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Scott Coker: Overeem's Title WILL NOT BE On The Line In The Tournament!!!!!!!

6K views 106 replies 44 participants last post by  kantowrestler 
#1 ·
While the buzz surrounding Strikeforce's recently announced heavyweight grand prix has been immense, understanding of the specifics of the tourney has been a bit less than ideal.

Today, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker clarified many of the questions that needed to be addressed.

First up, Alistair Overeem's title will not be on the line in the tournament. And while there were some suggestions that every fight in the tournament would be contested as five-round affairs, instead, that will only happen in the grand prix finals, when a newly created Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix title will be on the line.

"All quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be scheduled for three, five-minute rounds," Coker said. "The tournament final will be five, five-minute rounds for the Strikeforce world grand prix championship."

With the heavyweight grand prix set up as an eight-man, multi-night, single-elimination tournament, draws could prove problematic along the way. In order to address that, Coker said a fourth judge will be on hand in each fight to determine which fighter will advance from the tie.

"If any fight results in a draw, an independent fourth judge will determine who advances or who wins based on the fighter's overall performance in the fight," Coker said. "We will have a fourth judge on hand scoring the fight independently of the three that we normally have."

The final question mark in terms of tournament format involved potential injuries to the eight competitors. If a winner were to suffer a serious issue, who would continue on in the bracket.

"If a fighter qualifies to advance in the tournament but for any reason can not advance, we're forming a five-person tournament-review committee who will select a fighter to advance in his place," Coker said. "This fighter will be chosen from a pool of fighters that will include the previous opponent and the winners of reserve matches."

Coker said the tournament-review committee will be headed by Strikeforce rules director Cory Schafer.

While the final regulations for the tournament represent a small shift from the ruleset originally expected to oversee the ambitious grand prix, Coker said the ultimate goal was simplicity.

"In this tournament, everybody has to climb the same mountain," Coker said. "To make it simple, just like they do in Japan, ... the tournament champion will stand on his own. We'll have our heavyweight champion and a tournament champion."
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Totally unexpected!!!

Didn't see that coming!!!

That's a BIG LOL!!!

Overeem's title is not on the line! AGAIN!

I don't even care. At least we will have some great fights!!!
 
#3 ·
Remember PRIDE!

They had 2 champions:
1. one champion had let's say the heavyweight belt, just like in the UFC
2. they had tournaments/Grand Prix: MW, HW and Open Weight and the winner got a belt too.

They had more than one champion!

I didn't see this coming!!!
 
#4 ·
Would be sweet if the title was on the line, kinda dumb if the champ is fighting in the tourney ya know, might as well make it a title fight. Smart on SF's part, they keep Overeem marketable even if he loses the tourney and can set up a match between the winner of the tourney and overeem for the belt.
 
#10 ·
What a joke. Just when I thought SF was doing something good...its screwed up again. Not all Coker's fault...guess it didn't fly with the commissions or something.

So now we have Overeem not defending his belt for another year after 1 defense in 3 years. Sad.

Now if Werdum or Fedor win the tourney...they would need to beat Overeem again just to get the belt.

What a joke.
 
#15 ·
Now if Werdum or Fedor win the tourney...they would need to beat Overeem again just to get the belt.
Even stranger is the fact that Fedor or Werdum could beat Overeem and not win the tournament. That's the weird part! Beating the champion and getting NOTHING!

but don't worry: Overeem will win this and get his 4th belt. As the tournament winner he will challenge Overeem (The HW champ) and lose LOL
Honestly i am just happy we will get to see great fights! :D
 
#16 ·
This is stupid. Why dont they just make Overeems three round fights title fights? The guy has the potential to fight three times in the organization in which he is the champion and not defend his title in any of the three? Even when Strikeforce does something awesome like this heavyweight tournament (although its not really a tournament anyhow), they still manage to add a level of retardation to it.
 
#18 ·
Why so much hate on this decision? It's not their fault that they can't make much sense with the grand prix when the champion, Alistair Overeem is taking part as well. I'm actually liking the idea that Overeem's belt isn't in the line, it would take so much away from the final, if he didn't make it there.
 
