As good as the top UFC guys may be, none of them will have run the gamut this tournament will present.

Speaking of which, if there was ever a time for the UFC to consider co-promotion, this is it. Velasquez is out for months for surgery and rehab and Dos Santos doesn't want to wait for his title fight; imagine what a win (or even a competitive showing) would do for him if the tourney aired on CBS. It wouldn't have to affect his contender status within the UFC and it could potentially draw in more casual viewers who previously had no idea who he was. Even with a poor showing, the UFC could drop him back down the ladder and replace him with a money-maker like Mir to fight Velasquez.

On the flip side, Dana could also send a middle-of-the-road heavyweight (Madsen, Russow, etc). If he wins, it smashes the legitimacy of Strikeforce's heavyweight division; if he loses, he was never anything special in the first place. Either way, it pushes the UFC brand on a big-- and FREE-- stage. Win-win.

Co-promotion is a pipe dream, but in this select instance I think it makes sense. With or without it, however, if the event actually takes place, it's going to be badass. Strikeforce has a good roster of very experienced veterans and up-and-coming prospects.

[OneSickPsycho]

I am AMPED. Fedor/Overeem in the final will answer a lot of questions for me...

[Triple]

I am AMPED. Fedor/Overeem in the final will answer a lot of questions for me...

About both guys. If Fedor smashes his way through to the championship (including a Werdum rematch, hopefully), he remains relevant and takes back his number one spot. If Overeem beats Fedor, his hype is justified and the can-smasher / hater crowd has to STFU.

I'm anxious to see Josh Barnett back in the states. He'll be the only great wrestler in the tournament.

[OneSickPsycho]

About both guys. If Fedor smashes his way through to the championship (including a Werdum rematch, hopefully), he remains relevant and takes back his number one spot. If Overeem beats Fedor, his hype is justified and the can-smasher / hater crowd has to STFU.

I'm anxious to see Josh Barnett back in the states. He'll be the only great wrestler in the tournament.

Agreed. [edit: I'm an idiot]

[z06boy]

Things that make you go humm....didn't know about this possibility.

Hopefully it can be worked out.

[Corey]

It's too bad it's Strikeforce. They've got some good fighters, but their piss poor production quality, horrendous terrible horrible announcers, and super zero personality ring people make their events hard to stomach in anything more than small doses.

This event needs to be on anything other than Showtime. If it's on network tv, it's got a chance to pull in some new people. If it's on PPV, it'll still get some eyes. If it's on Showtime, it's a wasted event.

[Triple]

It's too bad it's Strikeforce. They've got some good fighters, but their piss poor production quality, horrendous terrible horrible announcers, and super zero personality ring people make their events hard to stomach in anything more than small doses.

For pure entertainment value, I typically prefer Strikeforce events to the UFC's. The UFC may keep things more relevant overall, but Strikeforce's (and even Dream's) fighters and match-making are often more exciting.

I credit this to their comparative lack of wrestlers.

[Corey]

For pure entertainment value, I typically prefer Strikeforce events to the UFC's. The UFC may keep things more relevant overall, but Strikeforce's (and even Dream's) fighters and match-making are often more exciting.

I credit this to their comparative lack of wrestlers.

I think UFC hit a point this past year where they had way too many fights. You can only have so many blockbuster fights before you have to put some mediocre boobs as the headliners. Frank Mir vs Mirko Crocop? Bispbing vs anyone? Really? Having so many cards just drained out the quality fights. I think the one (hopefully) good thing that came out of last year was UFC finally absorbing the rest of WEC. With few exceptions, WEC put on some of the best fight cards in the past year. If the UFC utilizes the bantam and featherweights right, they can start trimming the fat in the other divisions and really filling in solid cards and way less stinkers.

Right now, everything not UFC suffers from not getting enough exposure. Strikeforce cards are too few, and being on Showtime makes them all but invisible. Dream, K1, and Bellator are worse off, with no real exposure. K1 has had some great fights, but I only catch them after the fact on youtube/fight sites/the interwebs. I don't get Showtime, so the chances of seeing a Strikeforce event that doesn't hit the networks are rare. If the quality of the UFC fights continues to be mediocre, this year could be a huge year for any non-UFC event, but exposure will be key.

[Kaneman]

Did you guys see Duffee/Overeem? :lol: :lol: :lol: WTF are they thinking anymore?

[defector]

Didn't Duffee take that fight on short notice, too? Not that it would have made much difference, IMO.

HDNet has a metric shit ton of fights on pretty regularly. They cover Dream, K-1, and just had the Dynamite show on new year's eve. The only bad thing is that they are usually on pretty late. But a live Dream show could be 6 hours long.

[Triple]

Did you guys see Duffee/Overeem? WTF are they thinking anymore?

It was a mismatch, but the fight was assembled on very short notice. Overeem was just weeks off his K-1 win and Duffee was the only guy to step up from a long list of offers. It was a good opportunity for him and his stock didn't take much of a hit losing to someone like Overeem.

