He's baaaack!!

[Buffalo Dave]

From Sherdog

Fedor Emelianenko, the world’s top-ranked heavyweight, will lock horns with UFC and Pride Fighting Championships veteran Fabricio Werdum at an event co-promoted by Strikeforce and M-1 Global on June 26 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

Strikeforce officials announced the long-rumored matchup on Tuesday. Showtime will broadcast the event.

Finally the saga is over, and Fedor is back!! Seems like Strikeforce got on the ball and fixed the problems M-1 was talking about. They claimed that they and Fedor were not getting what they were promised from Strikeforce. I would tend to believe M-1 on this since there seems to always be a problem with Srtrikeforce. Coker goes to say that they needed to button a few things up, Wouldn't you want that done before you had Fedor sign his contract? I was hoping for some way Fedor and M-1 could've got out of this contract and become a FA again. There really isn't much competition there for him or anyone that would be a new face for him. I always thought of Strikeforce to be more like WEC where as their divisons from middle weight and under are the best, but they lack in HW and LHW.

As for the fight its self, glad its back on. It was unfair for Werdum since he has been waiting patiently for this to happen. Now that it is finally booked I see Fedor winning this match by another KO, I think it will be over in the 1st round. Fedor is going to be to much for Werdum to handle.

 

[antfarm612]

Yes yes yes YES! Hopefully this will broadcast on cable TV. I love Fedor, but I won't pay to see him dominate Ferdum. They HAVE Overeem, why they haven't booked Fedor/Overeem I have no fucking clue. That's something I would to watch.

 

[jmt225]

Well, on one hand I'm glad they were finally able to come to terms, but on the other.... meh, this is something that I'm no going to get excited about.

I mean, I'm always stoked to see Fedor fight, but Fabricio Werdum isn't a sexy opponent for him. Werdum is perhaps the greatest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in the sport, but his takedowns suck and his striking is absolutely TERRIBLE. Fedor's going to knock his ass out in the 1st or 2nd, and then have another 9 month fucking battle with Strikeforce for them to get him to fight the winner of Overeem/Rogers (HOPEFULLY Overeem, as that's a fight I'm DYING to see).

Moreover, there's also the fact that something can easily happen between now and June 26th that can stop this fight from happening. With Fedor these days, that's always a possibility.

I respect the hell out of Fedor, and he is one of my favorite fighters, but he and his management makes it hard for me to really give a damn about his career at this point, since he's fighting people nowhere near his level, and since he's taking such long lay-offs for no reason.

Still though, good for Strikeforce they were able to make a deal with the guy to get him to return. They really needed that, to say the least.

 

[INDYjon22]

Strikeforce will benefit from this. There has been talk for awhile that Fedor wasn't a big draw and he silenced those critics with his debut fight against Brett Rogers. That fight drew very well and did wonders for Strikeforce. However, I agree with JMT. I don't get all that excited for Fedor fights anymore.

I love Fedor, don't get me wrong, it's just his management that has really turned me off. They are a bunch of shady people who hover over Fedor and try to keep him behind his veil of invincibility by only allowing him to fight fighters who are no where on par with him.

Werdum is a very solid fighter, yet he still is nowhere on the same level as Fedor. This should be a literal cake walk for The Last Emperor. I will watch this fight but can honestly say I am not all that intrigued by it because it has the formula for a squash. And, as JMT pointed out, there is still a ton of time between now and the fight and with Fedor's management I could definitely see something coming up and preventing him from fighting.

Hopefully this fight does happen, because I always enjoy a Fedor fight and then hopefully, Overeem gets a shot at Fedor, or vice versa, because that has all the potential of a rocket buster. I hope Fedor also fights because it will help Strikeforce out and they need some help since the brawl happened.

 

[SalvIsWin]

While it is nice to see Fedor fighting again, this match doesn't make any sense. StrikeForce's heavyweight division is a tangled web, mostly because Overeem hasn't defended his title in many months. Now Brett Rogers, who lost versus Fedor, is getting a shot at the title, while Fedor will be fighting Werdum, a fighter who brings nothing new to the table in terms of beating Emelianenko.

Werdum has very good JJ, but that match-up was done ages ago with Fedor with Nogueira, who also has better hands than Werdum. I am eagerly anticipating the betting lines on this match-up because I do not see any conceivable way that Wedum takes this fight. After this fight though, Strikeforce will be able to clean up the heavyweight division, putting on the anticipated Overeem vs Fedor, or Fedor vs Rogers II, both of which would sell IMO.