#21 ·
I can understand people being upset, but don't blame SF, they're most likely just replying to orders from various commissions around America. They've even had to make up a title (Tournament Championship) to have the last match be 5 rounds (Not that 5 rounds will be that relevant in a HW tournament)

Don't blame Coker, blame the people who make the rules :p
 
#23 ·
This is something the UFC could pull off in a few weight classes (not heavy weight IMO) because they have a full stable of high level fighters.

This is not a good model for strikeforce IMO. I just think it could spread the fighters too thin in a weight class that is already thin to begin with, its great for fans but a few of these guys are going to be left with nobody relevant to face and all that will do is push them down in the rankings even more so if they lose.

Strikeforce should look to acquire Bellator around the beginning of next year, last time I looked they were struggling to make it and leaking money like the titanic.

I like a single belt system.

At least that way you add some more warm body's for the top guys to beat on. I think one belt would provide us with a fairly solid understanding of who's the Undisputed Strikeforce Champ.

If you think about it thats four fights a year just to defend the title maybe one more probably not for most fighters.

The thing is, it gives more validity to the title itself that way, the UFC could never claim their fighters are better tested, its always quality over quantity but with one belt I think you bring them both together.

Case in point if reem wins this he will probably be recognized as the heavyweight champ of the world in a lot of peoples eye's (although I dont agree)But what if Fedor wins the title without having to face Reem? The case for all kinds of arguments is there and top SF fighters may slip right out of the top ten all together.

If reem losses this then he'll drop in rankings and people will say the guy who won is the real SF champ, I dont think I like that. I think the reason titles are in place at all is because we the fans want titles we want to know who IS the best, period but this structure could and at some point will devalue the title.
 
#24 ·
I do not like this at all. I liked the idea of every Overeem fight being a Title Fight. Oh well it is a mute point if Overeem wins the whole thing.
 
#26 ·
But if he takes a lose to anyone but the fighter who wins the tournament it just adds doubt to whats suppose to be the most authoritative title in the weight class in Strikeforce.

IDK like some have said it has some benefits but most of them hinge on one fighter winning both titles in my eye's. But Im going to watch it that much I know, LOL.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Go figure ... lol.
Imagine Dos Santos fighting UFC champ Velasquez... without opportunity to grab the belt... just for fun:) And in order to get it, he would need to beat Velasquez twice. Sounds like a complete BS. As MMA fan I don't care that much about the title holders in DREAM/SF/WAMMA comparing to actual fights. I just want to see Werdum, Overeem and Fedor facing each other, but fighters should be disappointed. I mean, Werdum already beat Fedor and if he beats Overeem, he still won't be the champion... and even if he somehow defeats Fedor AGAIN. Cool isn't it? Then what does it say about the titles? I guess the probability of this is extremely low, so it's not even a consideration of SF management.

P.S.
Shogun was a huge underdog in PRIDE GP 2005, but he completed his work admirably.
 
#33 · (Edited)
I kind of expect the winner to get a title shot anyway.
Yeah, you must beat Fedor, Overeem, Fedor again or Silva again, then Barnett/Kharitonov/Arlovski/Rogers. Nice way to earn the title shot:) you have to beat the champion (+ the best HW in MMA history twice) to earn the right to face him again. Lol
 
#84 ·
Nice way to earn the title shot:) you have to beat the champion (+ the best HW in MMA history twice) to earn the right to face him again. Lol

Being the best fighter at heavyweight in mma history is about your record at heavyweight not potential at heavyweight, clearly he's not there yet.

He might get to that level of prestige but he's not there now not even close, He'll have to beat more than a few top ten guys to leapfrog over Fedor and prob need to beat Fedor himself most of the guys he'll need to beat to lay claim to "the best ever" are all in the UFC anyway.
Stupid question but if the HW belt isnt on the line for the tournament winner is it on the line when Overeem fights in the individual matches within the tournament? ie if Werdum beats the reem will he get the belt?
Seeing as the individual fights are all part of the tournament, your right that was a stupid question.
 
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