Coker: MW tourney begins in Oct.

winner gets shot at Kennedy/Jacare winner.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXZ4AGrAe4A


Sorry coker, but you're totally missing the point here. The whole idea of the tourney comes about because Jake is jumping ship. The tourney should decide the champ, why else have the tourney? Why not have a tourney at LW? This is SF going half way.

hints at a HW tourney as well.

http://strikeforce.com/community/showthread.php?2152-Scott-Coker-Talks-Batista-Lashley-Fedor-and-more


Also, can't tell for sure, but it sound like he want the tourney's to be one night affairs. SF is doing that with the Women's tourney, so possibly with the MW(and HW?) tourney as well?

I'll change my tune if so.

hope they are 1 night affairs

if so there will only be 4 people in the tournament but sounds fun to me

Dont have a problem with a tournament and a Jacare/Kennedy title fight think it will be fun

Birdofthad wrote:

hope they are 1 night affairs

if so there will only be 4 people in the tournament but sounds fun to me

Dont have a problem with a tournament and a Jacare/Kennedy title fight think it will be fun

Considering it won't be for the belt, and also considering a couple of their older guys won't compete, I'd be all for a 4 man, one night tourney.

me to capt the only way to do tourneys know in US in the same night is a 4 man one, I htink it wil make for great tv

Captain, I am a little confused on why you're bashing SF for this.


A middleweight tournament isn't viable right now at this stage. You know that. What is viable now is a title fight between the two most deserving canidates for a title shot anyway. You know that also. If a tournament can't be held until later, why not have a title fight now? You want Strikeforce to shelve the MW title until then? What sense does that make? The gotta put asses in seats capt, title fights do that. Jacare and Kennedy have both earned this shot.

The correct response to this is disappointment forces beyond Cokers control prevented a tournament asap, but gratitude that one will happen anyway.

I don't understand the logic that a tournament serves no purpose if a single title fight is held before hand. Tournaments are still tournaments.

Be glad they're having one at all.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Captain, I am a little confused on why you're bashing SF for this.


A middleweight tournament isn't viable right now at this stage. You know that. What is viable now is a title fight between the two most deserving canidates for a title shot anyway. You know that also. If a tournament can't be held until later, why not have a title fight now? You want Strikeforce to shelve the MW title until then? What sense does that make? The gotta put asses in seats capt, title fights do that. Jacare and Kennedy have both earned this shot.

The correct response to this is disappointment forces beyond Cokers control prevented a tournament asap, but gratitude that one will happen anyway.

I don't understand the logic that a tournament serves no purpose if a single title fight is held before hand. Tournaments are still tournaments.

Be glad they're having one at all.

My beef is this.

1)the tourney made perfect sense to fill the championship vacancy. It was perfect.

2)I like both Kennedy and Jacare, they are prob the 2 most talented MW's in SF, but has either guy really earned this title shot? Which win by either guy justifies this matchup? Even Kennedy has expressed a level of disdain for throwing 2 guys into a fight for the vacant title.

3)The tourney, without it being for the title, looks like SF going halfway, they at once provide us the perfect remedy to the Shields situation, without it actually being the remedy for the Shields situation. Perplexing.

4)Currently the tourney is set for Oct. Jacare Kennedy is set for Aug 23, that's 2 months. what they can't wait 2 months?


I do like tourney's in general, so i'm not against SF having a tourney, but they are not maximizing the power of the tourney. A half ass attempt imo.

But like I said, the 4 man one night tourney to fight #1 contendor is a fair(though not near perfect) plan b. Put Lawler, Mayhem, Diaz, and fighter X in that Oct tourney and I'll be stoked.

Add in that this, along with the women's tourney, may be a sign of more tourney's to come and I'll pipe down. but right now, I think criticism is due.

wish Hendo was in the tourney

My beef is this.

1)the tourney made perfect sense to fill the championship vacancy. It was perfect.
I think the disappointment we weren't getting a title tournament has soured the environment, and not just for you, but for lots of fans and people who will probably be very unfair with their treatment of Strikeforce now that a tourney won't happen.

