Cage Talk – MMA – All The Latest Mixed Martial Arts News

("I hear Dothan, Alabama is lovely this second of year." PicProps: SB Commonwealth )

Strikeforce looms on the borderline of a answer to its Banter Barnett quagmire on Friday, as at minimum individual internet record argues the partnership is adjacent to a negotiate to contract the MMA experienced/uneasy teen to Japan for the leading cylindrical of its heavyweight lordly prix. MMA-Japan.com – a position affiliated along the excellent kindreds at Mean Amiable – published the four-row account alleging that Strikeforce resolution friend along Tangible Amusement plus “perhaps M-1 (Global)” to  perform a evince on April 10 that pleasure go sad in “the afternoon hours (in Japan) in sect to be shown breathe in the Undivided Postures.” The recital names no wellsprings another valid statuss sum of the overhead as actuality, still because the fellows at the Mild generally apprehend their shit, we total it’s weight repeating.

Obviously, hearsays that Strikeforce is eyeing an worldwide scene for this appendage of the GP permit been percolating for a some weeks. If upright, it’ll characterize the chief duration united of America’s pair “significant” MMA elevations has ventured to Japan after UFC 29 astern in 2000. It also sordids the crew choose receive initiate a makeshift via about Barnett’s current licit emanations. In extension, the April flourish is prospective to incorporate Alistair Overeem’s cave beat carouse versus Fabricio Werdum besides staging it overseas would conserve The Reem from having to “crisis” some more of

News Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, heavyweight tournament, Josh Barnett, Scott Coker, Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix

(Video courtesy YouTube/SNETCF)

The big question mark whenever Vitor Belfort's doubters talk about how successful the Brazilian powerhouse will be in upcoming bouts like his middleweight championship tilt with Anderson Silva on Saturday night at UFC 126 is where his head's at.

When his sister Priscilla was kidnapped in 2004 in the week prior to his UFC 46 championship bout with Randy Couture, "The Phenom" admitted that the situation was weighing heavily on his mind. Because he spoke openly about the emotional effect loing her had on him, many assume that he never really got over the ordeal even after her kidnappers substantiated fears that Priscilla was dead, confessing in 2007 to her killing.

Subsequently, most of Belfort's detractors chalk his eight MMA losses up to him being mentally fragile, even though they all came against present and future champions and only two were via stoppage. If being beaten by Chuck Liddell, Alistair Overeem, Randy Couture and Dan Henderson in their prime makes you a mental midget then guys like Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva must be psychologically retarded as well.

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News Alistair Overeem, anderson silva, Rich Franklin, UFC 126, Vitor Belfort, Vitor's psyche ain't no bitch

(The photo above was paper-clipped to the front of M-1's memo to tournament participants that drug testing will be mandatory for the GP. Subtle.)

When Dana White's favorite Crazy Russian, Vadim Finkelstein speaks, the MMA world listens, mostly just because he usually has a lot of bizarre demands to make.

In a recent interview the head of M-1 did with Russian sports news site Sports.ru, Finkelstein touched on a lot of topics including the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix, Fedor's contract status and his recent statement he made about mandatory drug testing in the later rounds of the tournament.

Check out what Vad-Fink had to say after the jump.

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News Alistair Overeem, Barnett is screwed, drug testing, Fedor Emelianenko, M-1, Strikeforce, Vadim Finkelstein

("I'm thinking of a number between 1-20. First person to guess it gets to be Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion. No shit, we'll give you a belt and everything." PicProps: Canvas Chronicle)

So, in a nutshell? Strikeforce held a conference call yesterday where it contradicted many of the things it just told us last week about its proposed heavyweight grand prix tournament. No, the title won’t be on the line. No, the fights (excepting the final) won’t be five rounds. Instead, the winner will become the Strikeforce tournament champion and will get a shot at Alistair Overeem’s belt after the grand prix wraps up … some time in like 2015. Unless Overeem himself wins the tournament. In that case, aside from The Reem having another hunk of gold to add to his collection and Strikeforce having zero title contenders left, we have no idea what happens next. From the sound of it, neither does Strikeforce.

