Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker revealed Monday night in a radio appearance on The Carmichael Dave Show that the No. 2 MMA promotion in America will enter into an "alliance" with Fighting Entertainment Group, the parent company of the No. 1 MMA promotion in Japan.
FanHouse has received confirmation from Strikeforce that the announcement will be made Wednesday afternoon.
The partnership could open up new possibilities for the recently-signed Fedor Emelianenko, who had seemingly only Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum as opponents in Strikeforce. Fedor could also find himself fighting in Japan after his fall Strikeforce on Showtime date. The former PRIDE heavyweight champ is well-loved in the country and from 2003-2007 took pride in a tradition to compete every New Year's Eve in Japan's annual blockbuster year-end show.
"We've talked about [the partnership] for a long time," Coker said on the Northern California sports program. "It's finally going to happen now so maybe [Sergei] Kharitonov could fight Fedor at some point."
Besides more options for Fedor, there's an entire pool of new opponents for each promotion that could also give a clearer understanding to the world rankings outside of the UFC.
The current champions and direct title contenders under DREAM are Joachim Hansen (lightweight champion), Shinya Aoki, Marius Zaromskis (welterweight champion), Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Bibiano Fernandes, Joe Warren, Hiroyuki Takaya and Hideo Tokoro.
Meanwhile, the champions with Strikeforce are Alistair Overeem (heavyweight), Renato "Babalu" Sobral (light heavyweight), Cung Le (middleweight), Josh Thomson (lightweight), Gilbert Melendez (interim lightweight) and the Aug. 15 winner of Nick Diaz vs. Jay Hieron.
The two promotions already share the services of former DREAM middleweight champion and current No. 1 Strikeforce light heavyweight title contender Gegard Mousasi, who also happens to be under contract with Fedor's management, M-1 Global.
Coker added that more details on Fedor's future, including the date and opponent, could be announced as early as Thursday.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Really exciting news here! The matchups between DREAM, M-1, and Strikeforce are just great! Be has already made a post on thi, and its about 70% of the fans that voted on poll claiming that they are stoked about this piece of news!
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/8/4/976805/the-strikeforce-dream-alliance
this is a formula that should bring about great fights. kudos to strikeforce for having vision and not being bound by greed and ego. the beginning of the end for a certain mma organization? could happen
This is awesome news. Let's also not forget this could mean Melvin Manhoef and Kid Yamamoto could fight on United States soil this year.
It seems like Strikeforce is really stepping up to the big leagues now and certainly rivals the UFC in terms of it's fighter pool and talent with this announcement. It's not as top heavy as the UFC but this gives great depth to it's stable of fighters.
Xenophobic comment is xenophobic.
The word you were looking for was "Asians" and the comment was borderline race bating.
Dream/Strikeforce Roster From Bloody Elbow:
DREAM
Lightweight: Andre Dida, Katsunori Kikuno, Vitor Ribeiro, Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Gesias Calvancante, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Daisuke Nakamura
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis, Hayato Sakurai, Jason High, Andre Galvao, Tarec Saffiedine
Middleweight: Paulo Filho, Melvin Manhoef. Jesse Taylor, Dong Sik Yoon, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Ronaldo Souza, Murilo Rua, Riki Fukuda, Zelg Galesic, Andrews Nakahara, Kazushi Sakuraba
Light Heavyweight: Rameau Soukodjou
Heavyweight: Sergei Kharitonov
Strikeforce
Lightweight: Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Rodrigo Damm, Yves Edwards, Jorge Gurgel, Conor Heun, Billy Evangelista, Fabricio Camoes, Lyle Beerbohm, Malapeit, Mike Aina
Welterweight: Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, Andre Galvao, Joe Riggs, Duane Ludwig, Dennis Hallman, Phil Baroni, Tyron Woodley, Ross Ebanez, Luke Stewart
Middleweight: Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, Cung Le, Jake Shields (MW or WW), Jorge Santiago, Nick Diaz (MW or WW), Frank Shamrock, Benji Radach, Joey Villasenor, Cyborg Santos, Terry Martin, Tim Kennedy, Luke Rockhold
Light Heavyweight: Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Gegard Mousasi, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, Kevin Randleman, Mike Whitehead, Ralek Gracie, Bobby Southworth, Mike Kyle, Jarred Hamman, Paoi Suganuma, Aaron Rosa, Jaime Fletcher, Wayne Cole
Heavyweight: Shane Del Rosario, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers, Roger Gracie, Levar Johnson eventually, Abongo Humphrey, Daniel Puder, Jon Murphy, Carl Seumanutafa
they should have a 3 way partnership with sengoku to.
I read somewhere a HW GP between all these promotions would be EPIC!
you're an idiot.
johnny, you know that was for the idiot gilgodsfart
Yeah I know. His comment got deleted and now both of our comments look out of place. I'm usually not a fan of moderation on blogs but that was deserved. That would even constitute a temporary ban IMO for the blatant race bating.
Who you got winning at UFC 101?
Here is my predictions:
Main card
B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian - Penn via (T)KO RD 2 Strikes - Ground and Pound
Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin - Silva via Submission RD 3 Triangle
Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks - Sadollah via Majority Decision
Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida - Grove via Submission RD 1 Arm Bar
Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino - Pellegrino vs Submission RD 2 Guillotine Choke
I see a lot of submission artists on this card and I think most of the fights will end via submission. I wouldn't be surprised if every fight on the televised card ended via submission.
pettythedragon7 - jmend25: my comments were not directed at you, sorry if it appears that way.
hey johnny, i would give florian the same advice i had for gsp, dont headhunt, kill the body. thats the key to beating penn. i'm sure that bowlingball on his shoulders is extra thick. if florian comes and sticks to a game plan i like his chances, i really see penn as a limited skill fighter even though his jj is very good.
heres another out of bounds call, forrest. silva was never great outside of middleweight, and i think Hendo takes him if forrest doesnt. forrest keeps the pressure on him and takes this fight to the ground, he's got a good shot. silva has been fighting like you have to take the belt from him, and forrest may just bring that fight.
i actually havent watched all the rest enough (some, not all) to make a call.
hey richie,
just thought i'd throw my 2 cents in:
you know what i think of the oiled up whinning penn....however, i do think he is the best lw in the world. i want florian to win, but,i really give florian no shot here.
although if couture is picking florian i do respect his record of picking winnners.
same thing with griffin...i want him to win.
i just don't see it. hope your right and i'm wrong. after all, you picked lesner when i thought he had no shot.
as rare as it is, i have to agree with johnny boy on the first two and also with him on amir...i mean really who the f$%k is johnny hendricks?
but i totally disagree with him on grove/almeida
there is no way almeida is getting subbed in this one.
i see almeida winning here
neer/pellagrino?....this is the best they could come up with to open the show, very lame.
and this coming from me...the guy that rarely bashes ufc.
lastly, strikeforce is definately taking some interestingly major steps here. and your right this could eventually get them closer to ufc.
i'll post some additional thoughts on this topic soon.
????????? when do they win???? oh yea when they fight OTHER asians!!!
and please feel free to aim me this is my screen name