2)I like both Kennedy and Jacare, they are prob the 2 most talented MW's in SF, but has either guy really earned this title shot? Which win by either guy justifies this matchup? Even Kennedy has expressed a level of disdain for throwing 2 guys into a fight for the vacant title.
Come on now. What is it with this amorphous and undefined concept of "earning a title shot"? What the hell is that? How the fuck do you "earn a title shot?" exactly? You know how promoting MMA works captain. There are examples too numerous to count or list in the UFC and boxing that are similar to either of these two getting a shot. Many far less deserving fighters get shots(You realize Belfort has never fought at 185 in the UFC right?). They are the two most talented according to you - in a situation like this - that should be quite enough shouldn't it?

3)The tourney, without it being for the title, looks like SF going halfway, they at once provide us the perfect remedy to the Shields situation, without it actually being the remedy for the Shields situation. Perplexing.
The tournament isn't viable during this fight cycle. It wouldn't be until the fall. Why not put on a big MW fight now and still have your tournament as planned?

4)Currently the tourney is set for Oct. Jacare Kennedy is set for Aug 23, that's 2 months. what they can't wait 2 months?

This is confusing friend. Why on Darwin's-naturally-evolved-from-single-cell-organisms-green-Earth would you rather wait for a title fight? A tournament for a chance to win the title happens either way. Strikeforce needs as many titles as they can in order to sell cards. Title fights sell. I'd much rather them just do a fight now than wait for a tournament to take shape. Good lawd, what if a rash of injuries severely impacted and delayed the tournament right beforehand or something? The the title would be out of action for even longer.





I think this type of reaction is rooted in your original point. Disappointment things didn't go as ideally planned. Still a great title fight.

Capt, think of it like this - the opening round is between Kennedy and Jacare, and the winner gets a bye and faces the winner of the four man bracket.

Problem solved.

except the Jacare vs Kennedy fight is not the opening rnd, it's for the title.

As far as the vague idea of earning a title shot, 2 finalists of an 8 man tourney earn a title shot, no gray area involved.

I'll get over this whole thing, and the fights themselves are excellent, the tourney will be excellent but me personally, I would have been more then willing to wait for the ideal scenario, the 8 man tourney to start 2 months from the current aug 23 title fight.


Is it too much to expect an ideal situation? In a case where SF has let their champ walk(and they played that whole situation badly as well), No I don't think it's too much to ask.

I don't mind the tourney not being for the title because it sounded like they were going to be unable to get a lot of their best guys in it in the next couple months and you don't want your MW belt collecting dust. Kennedy-Jacare is ideal for the vacant belt.

Capt, you need to stop stressing things like that..it makes it look like you have an agenda. At the end of the day, SF decided to crown a champion now..got two of their hottest MW's to fight for the title..which i might add is more deserving of a randomly generated MW title fight than Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller was..and they are still going to have a tournament. Hopefully with prospects with some veterans thrown in like Bellator and it builds contenders rather than eliminate them...when somebody wins a title in a tournament with all the best guys, then who are the contenders? It all sounded good on paper but in the end, it made more sense to crown a champion.

They are finding ways to work within their self-caused/real-world limitations. If they still find ways to pull off their tourney, great, they are offering to provide what Dana White is unwilling to. Bonus to us.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

I don't mind the tourney not being for the title because it sounded like they were going to be unable to get a lot of their best guys in it in the next couple months and you don't want your MW belt collecting dust. Kennedy-Jacare is ideal for the vacant belt.

Capt, you need to stop stressing things like that..it makes it look like you have an agenda. At the end of the day, SF decided to crown a champion now..got two of their hottest MW's to fight for the title..which i might add is more deserving of a randomly generated MW title fight than Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller was..and they are still going to have a tournament. Hopefully with prospects with some veterans thrown in like Bellator and it builds contenders rather than eliminate them...when somebody wins a title in a tournament with all the best guys, then who are the contenders? It all sounded good on paper but in the end, it made more sense to crown a champion.

agenda? shit, im the biggest sf supporter in this joint. But SF has handled the the MW title situation very poorly ever since they did not excercise Shield's option. And you know, since this is an MMA forum, I think it quite proper to criticize SF here.

