Strikeforce CEO reveals big plans for heavyweight division in 2011
Earlier this week, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced that in 2011, the promotion was not going to hold anything back in their heavyweight division.
Coker proclaimed, “…all these guys, Alistair (Overeem), Fedor (Emelianenko), Fabricio (Werdum), Josh Barnett, ‘Bigfoot’ (Antonio Silva), (Sergei) Kharitonov, Andrei Arlovski, Brett Rogers, all those guys are all going to fight each other in 2011.”
Coker expects Fedor, who has one fight remaining on his Strikeforce contract, to return in the first half of 2011. Coker let it be known that Fedor was most likely not going to be back this year, due to a full schedule.
Coker was also not forthcoming about who Fedor would fight next, and said that Strikeforce would probably have an announcement in the next four weeks in regards to who Fedor would be facing.
Fedor’s last fight was in June, when he lost to Fabricio Werdum due to tap out. Werdum caught Fedor in a triangle armbar in the first round of their bout.
Werdum is on the mend from elbow surgery he underwent in August, and Werdum's manager has revealed that Werdum will probably only be available as of the early second quarter of next year.
In addition, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has been kickboxing, and is competing in the K1 World Grand Prix. Overeem was dominant in his K1 fight against Ben Edwards in the round of 16, and will now move on to the round of 8 and
face Tyrone Spong.
In regard to Overeem and his K1 fights, Coker said “..we’re going to support him and we’re going to wish him well and hopefully he can win the whole tournament. Then he can comeback the Strikeforce champion and the K1 heavyweight champion.”
Coker continued to speak about the near future inside Strikeforce’s heavyweight division, “...you’re going to see these guys fight the toughest guys because really, if you’re a heavyweight there are no easy fights in Strikeforce. We’re going to put
those fights together, and I think the fans are going to love it.”
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