Sudden Death Round to Settle Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Draws

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/06/13/sudden-death-round-to-settle-any-strikeforce-heavyweight-grand-p/

The Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix will resume Saturday night in Dallas with a new rule in place: a sudden death round to settle a draw.

When the GP was first announced in January, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said that a draw would be settled by an independent fourth judge who would "determine who advances or who wins based on the fighter's overall performance in the fight."

However, Marc Ratner, Zuffa's vice president of regulatory affairs, informed MMA Fighting on Sunday that Zuffa, the new parent company of the Strikeforce, has decided that all tournament fights ending in a draw will now be settled by a fourth sudden death round. There will not be a fourth judge assigned to the tournament fights anymore.

Other than the finals of the tournament, all fights are scheduled for three five-minute rounds. The finals will be a five five-minute round fight.

Antonio Silva and Sergei Kharitonov advanced to the semifinals of the tournament in February. Saturday's night card, which will air on Showtime, will feature Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers.

The semifinals of the GP are slated for the fall.

great idea!!!

Better than a 4th judge to decide, especially if it's a judge from UFC 131.

Pretty cool, maybe trying it out in SF first?

Werdum vs Reem should still be a 5 rounder since the true MMA HW Championship is on the line. Physical belt or not the lineal title is on the line.

OU wrote:

Werdum vs Reem should still be a 5 rounder since the true MMA HW Championship is on the line. Physical belt or not the lineal title is on the line.

Should but won't be.

Much better idea. The 4th judge was going to be someone from the Strikeforce company itself, so you know damn well the bigger draw would have advanced each time.

Primetyme199 wrote:

Much better idea. The 4th judge was going to be someone from the Strikeforce company itself, so you know damn well the bigger draw would have advanced each time.

At the very least that doubt would be there. Less judging and more fighting was the right call.

Another round of Reem Werdum likely means an epic fight but I'm scared of what a closely contested Barnett Rogers fight might be like....

love this idea

good idea...no fight will go to a draw...i'm not sure if i see any making it to a decision.

Great idea, but doubt it comes into play....unless Overeem just mauls Werdum and blows his load ala Carwin. Werdum slowly picks him apart and gets it to the ground a few times. 10-8 Overeem, 10-9 Werdum, 10-9 Werdum.

freakzilla wrote:

Farmer1906 wrote:

Great idea, but doubt it comes into play....unless Overeem just mauls Werdum and blows his load ala Carwin. Werdum slowly picks him apart and gets it to the ground a few times. 10-8 Overeem, 10-9 Werdum, 10-9 Werdum.

http://www.ninjasplace.com/t13660-ludo-and-farmer

We had an AV and I changed my AV

Oh, lol. It's so small I didn't even notice. My bad.

freakzilla wrote:

Oh, lol. It's so small I didn't even notice. My bad.

Didn't mean to make it that small, but huge AVs annoy the shit out of me.

No problem.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Another round of Reem Werdum likely means an epic fight but I'm scared of what a closely contested Barnett Rogers fight might be like....

I'll be surprised if Josh doesn't take him down and sub him, or take him down, mount and GnP, I guess the layoff rust could show up though.

Josh could and should do alot of bad things to Rogers. I love it because Rogers can end it in a quick flurry if he gets accurate.