Fedor/Silva on Feb 12, Kicks off SF HW Tourney!

REDDzone · Post #1 » by **REDDzone** » Mon Jan 3, 2011 7:31 pm

http://mmafrenzy.com/17077/fedor-emelia ... on-feb-12/

This fight kicks off a 8 man HW Tournament. Also on the card is Barnett/Arlovski.

Werdum/Rogers on March 5 with another unnamed fight (Overeem/Kharitonov is my guess).

I'm kind of a sucker for tourneys/GPs, so I'm pumped. Plus Fedor fighting should be a treat.

Post #2 » by **singh_shady** » Mon Jan 3, 2011 7:45 pm

This is bad ass! My only fear is Fedor advancing to the later rounds but eventually holding out over some M1 contract negotiation BS

Post #3 » by **CPT** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 3:28 am

lol

http://mmajunkie.com/news/21964/strikef ... -event.mma

Werdum vs. Rogers is already off. Arlovski vs. Kharitonov (not Barnett) is the other fight on Feb 12.

I'll believe this tournament when it happens, seriously.

And will Overeem be in it, or will the winner get a shot at him?

Seems horribly unorganized...a real shocker for Strikeforce.

REDDzone · Post #4 » by **REDDzone** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 7:18 pm

Let's give them a few days to sort it out before we dog them about it.

The latest, if true:

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/1/4/191 ... eavyweight

REDDzone · Post #5 » by **REDDzone** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 7:26 pm

Fedor/Silva
Arlovski/Kharitanov

Werdum/Overeem
Rogers/Barnett

Could be epic if it happens this way.

Cammo101 · Post #6 » by **Cammo101** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 7:41 pm

Overeem is the SF champ, no way is he going to be part of this tourney. Presumsably, the winner would face him.

PS: This tourney will fall apart.

REDDzone · Post #7 » by **REDDzone** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 7:48 pm

Cammo101 wrote:Overeem is the SF champ, no way is he going to be part of this tourney. Presumsably, the winner would face him.

Wrong, at least according to the 3 reports I just read.

PS: This tourney will fall apart.

I could see that, if M-1 has anything to do with it.

Post #8 » by **CPT** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 10:10 pm

REDDzone wrote:Let's give them a few days to sort it out before we dog them about it.

The latest, if true:

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/1/4/191 ... eavyweight

The bracket from that link looks cool, but is beyond (Please Use More Appropriate Word).

How are Fedor, Silva, Werdum, and Overeem all on the same side?

How are Werdum and Overeem facing each other in the first round?

It honestly looks like they set it up with seeding, but the fights are 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6, and 7 vs. 8.

Post #9 » by **singh_shady** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 10:41 pm

CPT wrote:

The bracket from that link looks cool, but is beyond (Please Use More Appropriate Word).

How are Fedor, Silva, Werdum, and Overeem all on the same side?

How are Werdum and Overeem facing each other in the first round?

It honestly looks like they set it up with seeding, but the fights are 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6, and 7 vs. 8.

I could see where you're coming from but I don't think it's (Please Use More Appropriate Word) at all. Ask anyone the one fight they want to see right NOW in SF.. The answer is Overeem vs Fedor.. SF wants to put on this fight ASAP, they don't want to wait for both of them to get to the finals (assuming they do so) because all that does it give M1 more time to mess things up.

Having the bracket set up this way allows for them to have the most hyped HW fight of this year happen as soon as possible, which is what people want.. Now, I do agree that Werdum should have been on the other side though to even things up

Post #10 » by **singh_shady** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 10:46 pm

Also, I can't believe people are bashing or doubting SF for this (Overeem's inclusions, pairings etc, etc). This is f*cking awesome, we should be commending

Post #11 » by **damo[23]** » Tue Jan 4, 2011 10:59 pm

My concern is not if it happens, but how long it takes to happen.

Fedor fought once in 2010.

Overeem "couldnt" defend in 2010, but found time to fight K1 etc.. when his opponents were tapped up and either recovering or not far out from fights.

A lot of these guys fights are few and far between, I can just see it tapering out of momentum when someone doesnt want to fight (cough M1 cough) or Overeem wants to go do K1 or whatever.

Post #12 » by **CPT** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 1:15 am

I guess I shouldn't have sounded so critical.

On the one hand, there are some fights in there that are awesome. Obviously. And tournaments are always pretty cool.

