Report: Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum likely to meet in mid-2011?
Posted on November 18, 2010, 06:55 AM by Anton GurevichFabricio Werdum recently stated that he'll be looking for a "tune-up fight" before returning to the Strikeforce cage, against either Fedor Emelianenko or Alistair Overeem. And in light of Vadim Finkelstein's constant statements about having a rematch against Fabricio Werdum as main priority for Fedor Emelianenko's management, I decided to ask M-1 Global for a comment.
According to Finkelstein's response the situation did not change; however, Fedor might participate in a "tune-up fight" of his own. Here's Vadim Finkelstein's official statement in regards to Fabricio Werdum's interview with Aaron Tru:
"We are also looking for one fight before we'd like the re-match with Werdum. However, the rematch is extremely important for us; Fedor should have a chance to avenge his loss."
So, it looks like if both camps execute their plans, Fedor and Werdum will have a rematch approximately in mid-2011. This statement also opens an opportunity for a very interesting "tune-up fight" (sorry, can't stop using quotes for this one). Strikeforce has a very deep Heavyweight division, with the likes of Josh Barnett, Antonio Silva, and of course Alistair Overeem as potential opponents for Fedor and Werdum.
Speaking about Overeem, "The Demolition Man" declared on Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour show that the fight against Fabricio Werdum makes more sense to him:
"Personally, I think Werdum. Yep, Werdum, cause that makes sense," Overeem said. "I already fought Brett [Rogers] coming out of a loss to Fedor. People gave me a lot of [expletive] for that. 'Yeah, you're a fighting a guy who lost, this and that.' I'm not interested in doing that anymore. Let's stick to some sort of ranking and that rankings tell me Werdum beat Fedor. Now, in my opinion, Werdum is No. 2 and Fedor is No. 3, I would say [Antonio "Bigfoot"] Silva is No. 4."
We'll all agree that fighting Overeem is not exactly a "tune-up fight" Fabricio Werdum is talking about. That's why Japan looks like the most likely destination for "Vai Cavalo". In the land of the Rising Sun, Werdum may find himself in the ring against the likes of Pedro Rizzo vs Tim Sylvia Winner, Jeff Monson or Ricco Rodriguez (believe me, they'll postpone their drop down to 205 for that kind of fight). These are also the options Alistair Overeem has, in case he decides to postpone his return to Strikeforce.
As for Fedor, #3 P4P and #2 Heavyweight according to LowKick.com Community rankings, has Antonio Silva (if beats V. Overeem on December 4th) and of course Josh Barnett as possible opponents in Strikeforce. Personally, I would love to see "The Last Emperor" against Barnett. Fedor needs this fight to make a point, especially after Alistair Overeem stated he will defend his title only against fighter coming off a victory.
Stay tuned to LowKick.com for more news on the Fedor-Werdum-Overeem saga.
Comments
It has been so long that I'm starting to lose interest in Strikeforce, and Fedor's management people.
It's really sad to see a guy that's so good being so inactive
This sucks...much rather see Werdum/Overeem and like Barnett/Fedor
The Reem needs to leave SF now, this is a joke one of these guys should be fighting the Reem, and neither one will cause they want a tune up fight, and the Reem is not a tune up fight. A rematch a year later come one. Fedor and Werdum are being selfish. Your telling me that the SF HW champion will not be fighting a legit contender for almost another year if Werdum and Fedor rematch in in the summer of 2011.
I guess the Reem loves K-1 is all I can figure
Whats worse is Overeem is not planning on returning to Strikeforce until mid 2011 from what he said to Helwani on the show.
guaranteed they pay him way more than strikeforce, i would like it alot more also
Agreed 100% that makes perfect sense...glad to see I'm not the only one with common sense
oh I wouldnt go that far
everytime i get excited for a fedor fight the more i get disappointed. is there no one else that they can match fedor? its been a long time since he haven't fought a worthy opponent(i know he lost to verdum but i just cant seem to fell that he lost untill he got submitted but a lost is a lost) anyway if they will have a rematch fedor will avenge his loss i don't think someone can argue with that. for me REEM and FEDOR is the only fight that is very worth watching, if that happens a big change of rankings will be emerged. someone's gonna go down and the other will have his hands raised. I don't think the two will give up easy especially reem.
