Kid Nate over at Bloody Elbow says a tournament with Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, Fabricio Werdum, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Silva, Sergei Kharitonov, and Brett Rogers would be "hot."
He leads us to FightOpinion where common sense reigns on this dream tourney:
Between (the news that Fedor won't fight in January) and the fact that Josh Barnett still isn't licensed to fight in California and Alistair Overeem has K-1 obligations and you're looking at a Heavyweight tournament consisting of guys like Brett Rogers and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. In other words, if Strikeforce tries to put together a Heavyweight tournament, it will fall apart before it even begins.
Zach Arnold says stop jerking around with unrealistic goals and simply make fights:
At this point, all I want to see from Strikeforce is competency. Forget about booking a tournament. Forget about any elaborate plans for 2011. Produce the fights that people want to see and do so in a timely manner. This is a results-oriented business. The rematch between Fedor and Werdum, if there was going to be one, should have happened before the end of 2010. It didn't. The fact that Fedor's camp is even negotiating with Strikeforce and showing strength after the loss to Werdum is amazing. Nobody knows when Werdum or Overeem (or Barnett) is going to fight next. Who's left?
Coker's a smart guy, but are these bloggers correct? Should Strikeforce scrap the idea? If we put aside the UFC, can we actually say boxing is healthier now than MMA when it comes to matchmaking? Strikeforce has a really good collection of heavyweights yet most of them are fighting once a year. Where are the fights?
Tina Fey Gina Philips Jamie Gunns Ananda Lewis Kate Bosworth
I write about this extensively in my five part series on the Tourney. I've gone from thinking it a gimmick to be rather intrigued.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem is the seeding. The left side of the bracket has the fun fights, the right side the dud fights. Arlovski and Rogers are done in one. Barnett and Kharitonov in the semis is of interest to hard-core fans but a tough sell otherwise.
I don't want Barnett in the tournament at all, and I think Sergei will take him out. Frankly, I can think of a few other names missing from consideration: Jeff Monson comes to mind. Tim Sylvia has been looking good as of late.