Tourney should have crowned the champ plain and simple.

captain organic wrote:

KingsOwn19 wrote:

I don't mind the tourney not being for the title because it sounded like they were going to be unable to get a lot of their best guys in it in the next couple months and you don't want your MW belt collecting dust. Kennedy-Jacare is ideal for the vacant belt.

Capt, you need to stop stressing things like that..it makes it look like you have an agenda. At the end of the day, SF decided to crown a champion now..got two of their hottest MW's to fight for the title..which i might add is more deserving of a randomly generated MW title fight than Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller was..and they are still going to have a tournament. Hopefully with prospects with some veterans thrown in like Bellator and it builds contenders rather than eliminate them...when somebody wins a title in a tournament with all the best guys, then who are the contenders? It all sounded good on paper but in the end, it made more sense to crown a champion.

agenda? shit, im the biggest sf supporter in this joint. But SF has handled the the MW title situation very poorly ever since they did not excercise Shield's option. And you know, since this is an MMA forum, I think it quite proper to criticize SF here.

Tourney should have crowned the champ plain and simple.

They are still having a tourny so what is the difference? It is almost like giving 2 guys a BYE. They still need to fight the tourny winner to be the true champ anyways. It's not like this is a massive tourny. Just pretend Jacare vs Kennedy is a semi-final matchup and ignore the belt.

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

captain organic wrote:

KingsOwn19 wrote:

I don't mind the tourney not being for the title because it sounded like they were going to be unable to get a lot of their best guys in it in the next couple months and you don't want your MW belt collecting dust. Kennedy-Jacare is ideal for the vacant belt.

Capt, you need to stop stressing things like that..it makes it look like you have an agenda. At the end of the day, SF decided to crown a champion now..got two of their hottest MW's to fight for the title..which i might add is more deserving of a randomly generated MW title fight than Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller was..and they are still going to have a tournament. Hopefully with prospects with some veterans thrown in like Bellator and it builds contenders rather than eliminate them...when somebody wins a title in a tournament with all the best guys, then who are the contenders? It all sounded good on paper but in the end, it made more sense to crown a champion.

agenda? shit, im the biggest sf supporter in this joint. But SF has handled the the MW title situation very poorly ever since they did not excercise Shield's option. And you know, since this is an MMA forum, I think it quite proper to criticize SF here.

Tourney should have crowned the champ plain and simple.

They are still having a tourny so what is the difference? It is almost like giving 2 guys a BYE. They still need to fight the tourny winner to be the true champ anyways. It's not like this is a massive tourny. Just pretend Jacare vs Kennedy is a semi-final matchup and ignore the belt.

Why do I have to pretend that SF is going about this in the right way?

I love the Jacare vs Kennedy matchup, I love that they are still having a tourney(and may do a HW tourney as well), but the tourney should have been for the vacant title.

Really though, is the outcome going to be any different? You could just re-word everything and take out the title but still do everything the exact same....would that make you happy? The fights would still be all the same but you just take the title out of the Kennedy-Jacare fight and label it "semi-final". Nothing changes but names and titles, outcome is the same...isn't that really the important thing? Getting the proper guy crowned champion?

Ya, captain most of us are struggling to grasp where Strikeforce has utterly botched this thing in a couple weeks since they let Jake go. You're over thinking things here bud. SF is doing a good job.

If Sf doesn't have a tourney then there is nothing any different than what UFC does in structure. If they do its nothing but bonus. What people really get bothered by is the teaser of potential.

Exactly. Short of strong arming fighters who are leaving the weight class into participating or otherwise not interested, and holding the event outside of the USA to avoid the commissions, there was nothing they could do.

Waiting would have been a gigantic failure as it would keep all their best fighters out of action for months, and would also tie up the WW champion with non WW fights once he was able to come back.

Everyone got excited at first but when the reality sunk in that it wasn't do-able someone had to shoulder the blame for the disappointment fans felt. Scott, that's you buddy.