Some other oddities in the tournament “rules” revealed yesterday: In the unlikely event of a draw, the promotion will call upon a fourth judge to break the tie. That’s cool, because draws suck. It’s also shitty, because the “fourth judge” will reportedly be appointed by Strikeforce, not an athletic commission and therefore stands to be even less trustworthy than the blind simpletons who normally score MMA fights. Also, in the very likely event that someone can’t continue in the tournament due to injury (or some other reason) a five-person “tournament committee” comprised of Strikeforce officials will handpick a replacement. If you think this concept is obviously rife with major conflicts of interests, well, you’re right. Don’t worry though, it will all sound very official. Kind of like in the ’80s when “Jack Tunney” used to be the “president” of the WWF.

Anyway, after the jump, some meditations on how all the things we told you in the above two paragraphs could potentially make this tournament go all fubar. We have questions, people. Tons of questions.

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News Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, heavyweight tournament, Scott Coker, Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix

(The winner of the tournament will take home a case of Rockstar Energy Drink and one of each item from the summer collection of Gus Johnson's new clothing line.)

Scott Coker made a somewhat surprising announcement today during the promotion's conference call ahead of its heavyweight grand prix that left a few on the call scratching their heads.

According to the Strikeforce president, the first round bouts of the tournament will consist of three rounds, meaning that the Overeem-Werdum bout will not be a title fight. In fact, Coker went on to explain that only the tournament final will be five rounds, but even if Alistair is one of the contestants of that match, it will be a non-title affair.

Coker, who didn't say what the prize for winning the tournament would be, blamed the change in the planned format on the various host city commissions who he says refused to sanction five-round non-title bouts. According to Coker, "It wouldn't have been fair to make some of the guys fight five rounds and the others only fight three," which is why they decided to put the belt on the shelf until the tournament is over.

News Alistair Overeem, Gus Johnson, Non-title fights, Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix

(Remember when Sergei Kharitonov sent Alistair Overeem's lifeless body through the ropes at K-1 Hero's 10? No? Then you really need to watch these videos...)

In our excitement for Strikeforce's potentially insane heavyweight tournament, one point seems to be getting lost in the narrative — namely, that these guys have already fought each other many, many times before. Five of the eight competitors (Werdum, Arlovski, Overeem, Emelianenko, Rogers) have previously faced at least three other fighters in the tournament field. Fabricio Werdum has actually fought everyone except Brett Rogers and Josh Barnett, and only Barnett himself has managed to go his entire career without bumping up against anybody else in this year's bracket.

All told, there's eleven twelve fights worth of shared history among the Strikeforce HWGP competitors, dating back over five years. To help you study for the quarterfinals next month, we've posted them all below in chronological order...

UPDATE: We originally forgot to include Fabricio Werdum's decision win over Antonio Silva. So actually, there have been 12 previous meetings, not 11. The video has now been added. 

(Sergei Kharitonov def. Fabricio Werdum via split decision; PRIDE 30, 10/23/05)

(Alistair Overeem def. Sergei Kharitonov via TKO, 5:13 of round 1; PRIDE 31, 2/26/06)

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News Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, fight videos, Josh Barnett, MMA videos, PRIDE videos, Sergei Kharitonov, Strikeforce Heavyweight tournament, Strikeforce videos, UFC videos, Videos

(Would you believe that this photo was taken just two years ago before Alistair discovered the benefits of horse meat?)

When Strikeforce announced that heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem would be fighting Fabricio Werdum in the quarter finals of its heavyweight grand prix and that the winner would be facing Fedor Emelianenko in the semi-finals, the news raised more than a few eyebrows.

