Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will rematch top-contender Fabricio Werdum in the opening round of Strikeforce’s upcoming heavyweight tournament, according to MMA Fighting, with an official announcement expected as early as today.
It is not yet known whether Overeem’s title with be on the line in the rematch of their 2006 PRIDE meeting, which Werdum won via second-round submission.
The heavyweight tournament kicks off with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov on Feb. 12, with Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers rounding out the opening round along with a pair of alternate bouts.
Overeem (34-11) ended a standout 2010 with a 19-second knockout of UFC vet Todd Duffee in DREAM on New Year’s Eve, while Werdum (14-4-1) upset then top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in June.
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Pictured: Alistair Overeem
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Overeem by demolition.
I agree…lol
tourney or no tourney about time they put this fight together.
^agreed!!!!!
No more ducking Overeem!!!!
So someone help me catch up. What’s the point of the tournament if it’s not for the belt? Don’t get me wrong I’m pumped. Just wondering why it was put together.
To crown the new contender for Overeems belt…oh wait a minute, if Overeem wins then he can say he’s ducking himself.
I’m guessing that his belt has more or less been stripped as the winner of the tournament should get the belt he would then have earned thus hopefully making the belt actually relevant from here out…..If they haven’t actually stated that the belt be stripped from him now and just issued to the winner of the tourney then they should make Overeem vs Werdum for the belt and then have whomever wins keep putting the belt on the line which would eventually take it to the final match of the tourney & awarded to the winner which is basically the same thing as stripping Overeem of the title now to put towards the overall winner of the tourney just this way would be less discrediting to Overeem.
@jazz -
Honestly, the “point” of the Strikeforce HW tournament is to make more money and raise the profile of the org wihtin the sport, if possible.
And I don’t mean that to be snarky or harsh, its just IMO the tourney’s main objective.
Determining a HW number one contender will be a happy afterthought, if anything.
“Tournament” is a buzz word that resonates with a lot of the older/smarter/PRIDEful MMA fans that make up the Sf fanbase. Fill those seats and fill those pockets, even by dropping names like Josh Barnett, and maybe score some more eyes on the product and generate more chatter.
Its win/win for both Scott Coker and some of the Sf HWs who may be having trouble scoring the respect and/or pulling down the same sponsorship deals that their UFC counterparts do.
Plus Sf is SO influenced by PRIDE and the Japanese MMA way of doing things, that stuff like titles and rankings are secondary to putting on a good show and signing as many potentially good fights as possible…
the setup of this tournament makes no sense whatsoever but oh well it should be some great fights
I think strikeforce is still trying to set up Overeem and Fedor for a ppv. Well see how things play out.
Maybe they made every participant sign on for the tourney instead of a fight-by-fight contract….so perhaps everyone is locked in regardless. I seriously doubt it though, but one can always hope. This way, nobody ducks anybody and backs out of the bracket.
yea I’m not even lookin at this as a tournament. Just a great night of fights. Some of those fights could be desent headliners
Decent fights would be nice.
It makes perfect sense. See how the do the tournaments in tennis. It’s the same thing with guys like federer, djokovic and nadal.
Actually We finally get to see a lot of major fights in one night.
The only problem i see with this “tourney” is that we clearly have one great night of fights. But do they have Fedor lined up for fights down the road, or are we going to see them go through this whole contract deal all over again before this tourney even finishes? This is going to be fun night of MMA that’s for sure, but the 2nd night of these fights and when they happen remains a mystery.
Maybe Fedor won’t make it past the first round and it won’t matter?
I personally don’t care. With Overeem in the field it’s a bit of a sideshow to me.
So we’re going to see the entire first round in one night? meaning 4 tourney fights on the card?
Or just Fedor/Silva and Arlovski/Barnett in the first telecast, and Overeem/Werdum and Rogers/whoever in a different card?
^It would be kool if they separate to make for more cards with good fights.
JCOHL,
Thanks for the breakdown dude. I agree with you. When I hear “tournament” I get pumped especially in MMA because it’s super rare. So they can count on my ticket :) I think I was a little confused because the title of the article read that overeem vs verdum was going to be part of the tournament and I was like “wait, why is overeem IN the tournament when he’s the champ?” So i was just wondering why they don’t have overeem vs werdum for the belt and the winner of the tournament like NEWFIE said, is the number one guy to challenge the champ?
Either way, some good fights are booked and i’m all for strikeforce gaining new and more fans and for the sport to continue to grow and become more exciting. This tournament is also something different not really seen much in the states since bellator so like i said, it’s exciting!
