Scott Coker declares himself happy with Strikeforce's "continuous progress"
Posted on March 10, 2010, 06:36 AM by Anton GurevichStrikeforce CEO Scott Coker spoke exclusively to MMAJunkie.com, declaring himself happy with the promotion's progress as a driving force in Mixed Martial Arts. Coker stated that he expects a "new benchmark", when the legendary Dan Henderson steps in to fight Jake Shields in the main event of Strikeforce: Nashville on April 17th:
"The growth has been amazing, and I really feel honored and fortunate to have networks like CBS and Showtime because they're very vested in this program, and they love MMA. Because of guys like the Showtime executive Ken Hershman, we get to see the amazing fights that Strikeforce is able to put together. It's an amazing time for Strikeforce, and I think this year will be another amazing year. Fedor will be back, and I think that the fight in Nashville is going to be another benchmark in having Dan Henderson come."
With three title fights on the line at Strikeforce: Nashville and a new stars on the roster, Scott Coker stated that he expects a long run in Mixed Martial Arts business. Strikeforce are nowhere near the Ultimate Fighting Championship in terms of the event quantity, but according to Coker they have plenty to give in terms of quality:
"Think about this: Aoki vs. Melendez, how many people could have pulled that off? I feel very fortunate, and it's going to be an honor to have Aoki to fight Gilbert and to test our guys against their's and see what happens. That's what should be happening everywhere. We're going to be in this for a long time, and a year from now, it's probably going to be the same thing. The difference between our company and the other companies that went out of business before us is that this is our core business."
Strikeforce are currently in an ongoing negotiations with M-1 Global over the return of their biggest Ace, Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko. According to the latest quote coming from M-1 officials, Fedor will not participate at the stacked Strikeforce 24 card on May 15 that will feature mostly Heavyweights. Strikeforce organized 10 Mixed Martial Arts events in 2009, with only six title fights.
Comments
I am excited about this card, but many fans may stop watching if Fedor is absent. The people want Fedor as champ...
Aoki vs Melendez, King Mo vs Mousasi, and Hendo vs Shields.. gonna be a really good card. Im happy to see StrikeForce putting on great fights these days, Dana can't really talk about them being a low tier organisation putting on low quality fights anymore. Also Dana was stupid to go head to head putting UFC on the same night as StrikeForce, he will lose the battle against that card.
nah i dont care who's champ, as long as they have earned it and will fight anybody, any card
lets be honest, with the exception of fedor, strikeforce dont have a lot else than whats on this card...dont get me wrong it is a great card, but there really throwing evryting they have into it...it MAY get more views dan ufc 112 you never know, but either side of 112 the ufc have got stacked cards at 111, 113 and 114, wheras if u look at strikeforces last card (miami) in my opinion it wasnt even as good as a ufc fight night, let alone a proper event card...so even dohstrikeforce nashville will be brilliant. but they cant have mousassi and fedor fighting at every card, plus i have a feeling that both mousassi and mo will join the ufc soon, so im not entirely convinced by strikeforce...
amazing card ! keep the good work strikeforce!
they only need to clear the heavyweigh belt!
make alistar fight fedor ! or strip the title from him and make a title fight!
beside that it looks pretty good !
w0ow scott coker does look like a child molester =S
cant strip the title from overeem if its fedor who dodges
...but who cares. I am really tired of the who's better UFC or SF argument. I think that both organizations put on some good fights, so whatever...
Strikeforce is putting out good fights, have good fighters, & have 2 big networks backing them up. They need to promote there fighters more though. They have nowhere to go but up.
If I could watch MMA on TV every weekend or maybe 2-3 times a week I'd never miss a showing, MMA is an addiction and I really think that currently the organizations are only taking advantage of a few % of the time and money we would like to invest if we could, there just isn't anything for us to watch.
its called SpikeTV my friend, UFC Unleashed is on alot
This is a great card. Aoki vs. Melendez is just amazing. But I would rather see Aoki in the UFC. Just like Fedor. I'm taking Strikeforce one card at a time. But this one is solid.
Melendez will lose.
the cards are getting stacked with awesome fights,strikeforce has got to keep this up its getting bigger and bigger witch is great...for mma
UFC shuld put there fighters to figt fighters from other organisation just to see how good they are.Dana wuldn't do it i think most of there champs gona get there asses kicked
Funny bro! UFC has the #2, 3, 4, 5, 6th ranked fighters according to the computer AND the consensus. Fedor is now dodging Overeem claiming "possibly steroids", but wants to fight Barnett who tested positive. Obviously it's not a roid issue. Fedor is scared.
lol they tried that....didn't work out when their best lhw went over to pride (chuck liddell) where dana put a lot of money into a bet promising that chuck would win the whole tournament. he got taken down and beat up by a mid-level pride fighter (Jackson). the same guy knocked him out even harder in the rematch in UFC.
You have a great idea, just concluded very badly. They should through like an all out every organization tournament. Or do a combined event full of Champion vs champion Strikeforce vs UFC Fight Night. Imagine the sales on that
throw* not through... gimme a break im an engineering student, i think in math
Barnett is a much, much tougher opponent than Overeem so your math doesn't add up.
coker wants me to fight fedor sometime in november but ill have to check my calendar.
This is going to be a great card in the quality of fights but if the UFC was promoting this exact same card there would be at least three times the amount of advertising and awareness of the event. Thats where I feel strikeforce fails they don't promote their fighters hard enough. Still going to be a great card though
Im curious to see how Strikeforce evolves, but the recent squabble with Overeem & Fedor's situation has weakened my view so to speak.......................redeem yourselves please
LOL
Fedor has hit Diva status, stop negotiating and fight already if its what u "love to do"