Strikeforce head guy, Scott Coker stated Tuesday that recently signed Fedor Emeiianenko, will not get title shot against Alistair Overeem in his first match with the promotion. Coker did say he plans to get Fedor in a match this fall, but said he thinks they need to build the fight up a bit before giving the WAMMA champ a shot at the Strikeforce heavyweight title.
This is the exact opposite tactic that Dana White suggested he would have done with Fedor had he signed with the UFC. White suggested that he would give Fedor an immediate shot at Brock Lesnar's title in his first match with the UFC, even asking reporters if they thought Fedor needed a 'tune up fight" or something. The UFC has that luxury though, if Fedor came in, fought Lesnar for the title in the biggest pay per view in MMA history, and won, they could easily set up the new biggest pay per view event in MMA history with a Fedor vs Couture match for the title. That dream is dead though.
For Strikeforce however, this is probably a good move for them as a promotion. No one expects anyone within the Strikeforce heavyweight ranks to give Fedor and trouble, but that is largely in part because their fighters are relatively unknown to MMA fans. Coker believes Alistair Overeem is a great heavyweight plagued only by the fact many fans know little about him. Coker will use Fedor oon the same card as Overeem to scure a large viewing audience and in turn, educating MMA fans who Overeem is.
From Tapout Radio via MMANews.com:
“The very first fight that Fedor fights will be on Showtime, and then the roll-out of television from there forward hasn’t been determined 100%, but his first fight will be on Showtime. Fedor and Alistair Overeem should be an amazing fight, and people that haven’t seen Alistair, you know, he’s an amazing fighter.. said Scott Coker"
"I think we should do a couple of fights and build that one up, and then let their champion fight our champion, and let’s see what happens. We’re hoping that Alistair will be ready to fight in the Fall, and we can put him on one of the cards with Fedor, and not fight against each other but fight against someone else, and let’s build that fight up.”
