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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
[Fedor Art Credit - Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Despite comments from Showtime senior vice president Ken Hershman earlier this week stating Fedor Emelianenko was likely to fight for Strikeforce on a yet to be announced October 10th, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated at the post fight press conference for last night's Carano vs. Cyborg event that Fedor's debut would be coming in November.
No date or location has been secured for any of the fall events, and no opponent has been decided upon for Fedor's debut. There are two frontrunners, however, when it comes to that subject. Coker said at the press conference that Brett Rogers is a name they are looking at, along with Fabricio Werdum who scored a submission victory over Mike Kyle on last night's event in the first round. The undefeated Rogers would be coming off a 22 second knockout of Andrei Arlovski in June.
A name that had been floated around this week, and one that drew the ire of many a fan for being a consideration, was former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez. Coker shot those rumors down at the press conference, saying it was never even talked about.
Strikeforce is planning on a number of events this fall as well, according to Coker. He stated they've got three "Challengers" events in the works along with Fedor's fight and one other major event before the end of the year. Then next year they're planning on 18-20 fights in 2010, with around 16 appearing on Showtime.
Penick's Analysis: Well, it's unfortunate that Fedor's debut fight looks like it'll be pushed back further, but the good news is they're looking at two of the names that people might have some semblance of an interest in seeing. They've got an ambitious plan for the number of events they'll be putting on, but it'll remain to be seen if their roster can support that many fight cards throughout 2010. The hype video teaser they debuted for Fedor last night was a good start, but they'll still need to do more to hype up his eventual debut.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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