Penick's Take
PENICK'S BLOG: Rumors and confusion abound on Strikeforce's April endeavor
Feb 23, 2010 - 4:44:25 PM PENICK'S BLOG: Rumors and confusion abound on Strikeforce's April endeavor

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce's sophomore CBS effort is supposed to be taking place this April, but to date the organization hasn't made any announcements in regards to any exact date or location, and rumors have been thrown around recently about the time and place of the event as well as Fedor Emelianenko's participation, or lack thereof. As others around the web have pointed out, they're at around the same length of time out from the originally reported date of April 14th as they were from November's CBS event when that was officially announced; but the lack of an official announcement is not as disconcerting as no word from Strikeforce officials on the many different stories being tossed around regarding their second network event.

First up is the issue of just where this second CBS is taking place. One story says it's coming to Nashville, TN on the 17th, though those reports are laying the claim that Fedor Emelianenko would not be a part of that particular card and Dan Henderson and Jake Shields would headline. The second possible date is the 24th, which would put them head to head with the WEC pay-per-view event as well as Showtime's own Super Six boxing series.

Now, Fedor's participation in the event has been the subject of a number of rumors, ranging from "he's facing Fabricio Werdum" to the ridiculous "his contract is voided and he's in negotiations to face Brock Lesnar." The latter is not close to the truth, despite the wishes of every MMA fan, but with no comments one way or the other from Strikeforce on the matter we're left to ponder the scenarios on our own.

This lack of communication leads to the sense that, quite frankly, they don't have things together, at least when it comes to what they're doing with these major events. Whether that's a matter of limitations and hurdles that Scott Coker and Strikeforce are put through with CBS and Showtime, or whether the originally rumored event is still on the docket and they're trying to be strategic with their announcement of the event, the fact is they are less than two months out from the April 17th date and they're not giving the fighters participating on the event proper warning to train and get full training camps in. You can tell a fighter, "you'll be fighting here" or "you'll be fighting on this date," but when they are still hearing that another date is a possibility or getting all of this misinformation they're not able to count on what's been told to them.

It's things like this that keep the anti-Strikeforce/Showtime/CBS contingent fueled, as they point to this disorganization and lack of communication to suggest that Strikeforce is headed toward the same fate of every other organization that has attempted to become a major league player in MMA. I don't see it being at that dire of a stage just yet, but it's worrisome that they haven't even so much as debunked some of the more ridiculous takes that have been strewn out there. Pushing everything to the last minute for these major events is not conducive to continued success, and they'll get a pass for the time being due to their rookie status as a major organization, but they need to get things in gear and at least be proactive in striking down the false statements that are being thrown out there. Their silence just leads to the belief that they're either not paying attention or things really are going awry at the moment.