Fedor signs with Strikeforce, will fight this fall

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DVS ONE

DVS ONE

Spanish Springs
#1
Jun 21, 2003
5,505
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Vista and Hubble
#1
Well. This certainly changes things, doesn't it? Fedor Emelianenko, the number two fighter in Yahoo's pound-for-pound rankings, and the subject of contentious negotiations with the UFC, has now signed with Strikeforce. From the Strikeforce press release:

“I am looking forward to going back to work and fighting at the highest level," said the 33-year-old Emelianenko. During his nine year professional fight career, which included a four and a half year stay with the world’s former top MMA promotion, the now defunct PRIDE Fighting Championship, the Russian native has faced and defeated all comers.

The good: Fedor will fight soon, and he will fight on Showtime, more widely available to average American MMA fans than a pay-per-view. This will definitely bolster Strikeforce's reputation as a promotion as their willingness to co-promote with M-1 means that they beat out the UFC on getting Fedor. Co-promotion was a sticking point with Fedor and the UFC, as the UFC was willing to give Fedor every demand except for that one. This could also help Strikeforce attract up-and-coming heavyweights, as it seems everyone wants a shot at Fedor.

The bad: In Strikeforce, Fedor will likely face Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum or Brett Rogers. As an MMA fan, I know that they are formidable opponents. But those names do nothing to rouse the interest of a casual fan, and any fight that Strikeforce can make will not get anywhere near the buzz as Fedor vs. Brock Lesnar would have. http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/ca...t=Atg4SfNHLVeTU05YcbC5_T09Eo14?urn=mma,180418
 
SANDMAN

SANDMAN

Sicc OG
#2
May 3, 2002
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#2
wow, im surpised.. although i knew Strikeforce would co-promote.

Wish he was on the San Jose show with Gina, I'd definately go there then.
 
SC_408

SC_408

Sicc OG
#4
Oct 3, 2006
5,631
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#4
so i wonder how much strikeforce gave him compared to the ufc's offering of 30 mil...lol all over cause of his lame ass promotion
 
B-Buzz

B-Buzz

lenbiasyayo
#6
Oct 21, 2002
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bhibago
last.fm
#6
at least he'll be fighting some 7-12ish-range ranked HWs, it's not the worst thing that could've happened. I'd like to see him fight Overeem and then have Werdum & Rogers fight for the #1 contender.
 
MOREBASS

MOREBASS

Sicc OG
#8
Dec 9, 2005
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#8
Wow.

I love Strikeforce, and this is great for them.


But IMO, this is definitely going to hang over his career, and honestly its already tarnished his legacy.

Strikeforce heavyweights are oookay. But that's it.


Not total cans. But c'mon. Rodgers ? Wedrum ?

Overeem is solid, but none of the fighters in the Strikeforce stable @ heavyweight can give Fedor a run for his money.


I think this will go down as a black-eye for the sport of MMA, that they couldn't get the biggest possible fight in MMA to happen.
 
B-Buzz

B-Buzz

lenbiasyayo
#9
Oct 21, 2002
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bhibago
last.fm
#9
Just because the guys don't have the UFC hype train behind them doesn't mean they aren't good competition, you know that.

Rogers- Only good win is Arlovski but he's shown he can KO anyone.
Werdum- Showed up out of shape for Dos Santos and got KO'd, would've fought for the title had he won. Has wins over Aleks, Overeem, Vera and Gonzaga 2X. Lost to Dos Santos, Arlovski, Nog and Sergei. Pretty good resume.

Plus they could bring in Monson, and I think Bigfoot Silva's suspension is up soon.
 
Monstaville Music

Monstaville Music

Sicc OG
#10
Oct 8, 2002
1,817
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www.408inc.com
#10
i love strikeforce but for thier other weight classes. This made no sense at all. They cant even come close to what ufc was goin to give them. In the end it was all about promoting M1 well i hope that company flops like all the other ones so Fedor looks like a jack ass.
 
P

PsyDaL

Sicc OG
#11
Apr 25, 2002
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#11
Good for Scott Coker and Strikeforce. I guess he'll take out their heavyweights in a years time, and then M1 failing again to put on another co promoted event. Makes sense to me. Hes just picking up where he left off in pride as far as the limited stable of heavyweights they have to offer him....
 
MOREBASS

MOREBASS

Sicc OG
#13
Dec 9, 2005
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#13
B-Buzz said:
Just because the guys don't have the UFC hype train behind them doesn't mean they aren't good competition, you know that.

Rogers- Only good win is Arlovski but he's shown he can KO anyone.
Werdum- Showed up out of shape for Dos Santos and got KO'd, would've fought for the title had he won. Has wins over Aleks, Overeem, Vera and Gonzaga 2X. Lost to Dos Santos, Arlovski, Nog and Sergei. Pretty good resume.

Plus they could bring in Monson, and I think Bigfoot Silva's suspension is up soon.
Click to expand...

I hear you, but aside from the 2 or 3 pretty good fighters in the heavyweight division, there aren't really many quality fighters out there.

I guess I'm just bitter about the biggest fight in MMA not going down, to what I feel is a gay ass reason.


I also think that Fedor is going to stomp a mudhole in all of their asses.
 