That being said, given Strikeforce's track record, and the fact that they are trying to get this underway in about a month, I think it's pretty reasonable to have doubts. And if the reason for the tournament is just to make the fights people want to see...why not just make the fights? Why create a scenario where your champ could go out in the first or second round, while someone like Brett Rogers or Arlovski could make it to the finals, when it seems like they have already fought (and lost to) everybody. I guess the roster is so thin it's impossible for there to be no rematches within the tournament, but they could have done it a little better, IMO.

1. Overeem
8. Arlovski

4. Barnett
5. Silva

2. Werdum
7. Rogers

3. Fedor
6. Kharitonov

Now that I gave it a shot, I guess it would be kind of hard to make first round matchups without rematches, but something could be worked out that more closely resembled what a tournament should really look like.

Post #13 » by **singh_shady** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 2:34 am

^ SF doesn't have the luxury of time here (I always say this) they need to put on great fights as quickly as possible.

Yes conventionally you would set up a tournament with the seedings you suggested but SF can't do that. Those first round matchups would terrible (aside from Barnett vs Silva) and we'd have to wait a while to see anything of interest.

WIth the current pairings you have two can't miss fights (Overeem vs Werdum and Fedor vs Silva) and two very intriguing matches: Barnett vs Rogers (Josh's first fight in forever) and AA vs Kharitonov (Which AA shows up and how does Kharitonov look in his return to MMA?)

It may be anti climactic but it's the only way to ensure that the key fights actually happen

Post #14 » by **CPT** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 2:53 am

I'd rather have the first round of a tournament be bad than the semis or finals. But since I'd say the odds are less than 50/50 that we actually see those rounds, yeah, I guess you might as well just make some random good fights and call it a tournament.

High 5 · Post #15 » by **High 5** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 2:49 pm

It's annoying that SF has arguably the two best HW on the planet and they can't get a fight going. Something with multiple levels like this is bound to fall apart. I can appreciate the thought, but it has been hard enough to get Fedor and Overeem to fight once a year. They have failed to do even that with Overeem.

SDM · Post #16 » by **SDM** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 2:52 pm

Fedor just signed a four fight deal with Strikeforce. I considered Fedor's contract status to be the biggest roadblock to this happening.

Cammo101 · Post #17 » by **Cammo101** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 2:56 pm

I still think this is going to be a disaster. Strikeforce has done nothing to show me they can make this happen. Fedor, Barnett, and Overeem all fighting more than once a year? Better chance of a unicorn picking me up from work today.

My guess is this tourney will happen, but it will be a complete mess. I hope I am wrong though, because done right it could be epic.

High 5 · Post #18 » by **High 5** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 3:21 pm

I'd rather they do Fedor/Overeem and then do the tournament. Probably a less chance of the tournament happening several months from now, but at least we'd get the fight everyone wants to see and if it turns out to be a great one the tournament could set up a rematch.

Only problem with that is whoever wins the fight would be sidelined (at least with SF) for another long period since they wouldn't be in the tournament.

Post #19 » by **singh_shady** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 4:09 pm

^ So people rag on SF hard after Rogers got to fight for the title coming off of a loss but you want Fedor to immediately fight Overeem now? SF isn't immune to criticism (they've earned their fair share) but come on, it's like they can't win with whatever they do here.

I agree with you in that I really want to see that fight but Werdum earned a shot against Overeem, let SF build up some legitimacy by actually giving it to him.. If Fedor beats Silva he'll have earned a shot against Overeem/Werdum..

And for all of you saying SF can't get Overeem to fight more than once a year.. It's never been his fault, he's either been injured (nasty staph infection/hospitalization that kept him out for a year), or he's had his opponents avoid him (Fedor) or not want to fight him (Werdum, who wanted to fight Fedor again). He only fights in Japan when there's no fights for him at SF and of course, he also does K1. Now that he won the GP I think he'll focus more on MMA though. Even if he wanted to do the GP again, the Final 16 isn't until October anyways.

Turning down fights has never been an issue with Overeem at SF

High 5 · Post #20 » by **High 5** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 4:59 pm

I'm suggesting that because they already gave Rogers a title shot coming off of a loss. If they can do it for him they can certainly do it for Fedor (especially since Fedor was the one who beat him in the first place). Fedor doesn't have time on his side and his "mystique" can't afford another loss. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, just what I'd prefer to see. If I had confidence that this tournament would go off without a hitch I'd be all for it. Hopefully it does.

Really I wasn't being critical of SF, but the situation they're in with their two biggest stars being hard to set up fights for.