Strikeforce to Eliminate Heavyweight Division in 2012

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/12/15/strikeforce-to-eliminate-heavyweight-division-in-2012/

The big men aren't long for Strikeforce, as the promotion will finish out its Heavyweight Grand Prix and soon afterward, eliminate the division in order to focus on its remaining weight classes.

The announcement was made by Strikeforce president Scott Coker during a Thursday conference call regarding the promotion's new extension with Showtime.

"What you'll see after the event with the tournament finals between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, you'll see one more fight where the winner will fight a top-rated heavyweight and then we're going to go back to focusing on our other weight classes," Coker said.

UFC president Dana White, who has a hand in running Strikeforce, cited the lack of depth for the reason from abandoning the class.

White didn't say what the future would hold for most of Strikeforce's signed heavyweights, but it is expected that most of them will be moved to the UFC and bolster depth there. On Thursday, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani confirmed with White that recent Strikeforce heavyweight Fabricio Werdum has been signed into the UFC.

The move will be a bittersweet ending for the division that was once Strikeforce's deepest. At the start of 2011, the Heavyweight Grand Prix announcement brought more buzz to the promotion than anything they'd done with the exception of signing Fedor Emelianenko.

But the Grand Prix had its own problems. Emelianenko was eliminated in the first round, Alistair Overeem was eventually cut due to a dispute between Zuffa and his management team, and none of the hoped-for matchups materialized.

The final between Cormier and Barnett is likely to be contested by the end of the first quarter of next year, Coker said. And the end for the division won't come long afterward.

Strikeforce will become the new WEC...it's terrible that guys like Gegard, Gilbert, King Mo are trapped in Strikeforce.

Not buying that they will be for long

You think they will focus more on women's MMA?

Fuck it, add Super HW

Mo and Gegard might just get black balled.

Mo because he always speaks his mind and the truth on the BS in the sportbusiness and Gegard because he is affiliated with M-1.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Mo and Gegard might just get black balled.

Mo because he always speaks his mind and the truth on the BS in the sportbusiness and Gegard because he is affiliated with M-1.

i might be wrong but i could have sworn that Gegard split ties with m1 a while back

GDPofDRC wrote:

Mo and Gegard might just get black balled.

Mo because he always speaks his mind and the truth on the BS in the sportbusiness and Gegard because he is affiliated with M-1.

I think if Mo can resurrect his Rampage beef that would drastically improve his chances to cross over. He needs to use the Sonnen method and flap his gums as much as possible. That is a method that has proven to be effective.

killerofchicken wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:

Mo and Gegard might just get black balled.

Mo because he always speaks his mind and the truth on the BS in the sportbusiness and Gegard because he is affiliated with M-1.

i might be wrong but i could have sworn that Gegard split ties with m1 a while back

True

Oh yeah, he can play then.

Why not let SF dabble with Super HW? Just as a trial. Saw a couple monsters bang it out on HDNet a week or 2 ago. Both 6'5 300lbs of flab. But still, what do you have to lose?
TPF recently said they currently have no plans to dabble in the 115lbs division, even though they know some of the current flys would fit better there. Why not give that a dabble as well? Throw some on some Challengers cards. If not that, then they need to attempt to find another weight class for the women.

Challenger cards are over. And does anyone honestly have any interest in super heavy? Jesus heavyweight MMA is bad enough, I'll pass on even bigger fat asses

bobbitt15 wrote:

Challenger cards are over. And does anyone honestly have any interest in super heavy? Jesus heavyweight MMA is bad enough, I'll pass on even bigger fat asses

In very rare situations you see exceptional giant athletes. I'm guessing the are former OL guys. But I agree, overall it's flabby messes. But just a thought.
Also are you sure the Challengers brand is over? That would be disappointing.

OU wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Challenger cards are over. And does anyone honestly have any interest in super heavy? Jesus heavyweight MMA is bad enough, I'll pass on even bigger fat asses

In very rare situations you see exceptional giant athletes. I'm guessing the are former OL guys. But I agree, overall it's flabby messes. But just a thought.
Also are you sure the Challengers brand is over? That would be disappointing.