The New Year's Eve Dynamite card was pretty good overall. I liked the K-1 vs MMA theme, even though some of the matches were very lopsided with strange rules. Mousasi knocking down Kyotaro (a heavyweight kickboxing champion who had just gone the distance with Semmy Schilt) was awesome.

Poor, poor Aoki, though... :lol:

[z06boy]

I had 3 months of Showtime for free from DirecTv but it expired in December.

[OneSickPsycho]

1) I don't think the UFC has had too many fights this year, I just think they tried to SELL too many fights this year. PPV's are great and worthwhile, but especially now with two new weight classes, more TV deals should be in the works. I disagree heavily with the UFC cutting guys... fuck that. GROW the business with some of those guys that can still put on a show, but maybe aren't the caliber of the top guys. PPV's for title fights and toss the REAL interesting matches in there, but use cable TV for once a month specials with a solid headliner to draw views and run some lesser known guys with some of the lower caliber guys... and jesus christ, put it on a channel I can fucking find. Spike would be perfect.

2) I agree that Strikeforce events are a bit lower on the production scale, but the always have some interesting fights. It's hard to find the fights sometimes too... who the fuck has Showtime?

3) I like the wrestling aspect of the sport. While I'm not a fan of lay and pray, I appreciate the technique and skill it takes to control people like that... It's all part of the evolution of the sport however... BJJ, standup, wrestling, they've all had their time to be the dominant factor... it won't take too long before most everyone's on an even keel and the most well-rounded fighters dominate in every aspect. GSP shows it's already happening.

[defector]

The New Year's Eve Dynamite card was pretty good overall. I liked the K-1 vs MMA theme, even though some of the matches were very lopsided with strange rules. Mousasi knocking down Kyotaro (a heavyweight kickboxing champion who had just gone the distance with Semmy Schilt) was awesome.

Poor, poor Aoki, though... :lol:

I really believe Mousasi is one of the best pound for pounders anywhere, in any division.
Aoki looked scared from the start - bet he thought after he made it out of the K-1 round he was alright. I still love watching that guy fight - so damn creative with the subs.

I had 3 months of Showtime for free from DirecTv but it expired in December.
Showtime is free next week on DirecTV I think. I know it is sometime this month.

1) I don't think the UFC has had too many fights this year, I just think they tried to SELL too many fights this year. PPV's are great and worthwhile, but especially now with two new weight classes, more TV deals should be in the works. I disagree heavily with the UFC cutting guys... fuck that. GROW the business with some of those guys that can still put on a show, but maybe aren't the caliber of the top guys. PPV's for title fights and toss the REAL interesting matches in there, but use cable TV for once a month specials with a solid headliner to draw views and run some lesser known guys with some of the lower caliber guys... and jesus christ, put it on a channel I can fucking find. Spike would be perfect.

2) I agree that Strikeforce events are a bit lower on the production scale, but the always have some interesting fights. It's hard to find the fights sometimes too... who the fuck has Showtime?

3) I like the wrestling aspect of the sport. While I'm not a fan of lay and pray, I appreciate the technique and skill it takes to control people like that... It's all part of the evolution of the sport however... BJJ, standup, wrestling, they've all had their time to be the dominant factor... it won't take too long before most everyone's on an even keel and the most well-rounded fighters dominate in every aspect. GSP shows it's already happening.

1. To many PPV's for me. One about every 8 weeks or so. I began to notice that whenever somebody had a MMA PPV, so did the UFC.
But I would like to see more cable stuff. Hell have one card a month, featuring a different weight division, starting with the bantam weights and moving up. Not every show has to be 3 hours long. I could find an hour to watch a couple of bouts.
2. Agree. I may be the minority, but I would rather see a great fight between guys I maybe don't know, instead of an OK to boring fight between two great fighters.
3. Agree again.Styles make fights.
Very few single skilled fighters are around much anymore. The guys that are so great at one skill that it makes up for the deficiency of others, are going the way of the dinosaur, quickly.

[Triple]

The official brackets, though I'm sure they're subject to change:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs790.ash1/168012_485611868228_61345743228_6066777_3227764_n. jpg

All good, but could be better. It makes sense that Overeem is immediately paired with the division's number one contender-- and from what I've read, his title will be on the line throughout the tournament-- but it would also be ideal if the matches allowed Fedor potential shots at both Werdum and Overeem. Set up as-is, that can't happen. Fedor defeating Werdum in a rematch and facing Overeem in the finals is tourney gold. Assuming they would be the last two standing, of course.

I would have left Overeem out of the tournament, and had the tourney winner face him for the title. His open spot could be taken by one of the up-and-comers. It's time for Cormier, Johnson, and del Rosario to step into the big leagues, anyway. Cormier vs. Barnett and del Rosario vs. Arlovski could both be very compelling, torch-passing matches.

[OneSickPsycho]

I agree... It would be nice to add another heavy and make it a 12 man tourney... round robin the last three fighters, fuck it!

[defector]

Showtime is free this weekend on DirecTv, and they have the Strikeforce challenger series on tonight.