SLRider510

SLRider510

Sicc OG
#14
Dec 30, 2003
4,215
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#14
well maybe we can see fedor in san jose? haha fedor is such a faggg man.... now everyone say how much i dunno shit about mma bc i said that... go on

i heard a dana interview saying that fedor wanted to avoid ufc bc they use elbows and he wants to stay away from elbows. also the co-promo shit.... but maan i am losing alll respect for this guy.... im not huge on this brock fedor hype i would love to see it... but the best fighters are in the UFC.... im tired of him picking on huge koreans... and old ass ufc champs.... theres just sooo many good fights he can have in the UFC that would prove hes the best.... brock... mir... cro cop (again) dos santos.. kongo... velasquez.. carwin... but now hes gonna fight very low ranked heavyweights.... fedor is annoying man....
 
Robby2Slobby

Robby2Slobby

Sicc OG
#16
Jan 2, 2004
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#16
I really like strikeforce so I hope fedor doesn't put them out if business like he has with everyone else he's fought for. I hope Dana doesn't decide to "declare war" on strikeforce since a major reason they are still in business is probably because Dana hasn't put them on his shit lists and likes coker and them.

But at least well see fedor in three good fights and maybe in two years well see him finall come to the ufc. Lol. Brock will be way better by then. And hopefully fedor doesn't lose to overeem. Since I think he's the only strikeforce fighter with a chance to beat him.
 
T-Rip

T-Rip

T Camp
#17
Jan 18, 2006
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#17
All this does is make Strikeforce more legit. Theres nothing wrong with that, if anything Fedor should have signed a 1 fight deal with UFC just to fight Brock and get the fuck outta there. Folks dont like Boxing politics but at least all the top fighters can fight eachother no matter what promotion your with.
 
Shogun Locc

Shogun Locc

Sicc OG
#18
Feb 7, 2006
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#18
Strikeforce: Fedor will get "top competition" but immediate title shot not definite

Although negotiations with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world's top MMA promotion, fell apart last week, Fedor Emelianenko will still face "top competition" in Strikeforce, company executive Mike Afromowitz today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Emelianenko, a former PRIDE champion who owns a 30-1 career record (and 24-fight win streak), was announced as Strikeforce's latest signing today. Afromowitz confirmed it's a three-fight deal.

And although the organization, arguably the UFC's biggest rival, will give him top heavyweight opponents immediately, Afromowitz said Emelianenko will not necessarily fight for the title or an interim belt in his promotional debut.

According to today's announcement, that debut will come in the fall (most likely October) at a Showtime-televised event.

Although current champion Alistair Overeem (29-11) recently pulled out of an Aug. 15 title defense with Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1) due to injury, and though there's been rumblings about the potential creation of an interim title since Overeem hasn't defended his belt since winning it 21 months ago, Emelianenko isn't guaranteed a championship fight his first time out.

"Not necessarily," Afromowitz said when asked about the possibility. "Fedor is the top heavyweight in the world, (but) I wouldn't say that's definite that he's fighting for the title."

However, he balks at talk that Emelianenko can't find quality opponents outside of the UFC.

"He will get top competition in Strikeforce as he would've in the UFC," Afromowitz said. "There are a lot of potential opponents you could put in front of him that could give him very tough fights right now.

"I think there are three, four, five fights we could put in front of him now."

One such fight would be with undefeated Brett Rogers (10-0), who quickly disposed of former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski at a June Strikeforce event. Rogers now owns nine first-round stoppages in 10 pro fights; only an April fight with Ron Humphrey went past the first round, and Rogers still ended it just 98 seconds into the second round.

Emelianenko had been slated to fight Josh Barnett at the Aug. 1 "Affliction: Trilogy" event. However, Barnett was denied a license for the pay-per-view fight when he failed a drug test due to an anabolic steroid, the California State Athletic Commission announced two weeks ago. Affliction briefly explored possible replacements before cancelling the show and its promotional arm altogether. Rogers was one of the names mentioned as a possible replacement.

"You saw a lot of interest in that fight with Rogers," Afromowitz said. "Overeem is a top-10 guy, too. Fabricio is another guy (who could fight Emelianenko). They're all tough opponents."

However, with Emelianenko now under contract, expect the organization to bolster its heavyweight division even further as its recently done with other weight classes.

That could open the door for even more possibilities.

"I think the heavyweight division is the one we're really building right now," Afromowitz said. "We've got good talent there now, and we'll keeping adding to it. ... It's a continuous process, but the heavyweight (division) will be a focal point."

In recent years, Emelianenko has come under fire for what many consider a lack of quality competition. That was no doubt the case from 2006 to 2007, when – after a series of high-profile super-fights – he fought and defeated Mark Coleman (a 42-year-old fighter he had already beaten once before), Mark Hunt (a kickboxer with just seven pro fights), Matt Lindland (a middleweight) and Hong Man Choi (who owned a 1-0 career record).

But even convincing recent victories over Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski (two former UFC title-holders) hasn't completely swayed public opinion. And last week, when UFC president Dana White said a deal with Emelianeko was unlikely because of the fighter's manager's demands that the UFC must co-promote with his M-1 Global brand, many said Emelianeko was simply ducking the UFC's impressive list of top-10 heavyweights.

In time, though, Afromowitz said fans will get their wishes.

"Fedor is going to fight top guys," he said. "Every Strikeforce fight will count."
 
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