Yep Challengers cards are no more, just the 6-8 scheduled events with televised prelims now

bobbitt15 wrote:

OU wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Challenger cards are over. And does anyone honestly have any interest in super heavy? Jesus heavyweight MMA is bad enough, I'll pass on even bigger fat asses

In very rare situations you see exceptional giant athletes. I'm guessing the are former OL guys. But I agree, overall it's flabby messes. But just a thought.
Also are you sure the Challengers brand is over? That would be disappointing.

Yep Challengers cards are no more, just the 6-8 scheduled events with televised prelims now

Gayness. With so little events injuries become even bigger. Now you have to wait longer until the next train comes along.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/26566/arnold-sports-festival-hosts-strikeforce-heavyweight-grand-prix-finals.mma

Multiple sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com
(www.mmajunkie.com) that eight-man tournament's finals are expected to
head to Columbus, Ohio's Arnold Sports Festival 2012. The festival has
previously hosted several UFC and
WEC events.

That means March 3 is likely to see a heavyweight bout between Josh
Barnett (31-5 MMA, 2-0 SF) and Daniel Cormier (9-0 MMA, 6-0 SF) that
will determine the promotion's tournament champion. As with previous
events held at the festival, Nationwide Arena is expected to host.

However, an Ohio Athletic Commission official today told MMAjunkie.com
no event is officially scheduled for March 3, though multiple
organization have been discussing the possibility with Arnold Sports
Festival organizers. If a deal is reached, the commission would then
need to approve the show.

OU wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Challenger cards are over. And does anyone honestly have any interest in super heavy? Jesus heavyweight MMA is bad enough, I'll pass on even bigger fat asses

In very rare situations you see exceptional giant athletes. I'm guessing the are former OL guys. But I agree, overall it's flabby messes. But just a thought.
Also are you sure the Challengers brand is over? That would be disappointing.

the whole of SF is pretty much a challenger series.

OU wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

OU wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Challenger cards are over. And does anyone honestly have any interest in super heavy? Jesus heavyweight MMA is bad enough, I'll pass on even bigger fat asses

In very rare situations you see exceptional giant athletes. I'm guessing the are former OL guys. But I agree, overall it's flabby messes. But just a thought.
Also are you sure the Challengers brand is over? That would be disappointing.

Yep Challengers cards are no more, just the 6-8 scheduled events with televised prelims now

Gayness. With so little events injuries become even bigger. Now you have to wait longer until the next train comes along.

Well if they do 8 events that's only a month and half in between on average. Coupled with televised and filled-up prelims, that was the motivation I think. That last Challengers card with Rousey only had 150,000 viewers. They'll probably get seen more just being on before big main cards

Strikeforce is quickly becoming WEC 2.0.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Strikeforce is quickly becoming WEC 2.0.

Sounds like a step back from what SF once was.

OU wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Strikeforce is quickly becoming WEC 2.0.

Sounds like a step back from what SF once was.

UFC!!!!!11!!!!1

Strikeforce was one of many small "other MMA shows" in 2008 even. Le vs Shamrock is barely older than ninjasplace.com. Yea, Strikeforce for a small period of time was in a weight class on par with the UFC, kind of, but there really isn't any reason to constantly look for ways to attribute negative values to the aspects of this.


Everyone shut the fucking whining up. Wolf's back. Law officially laid. Thanks.

Striekforce HW's in UFC 4-0 so far...

Alistair Overeem - Beat Lesnar
Fabricio Werdum - Beat Nelson
Lavar Johnson - Beat Beltran
Shawn Jordan - Beat Thompson

GDPofDRC wrote:

Striekforce HW's in UFC 4-0 so far...

Alistair Overeem - Beat Lesnar
Fabricio Werdum - Beat Nelson
Lavar Johnson - Beat Beltran
Shawn Jordan - Beat Thompson

Strikeforce 666