According to "The Reem," even he was a bit taken aback by the San Jose, California-based promotion's decision to eliminate three heavily-anticipated potential final round match-ups so early in the tournament, but he says that it's not his job to question the decision of his employer and that he'll fight whomever Strikeforce puts in front of him.

"I have been looking for a big fight for more than a year now. Tournament or no tournament, Werdum was going to be my first fight in Strikeforce [in 2011]. All the fighters in that tournament are good, so there are no easy fights," he explained to MMAJunkie. "I'm a little surprised [that our bracket has myself, Fedor and Fabricio in it], and I don't know why this bracket is designed this way, but my job is to fight. I'm not picking opponents, so if that's the way they made the bracket, so be it."

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News Alistair Overeem, DREAM heavyweight champion, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce heavyweight champion, The Demolition Man

(Sorry little lady, you must be as tall as the Fabricio Werdum sign in order to ride the rock-o-planes. PicProps: ProMMANow)

Everyone’s favorite Portuguese-to-English MMA news resource is at it again this weekend, posting a lengthy (and adorably mistranslated) interview with Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix participant Fabricio Werdum. Tatame.com sits down with Werdum as he prepares for the pie-in-the-sky tournament at the Reign Training Center in California, getting the scoop on the Porto Alegre native’s recovery from an injury that kept him out for much of 2010, how he feels about giving Alistair Overeem a rematch from their 2006 bout and who he thinks will emerge from the other (obviously weaker) side of the tournament bracket.

The answers (in order) are: Good, not so good, Kharitonov and Barnett. Though he is fully recovered from the elbow he jacked up while shocking the world in defeating Fedor Emelianenko last June, Werdum doesn’t sound particularly psyched about his upcoming date with Overeem. Weirdly, the fact that he’s reportedly getting a shot at the Strikeforce heavyweight belt in the first round of the GP doesn’t even come up. He does however indicate that he’s looking forward to a second meeting with Fedor in the semis, which he casually mentions could be on pay-per-view. Werdum says he’s been “working on his bang” to get ready for The Reem but still plans on taking the bout to the mat, where he’ll use his conditioning and “smartness” to get the victory.

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News Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix, Tatame

(This guy knows what I'm talking about.)

The first week of 2011 is coming to an end, and it seems like a good time to give away a few t-shirts. Fun fact: This is the third "Comments of the Week" post that we've published in the last three months. It almost seems like we should change the name to something...I don't know...more fitting somehow. If you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear 'em, because we're absolutely stumped.

Anyway, three commenters stood out from the pack this week, setting a standard for the new year that ALL of you should be living up to. If your name is called, please send your real name, address, and shirt-size to contest@cagepotato.com and we'll hook you up...

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News Alistair Overeem, bj penn, Cecil Peoples, Chael Sonnen, comments of the week, Funny Shit, Matt Hughes

(Somehow we see this tournament going down before Strikeforce's HW GP.)

With the current buzz surrounding the recently announced Strikeforce 2011 heavyweight grand prix, we figured we'd take a look at what kind of tournament the UFC could put on if they were so inclined.

Contrary to popular opinion, the calibre of the UFC's HW GP would be just as good, if not better than Strikeforce's. The only noticeable difference is that there really wouldn't be any mismatches in Zuffa's heavyweightpalooza.

Even if Joe Silva decided not to put the matches together that we hypothesized in order to save some of the more anticipated pairings for the sem-final and final rounds, shuffling the card around would not cause a great disparity in the calibre of opponents.

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News Alistair Overeem, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brendan Schaub, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Fedor Emelianenko, Frank Mir, Junior Dos Santos, Roy Nelson, Shane Carwin, Strikeforce Heavyweight tournament, UFC

("I am ecstatic about new contract. I have not stopped smiling all week.")

Strikeforce moved one step closer this week to ensuring that its heavyweight tournament doesn't implode and that Fedor Emelianenko *could* eventually fight heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.

