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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
After Fabricio Werdum forced Fedor Emelianenko to tap to a triangle choke last Saturday on Showtime, talk immediately began of an immediate rematch between the two. In the following days, that talk has persisted, and it's found some backing in some circles and it's a definite possibility that Strikeforce and M-1 Global bring it to fruition.
While the bout makes sense in some ways for Fabricio Werdum, certainly from a monetary standpoint as well as a higher profile fight than any other he'd have, and definitely makes sense for Fedor, this rematch is a nightmare for Strikeforce and one that they need to avoid.
The case for making the fight is that there's money to be made with the rematch. People would be interested in seeing the rematch to see Fedor get his vengeance and try to take the win back. Werdum would be able to command more money for this fight than against any other fighter, and Fedor's a much more high profile fighter than the other guy he's already beaten in Alistair Overeem.
It makes total sense for Fedor and M-1 Global to want this rematch as well, as I'm sure many believe that Fedor would win a fight between the two of them nine times out of ten, and that last Saturday was simply that one time that Werdum could pull something like that off.
But for Strikeforce, putting this together based on the wishes of Fedor and M-1 Global is a bad move and will handcuff them even further on a number of levels.
For starters, they have a logical move to a title fight for Fabricio Werdum here. He's more than earned his title shot against Overeem, and instead of making Overeem face an undeserving challenger, or worse making him sit out even longer to face the winner of this fight, they would have a Championship fight that people would take seriously.
On top of that, say they put this rematch together, and say Fedor gets his win back on the last fight of his contract. Fedor and M-1 Global may not stay with Strikeforce. There's still a possibility that Fedor could go to the UFC, and if this rematch gets put together and Fedor bolts or retires after a win, Strikeforce is back to not having a viable challenger for Overeem.
Strikeforce brass need to think about what is best for their fight promotion at this point, and they need to look long term at this situation instead of what would simply be a short term boost with this rematch.
Scott Coker needs to take control of the situation, and not continually bow to his "co-promotional" partners in M-1 Global. M-1 no longer holds the cards, and Coker needs to realize that the deck is now stacked in his favor. A rematch may make money on CBS (because this fight will not sell on pay-per-view), but at what cost to Strikeforce and their heavyweight division?
This is an opportunity for Scott Coker to really right the ship and cement Strikeforce's spot as the #2 promotion. They can do that by putting together fights that make sense, and not telling people a fight is for a #1 contendership unless the guy you think is going to win doesn't win. That's not how you build faith in the fans, and that's not how you get taken seriously. If this rematch gets put together, they're essentially letting everyone know that pleasing M-1 Global and trying to fix the "mistake" that was Fedor losing is more important than them being a steady fight promotion. I hope they're smarter than that.
RELATED STORY: PENICK: Fedor Emelianenko's loss to Fabricio Werdum quite possibly the best thing to happen to Scott Coker: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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