Penick's Take
PENICK: Alistair Overeem's Strikeforce Heavyweight Title needs to be on the line throughout the Heavyweight Grand Prix
Jan 10, 2011 - 11:30:44 PM PENICK: Alistair Overeem's Strikeforce Heavyweight Title needs to be on the line throughout the Heavyweight Grand Prix

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce is doing a lot of things right with the announcement of their heavyweight grand prix. The brackets are setting up the fights that logically make sense for them to make in the division, and by marketing it as a tournament there's a narrative for the way these fights play out.

It's a brilliant strategy, because it has already worked in getting the fanbase excited at the fights that are planned, and the fights that will come in the later rounds. Not to mention that they've got fans and media talking about the tournament non-stop and have a lot of positive attention coming their way.

But there's one thing with the tournament that has yet to be resolved, and if the wrong decision is made it could turn this entire Grand Prix into a mistake for the organization.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem is taking part in the tournament, meeting the #1 contender to his title, Fabricio Werdum, in the first round. It was initially reported that Overeem's belt would be on the line in each round of the tournament, but now Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has put that in doubt, stating that they want all of the tournament fights to be five round bouts in the name of uniformity and fairness. At this moment, it's not a given that commissions will go for the five round format for the non title fights.

"It's not fair because you have a guy in your tournament who's fighting a five-round fight, and everybody else is fighting three-round fights," Coker said in an interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com. "And you know the championship rounds, rounds four and five, somebody could get hurt and it's not fair. It's an unfair situation."

Regardless of whether or not they can get five round non-title fights sanctioned throughout the tournament, Overeem's belt needs to be on the line in the tournament. He's set up to fight the two fighters he should be facing for his belt in Werdum and Fedor Emelianenko. If those fights take place under the guise of a tournament and not for the title, then they're essentially forgoing a chance to bring some sense of legitimacy to their title in order to have a tournament.

Overeem has defended the belt once as it is since winning it in 2007, against a fighter in Brett Rogers coming off a knockout loss. Beating Werdum, and then presumably Fedor, would legitimize his status as Champion of the division, and the finals of the tournament would be a logical title fight as well.

However, should they make all fights three rounds in the interest of fairness, they run the risk of having their Champion lose, yet still keep the title of Champion. When these were the fights that should have happened for the title anyway, if the title isn't on the line then the tournament hurts Strikeforce more than it helps.

It doesn't matter if all of the tournament fights are the same length in regards to this particular "Grand Prix". It is set up for the logical challenger to the title to get each shot at the belt at the right time, in the right order, and that's how it should go down. The winner of the right side of the bracket featuring Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Brett Rogers and Sergei Kharitonov will have earned their shot at the title, just as the winner of the left side featuring Overeem, Werdum, Fedor and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva will have earned their right to call themselves Champion.

Strikeforce doesn't need to make this more complicated by having Overeem fight in non-title fights against fighters he should be defending his belt against. If the commissions won't make five round non-title fights so be it, but the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title should be on the line when the Champion is in a fight.