Strikeforce doesn't have anyone with the skill set to stop Cain. You can contradict me ofc, but please do so with facts.
I disagree, I think Cain, Dos Santos, Brock, Carwin and Mir have a better chance at beating Fedor, Overeem, Werdum, Barnett and Big Foot then they do at beating the UFC fighters
Having the best HW roster don't mean shi+ if they arent fighting anyone.
oh yes look at all their big names, big names that don't fight each other.
I think Barnett is the strongest HW they have, I completely agree I think Cain and Dos Santos can beat Fedor, Reem and Big Foot and dont forget Dos Santos already put Werdum to sleep once
uhh Fedor has beat Barnett and will every time
Carwin, Brock and Mir can beat Fedor or Overeem? Please! You have just unconditional love for the UFC when you say that! Carwin will gas out after the 1st round. Didn't you see how bad Brock was with Cain? Mir, could not finish for 3 rounds overdepressed Cro Cop. Fedor would eat them alive. Both Fedor and Overeem has a way more experience with taking punches and going the distance.
It is really hard to give a definitive answer on the topic because the only only facts we can draw from are that JDS KO'ed Werdum. Any other conclusion would be the result of some twisted MMA math that isn't always accurate (Like Barnett lost to prime nog and cro cop who are in the UFC now).
In terms of the hole picture at HW in both organizations, what it comes down to for me is that I personally favor well-roundedness and experience over youth(which is somtimes accompanied by hype) and athletism in the sport of MMA.
With guys like Fedor, Reem, Werdum, Barnett and Kharatonov, who are true MMA pioneers who have seen it all, I would say SF has the slight nod in terms of HW. UFC has the deeper roster and the brighter future for sure though.
While Cain is obviously a skilled fighter we have seen him rocked by Kongo and have never seen his submission defense. There are still many question marks out there about him. That's the problem with all these people throwing some guy who doesn't even have 10 fights out there as the #1 HW. Lesnar got way overhyped and people ranked him #1 based on nothing except being big and UFC hype, then we all found out he is afraid to get punched, it's a joke.
I think that Barnett, Fedor and Overeem all stack up nicely with Cain. I think that Barnett has enough wrestling that he would see Cain and Barnett go at it on their feet for the most part. Fedor can beat anyone. As for Overeem, his stand up is light years ahead of Cain's and he has very good take down defence. If Reem can keep it standing Cain id finished. All in all I think that it is too close to call in any of these match ups but all three stack up nicely with Cain.
lol ... this fight wil be so difrent that the first one fedor wil just keep it standing and just ko werdum easy ..
As for the rankings: its beginning to be a little pathetic. The CEO is on tv saying this and that but he cant even manage his own fighters.Theres no rankings and fighters opt to fight in other events which makes them not able to fight in SF.
I like strikeforce and I think they have great fighters but someone needs to "control" them, specially the HW. They choose whoever they want to fight, they define when they will fight, they fight in other sports and even in other organizations. That is absurd really...
Fedor wants to avenge his loss to Werdum so bad that he's talking about a "tune up" fight & almost a year to get it??!!
As long as the fight lasted, a date should be scheduled & coming up. Neither fighter got hurt.
Werdum had surgery. He is just starting to train again.
This is a waste. So what happens if either, or both, lose these nonsense "tune up" fights? This is what bothers me the most out of Strikeforce they have horrible matchmaking. One of these guys should be facing Reem.
Where is everybody at?
I told you soo!!!
Where are u at hit me up Lowkickers!!!!
This my friends is SF at its best, "We will wait and see"
I agree 100%...of course the Fedor fans and uneducated MMA douche's would "weak" you for speaking the truth
This is why Fedar will never fight in the UFC, Too much HYPE!!!!!!!!!!!