According to a report by MMAFighting.com, "The Last Emperor" has signed a contract extension with the San Jose-based organization that will see the Russian fighter compete in the planned 2011 heavyweight tournament. Although terms of the agreement were not released, as per Strikeforce policy, the report indicates that sources close to the situation said that the deal is for four fights. The new deal will commence with a February 12 first round tournament bout with Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in New Jersey.

The question is whether or not it's too little too late for Strikeforce to put together the most anticipated tilt in its promotional history between Emelianenko and Overeem.

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News Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, heavyweight tournament, Strikeforce, too little too late

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFCGaming)

Besides his prepared impromptu interview with HDNet's Mike Straka hours after his suspension appeal with the California State Athletic Commission, Chael Sonnen has been uncharacteristically quiet about the ordeal.

During Thursday's episode of MMA Live, Chael was asked for a synopsis of his thoughts on the hearing and his reduced suspension and in true Sonnen form, his answers didn't disappoint.

"Rules are rules and they have to be followed. A government agency, which is the commission, has to be transparent, clear and decisive. They said that I didn't disclose. I proved three different ways that I did. I had an email command, I disclosed it directly to the executive director [of CSAC] and we wrote it down on a form that was signed and dated with the head of the testing agency," Sonnen explained. "We proved all of these things, but we were still told that we didn't disclose. I don't know what dictionary they consult to get a definition of the word, 'disclosure,' but according to the ones that I read at the University of Oregon, that's disclosure."

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News Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Chael Sonnen, MMA Live, Wanderlei Silva

(Overeem sporting his belts clockwise in order of importance.)

Alistair Overeem earned more than the uber paycheck and the interim DREAM heavyweight belt in Japan at the K-1 Dynamite!! 2010 New Year's Eve event. The DREAM, Strikeforce and K-1 Open Weight Grand Prix champion also secured a spot in the Guinness Book of World Record as the only fighter to consecutively hold three championship belts.

If it's any consolation to Todd Duffee, who reportedly made $60,000 for the 19-second pounding he took from "The Demolition Man," his name will also be inscribed in the tome as the fighter who Overeem beat to set the record. At least there's that.

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News Alistair Overeem, DREAM heavyweight champion. Strikeforce heavyweight champion, K-1 open weight grand prix champion, Todd Duffee

(Alistair Overeem vs. Todd Duffee. Fight starts at the 3:41 mark and ends 19 seconds later. Good night Ireeeene.)

Full results from today's New Year's Eve event in Saitama, Japan, are after the jump, along with a few must-see videos courtesy of ZP420MMA. Note: Bob Sapp apparently backed out of his IGF slap-fight-rules bout with Shinichi Suzukawa at the last minute.

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News Alistair Overeem, Bibiano Fernandes, dynamite 2010, fight videos, Hiroyuki Takaya, Ikuhisa Minowa, Japanese MMA, Kazushi Sakuraba, Marius Zaromskis, MMA videos, Satoshi Ishii, Sergei Kharitonov, Shinya Aoki, Todd Duffee, Videos

 
FEG announced last night during the weigh-ins for this morning's Dynamite!! show that the impromptu heavyweight match-up between testosterone deficient UFC castaway Todd Duffee and 2010 K-1 OWGP winner and Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will be for the interim heavyweight belt.

Not sure why it's for the "interim" strap considering DREAM has never had a heavyweight title holder unless of course they're planning on putting together a heavyweight tournament in 2011. Whatever the reason, it's pretty crazy to think that Duffee could experience a career-changing moment a la Fabricio Werdum *if* he can pull off the impossible and beat Overeem.

If that happens, expect Scott Coker to be put on suicide watch after receiving multiple "LOL!" texts from Dana White.

News Alistair Overeem, Dana White, DREAM, flush your money down the toilet, interim heavyweight title, K-1 Dynamite!, one man's trash, Scott Coker, underdog bet