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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
While Strikeforce has yet to make any type of announcement for their April event that was believed to be coming to CBS, there appears to be one less major fighter coming to the event. M-1 Global announced during a press conference for the M-1 Selection Eastern European event on a Russian television station that Fedor Emelianenko will not be fighting in April, and instead will not be fighting again until May, though that will still come against Fabricio Werdum.
That heavyweight bout was initially expected to be the headlining bout on the second Strikeforce on CBS card, though as the date (or possible dates, to be more accurate) gets closer and closer his participation in the event had been heavily questioned. Now it appears to be answered, though it's not necessarily the answer Strikeforce had been wanting.
The main event of this April card, expected to come on either the 17th or 24th of the month, the latter date putting them head to head with the WEC on pay-per-view, will be Dan Henderson vs. Jake Shields for the Strikeforce Middleweight Title. WIth this news and Jake Shields' comments earlier this week that the fight may not be coming to CBS it may be a sign that this event in April is destined for Showtime, with CBS getting back on board in May.
Penick's Analysis: They really should save the CBS card for whenever they'll have Fedor fight, as it will give them the best chance for the highest possible rating. Without any of Henderson's fight footage to use to sell him in this fight, and they'll need to resell him to some people with Henderson being out of action for the last nine months, they've got a main event that just doesn't appeal to as many people as Fedor fighting. It's still disconcerting that we haven't heard word one from Strikeforce in any official capacity and another breaking announcement about someone expected to be on the next CBS card comes from elsewhere. Hopefully Strikeforce makes some type of announcement regarding April's event shortly.
[Fedor Emelianenko art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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