You really hate FEDOR dont you...why?.....damn
@Hype
I dont hate the guy, I hate his/managment actions.
This is why DW had a good point on another article(overhyped), but yet everyone stood up for fedar and dissed DW?
But look at this, why if he was such a dominate fighter just kick back and say I don't need to fight but once a yr.
If my favorite fighter did that it would piss me off.
This is why he will never fight in the UFC and give his fans what they truly want, fights. Is he just lazy or scared?
Am I wrong?
How about instead of them both having a "tune up fight", THEY FIGHT EACHOTHER! Dammit Coker take control of the situation.
Fedor needs to fight more often. Heck, even if I saw Fedor/Barnett and
Fedor/Werdum in 2011 I'd be very happy.
I don't care who they fight so much as they fight! Fedor, Werdum, Overeem, Barnett......put fights together using any combo of those 4 guys, I don't care, just get it done.
Arlovski, Rogers, Sergei are out there also, at least give them a fight to hold me over. The only big HW fight I have to look forward to in the next few months is Bigfoot vs V. Overeem. This is getting absurd.
This is why I have no respect for Coker or Fedor now. Before the fight on national TV they stated that this winner gets the next crack at Overeem and the Strikeforce title. Well obviously they were all expecting Fedor to win and all over looked Werdum, now that he won Fedor is going to whine and throw a tantrum like a 3 year old at Toys R Us and the SF execs are going to baby him and give him everything he wants so now all of a sudden he gets the rematch...here Fedor here's your do over and oh by the way am I taking up too much room hanging here from your scrotum? What a joke, I cant explain how disgusted I am with SF and Fedor right now and I bet if Fedor wins Werdum will have to suck it up while Fedor gets the next crack at Reem
Nice history rewrite and changing of everyone's character. All Fedor's management has said is that Fedor deserves a chance to avenge his loss at some point. Get out of here troll.
trolling. NO ONE HAS EVER SAID anything about a title shot...Fedor does not give two shits about who or when he fights, he's above all that petty American MMA bullshit.
good job rewriting history, you're worse than Dana White you douchebag
None of it has anything to do with American vs Japanese MMA tho.
By the way, it was Werdum himself who said he wanted to fight Fedor again.
All I have to say is, Fedor and M-1 aren't all that Strikeforce is. Coker has a growing company and promotion full of other talent, other events to plan, etc. I'm as fed up with Fedor stuff as anyone else, but I also won't hate on SF or Coker for putting up with it either. Its Fedor, FEDOR we're talking about. The greatest ever. I'm willing to be patient with him. In the meanwhile, I'll watch other SF cards and wait until Fedor returns.
i'm getting so sick of the long gaps between the important fights in strikeforce.
how is it okay for fedor to be fighting once a year? a rematch with werdum makes no sense because it will take even longer for overeem to defend the belt. it should be overeem vs werdum and then the winner of that should fight the winner of fedor vs silva.
really i hate to say it but i'm starting to agree more and more with dana white on strikeforce and how they run their business.
I think Werdum should get a shot of the title before the end of the year as some people here already stated the long wait between important fights in the HW division really hurts SF in terms of promotion. Fedor fighting once a year hurts Fedor he will only get a year older and a little slower Yes Fedor will keep himself in shape training,sparing etc but it's totally different when fighting in the ring/octagon/Thunder dome (LOL). I do hope that Fedor would fight more I like to watch him fight and I believe that a lot of people has the same feelings weather your a Fedor fan or not you still want to see him fight. If SF does not put together interesting match up people would lose interest and SF will be a feeder competition for the UFC as Dana White has stated.
From official M-1 site: Vadim Finkilstain said that Fedor would fight in January 2011, opponent would be named possibly next week.
i am gunna laugh at all u fedor fans if he gets submitted again.. but if he kos werdum ill come on here and give u fedor fans props