I want to say Overeem will demolish Werdum because overeem has become a fucking beast, but werdum is a big guy with good grappling and jitz, so i assume thats where he’ll take the fight and possibly have some success.
call it Heavy Artillery 2 and 3?
: P
Thats the whole point ……….
maybe they will have a seperate trophy and belt for the Tournament .I think if they held more MMA tounaments period they should hold those stats in a seperate category …. it may encourage more guys to fight in these things .
A lot of the North American SAC rules don’t exactly favor tournaments, so, y’know…
Would it be safe to say that Overeem may be more decorated than Couture? Now, don’t flame me yet, @jcohl, hear me out….
Couture held belts at 2 different weight classes and a total of 5 belts. That is an achievement.
Overeem holds 3 championships in 2 separate but somewhat related sports….at the same time.
He is 34-11-1NC in MMA and 10-4 in kickboxing. He has had MMA fights in Rings, Pride, K-1, Strikefore, and Dream among others. He has been an absolute wrecking ball recently, no matter the size or weight of his opponents (I’m looking at you, current UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt). His last loss was to Sergei Kharitonov…back when that name meant something in the sport.
And if he is not yet more decorated than Couture (and I’m not saying for sure that he is), I do think it’s just a matter of time before he does eclipse Captain America in the sport.
@dbiz -
Your “don’t flame me yet jcohl” read like “don’t tase me bro!” and legitimately made me laugh so hard my gf came into the room to see if I’d cracked into the Gentleman Jack’s for lunch.
;-)
And you make a really sharp point about Overeem, one I honestly hadn’t considered before your post. Maybe thats my oversight caused by Couturian fanboyishness, or maybe because I’m not the hugest supporter of K-1, can’t say for sure.
I tend to think of Overeem more as a 2-sport athlete, which is in and of itself a pretty amazing feat when you consider his level of ongoing success in both, but I would say absolutely yes if Overeem continues at his current pace in both sports he’ll put Couture firmly in black and white sportswise, if you follow.
He already has to be at least given part of the “most decorated” stage, and in another few years could pull down all of the spotlight.
Its the nature of sports, I guess.
My grandfather used to laugh at guys like Lennox Lewis when he compared them to Rocky Maricano. Shortly before he died my granddad called it “tragic and comedic” that “ex-Soviet soldiers” and “Rasta-looking goofs” were considered boxers in the same way that Maricano and Joe Louis were.
Hopefully I won’t end up like that, but I can see how it happens. I already compare some of the newer UFC 170ers to a guy like Jon Fitch and what he’s achieved in the last decade, and usually find them coming up short.
Couture did his bit for whatever its worth, and now its up to Overeem or GSP or whoever to try and eclipse him. Unfortunately for Overeem he’s working on a smaller stage, at least in North America, so he might not ever get the credit he’s due.
He11, half of us still think of Fedor as Fauxdor and the guy lost like one fight in a decade, so respect is hard to come by in MMA when you’re not competing in the UFC.
At least for now…
@Dbiz
“I do think it’s just a matter of time before he does eclipse Captain America in the sport.”
I think he eclipses most MMA fighters at this point.
Well, if they are calling it a tournament, it should be promoted like a tournament….like name the card “Strikeforce Grand Prix: Round 1″ or actually show visual brackets and advancements. Really hype it up as an actual tournament….instead of simply making 4 matches and saying the winners will fight one another.
To me, that scenario gets people pumped up, whether its all on one card or several. It gives everyone something to look forward to. Possibly the final bout is PPV. It could work.
i hope this tourny really goes through. Barnett is a big ? mark, can he fight in NJ since he cant in nevada and cali? like his lisence isn’t even cleared up yet, not to mention what happened the last time he was supposed to fight in the US. And if strikeforce can actually get this tourny done in a decent matter of time since there really only doing 3 cards a year it seems like (other than challengers).
I don’t get this tournament… They are having the top 4 seeds fight each other in the opening round, then have the bottom 4 seeds fight each other? Should be 1v8 v 4v5 then 3v6 v 2v7 then winner from each side fights. Overeem should be the 1 seed, Werdum the 2 seed, Fedor the 3, Silva 4. This is why strikeforce fails.
Strikeforce is actually a very successful MMA promotion. And they put on some pretty entertaining cards, though I do disagree with many of their matchups. Their last showtime card had spectacular KOs, though I largely credit that to the matchmaking being picked to bring about that result.
The best thing they do is also their least recognized: the Challengers Series. Straight up good stuff there.