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STRIKEFORCE VS BELLATOR event New Years Day???

2K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  kantowrestler 
#1 ·





Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney is a guy who’s not afraid to think outside the box, and one of the ideas he’s on board with has the ring of genius about it.
A Bellator vs. Strikeforce New Year’s Eve event.
I like it.
Scratch that, I love it.
The Bellator honcho, known for his fast-and-loose conception of what MMA should be, has been pushing the idea for months but he’s getting no love from Strikeforce for what is surely the most brilliant promotional concept in quite some time.
If you want to run with the big dogs (read the UFC and Zuffa), you have to be willing to climb in the ring, and Scott Coker would do well to sign up for the idea.
Imagine, if you will, a card which includes Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez, Roger Huerta, Dan Henderson, Hector Lombard and a cast of others. That’s the kind of event which would get any MMA fan foaming at the mouth, and it would serve an additional purpose. It would be a clear announcement that both Strikeforce and Bellator are willing to play on the main stage, and that’s great for the fans, fighters and the sport of MMA in general.
Fighters have known it since the dawn of time immemorial; to be the best, you have to beat the best, and this kind of event wouldl generate the kind of monstrous buzz that has solely been the province of the UFC up until now. The resulting shockwave – should Bellator, Strikeforce and their television partners have the foresight to make it happen – would have repercussions far outside the event itself and would go a long way to taking MMA further into the consciousness of mainstream sports fans.
Eddie Alvarez likes the idea, and he gave Scott Coker a piece of his mind on that topic:
“Scott, It seems as though your lightweight champion keeps on calling me out on every interview and I have no problem with that. I’ve never said anything about the kid and I would never say anything at all. Never even approached anybody about fighting Gilbert Melendez. He just doesn’t shut up, every other interview he’s talking about fighting me ‘Oh I want to fight Eddie Alvarez, I want to fight Eddie Alvarez’ and it really makes me look bad because I see it [the interview] the next day later. So Bjorn says it’s OK, I say it’s OK, Gilbert is telling the world that he wants to fight me. I assume you’re the only one left to agree.”
Source....http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2010/10...ellator-vs-strikeforce-card-on-new-years-day/

Scott Cokers response to Eddie Alvarez.....

"First of all, I have tremendous respect for you. I think you're a great fighter, great champion of Bellator and I followed your career over in Japan when you were fighting over there and these things are sometimes a little complicated. It's not just the fight, of course we would love to make the fight, but there's so many details to be worked out between the promotions to make it happen. Bjorn did call me and I did talk to him and this was probably two months ago. I said look, Gilbert has a broken hand at the time so let's just table this until the future, but after the KJ Noons/Nick Diaz fight, we can readdress this. We've been open to co-promotions with every league so that's not the issue. The issue is how does it work on a business level between our two leagues and if we can work that out, we would love to have it."
source....http://middleeasy.com/index.php?opt...fight-with-gilbert-melendez&catid=36:fighters

Please MMA gods if you ever listen to a single prayer that I send your way.....
 
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#2 ·
I wonder what kind've matches we could see besides Alveraz versus Melendez. I'd imagine we would also see Good versus Diaz, and Lombard versus Jacare but what else. I can see Overeem facing the first champion and some other fighters being on the card but the rosters would be exhausted for a long time!:confused05:
 
#5 ·
They got Huerta, Lombard, Alvarez, Horwich, Rodriguez, Dave Herman, and Good off the top of my head...but I know they got way more talent than that...
 
#7 ·
STRIKEFORCE?

Overeem, Fedor Bigfoot, Werdum

Melendez, Thompson, Ribero, Jz Cavalcante

Jacare, Kennedy, Mayhem Miller, Lawler

Diaz, Woodley, Paul Daley , Noons

Feijao, Mousasi, King Mo, Babalu, Dan Henderson.....

Honerable Mentions....Shane Del Rosario, Josh Barnett, Galvao, Beerbohm, Zaromskis, Cyborg, Mike Kyle.....seriously I can keep going..

No way does Bellator have a deeper roster of talent. Not even close..
 
#10 ·
Well that's something we can agree on. In the meantime here are some fights I guess they can do:
-Eddie Alveraz VS Melendez for Lightweight Unification bout
-Nick Diaz VS Lyman Good for Weltweight Unification bout
-Hector Lombard VS Jacare for Middleweight Unification
-Alistair Overeem versus Kole Conrad Heavyweight bout
-KJ Noons versus Roger Huerta in a Lightweight bout
-Rodriguez versus Fedor in a Heavyweight bout
-Dave Herman versus Frabricio Werdum in Heavyweight bout

There are a few other fights but I can't think of them offhand.:thumbsup:
 
#13 · (Edited)
Well that's something we can agree on. In the meantime here are some fights I guess they can do:
-Eddie Alveraz VS Melendez for Lightweight Unification bout
-Nick Diaz VS Lyman Good for Weltweight Unification bout
-Hector Lombard VS Jacare for Middleweight Unification
-Alistair Overeem versus Kole Conrad Heavyweight bout
-KJ Noons versus Roger Huerta in a Lightweight bout
-Rodriguez versus Fedor in a Heavyweight bout
-Dave Herman versus Frabricio Werdum in Heavyweight bout

There are a few other fights but I can't think of them offhand.:thumbsup:
Thanks for posting it. Couldn't have put it better myself.
Strikeforce definitely has the better roster, but it doesn't mean their fighters would win it all togheter.

But, just wait and see if Good gets past Askren. I would like to see Diaz vs Askren.
And:
-Daley vs Good
-Imada vs Thompson
 
#12 ·
I wonder if they would call this fight a versus promotion battle like they did for last year's Dynamite card. Also I wonder what they would call this card. Either way we know that Strikeforce has obviously been willing to copromote with fellow promotions in the past with the late EliteXC!:thumb02:
 
#14 ·
Yeah, those two fights would definately add to it. In my opinion they would need to put together a few of these fights cause there are just so many good fights that could be put together. Also some of them would have to be split up just because of the schedule of fights and all that!:)
 
#15 ·
Scott Coker updates the topic....


Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney wants to pit his lightweight champion against Strikeforce’s. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is interested, but he’s not sure it can be done.

A matchup between Bellator titleholder Eddie Alvarez, ranked sixth in the world, and Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez, ranked second, could be one of the biggest 155-pound bouts ever outside of the UFC.

In an interview Wednesday on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show, Coker said Rebney called Strikeforce four or five months ago about making the fight, but Melendez was recovering from a broken hand suffered during his April bout against Shinya Aoki.

“Obviously our record shows that we will co-promote and we will let fighters go and exchange fighters with other leagues,” Coker said he told Rebney. “We’ve done it with M-1 with Fedor. We’ve done it with Dream. So I think our record speaks for itself on that front.”

However, Coker said one issue with co-promotion would be the timing of an Alvarez-Melendez matchup.

“We’re doing 16, 18, maybe 20 [events] in a calendar year,” Coker said. “Timing is an issue because we need our athletes to be busy in Strikeforce. But with saying that, then the other part is the business relationship, is what type of business relationship are we going to have with Bjorn and can we put it together and make it work for everybody. Because as you know, it’s not always an easy thing when you co-promote. Sometimes there can be things on both sides that show up as a deal breaker. It took me a long time to get the Dream deal done with Aoki. Probably took me about a year. So will [Alvarez-Melendez] happen? We’ll see. Would I like it to happen? Sure. But all the stars have to fall into place.”

Another hurdle -- a major one -- both Bellator and Strikeforce would have to clear is their television deals.

“They have a deal with Fox and NBC late night, and Showtime is our partner. So where does the fight air?” Coker said. “There’s your first question, and I think that’s going to be a big hurdle. Things like that -- there are probably a dozen things on the checklist, but when you start thinking where’s this thing going to air, I can tell you right now I think it’s going to be a big issue.”

In the meantime, Alvarez will fight Roger Huerta at Bellator 33 on Oct. 21. Melendez could be competing next on New Year’s Eve in Japan -- an opportunity that would result from Strikeforce’s relationship with Dream.

“It’s a solid relationship,” Coker said of his dealings with the Japanese promotion. “I think we have a clear understanding. I think we understand how each other’s companies work now and I understand the Japanese fight business. When we brought Aoki over, we had promised to bring them a top lightweight back to Dream. We said we would do that, so there is a possibility that Gilbert might fight on New Year’s Eve. It’s not 100 percent, but we’ll see how things go and then after that you’ll see [Tatsuya] Kawajiri and other fighters start coming back this way.”
source.. http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Coker-TV-a-Big-Issue-for-Strikeforce-Bellator-Co-Promotion-27386
 
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