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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem is taking part in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix at his own request. His first round opponent, Fabricio Werdum, defeated him in Pride in 2006, and Overeem told Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker that he's looking to avenge the losses on his record.
"Alistair wanted to be in the tournament," said Coker in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. "He asked me in Japan when I was there for Dream, after he knocked out (Todd) Duffee. He said, 'Scott, I want to fight Fabricio Werdum. I'm gonna avenge all the people that beat me early in my career and he’s at the top of my list.'"
But Werdum isn't thrilled about the booking, despite getting a crack at the organization's Championship.
"What I think about is a rematch with Fedor," Werdum said in an interview with Tatame.com. "I wouldn't like to give Overeem this rematch, I'm just fighting because the event matched this fight. To Fedor I'll give this rematch happily, because I like him and he deserves this rematch. But first I have to think about how I'll beat Overeem so that rematch can happen."
Werdum seems to believe that Strikeforce is looking to work to the rematch between him and Fedor, saying the organization is banking on him beating Overeem when they meet in April.
"I believe they did it that way so that they can sell many pay-per-view subscriptions on the semifinals and on the finale," Werdum said. "They're betting I’ll beat Overeem and that Fedor beats Big Foot, because they know everybody wants that rematch. So, they want to guarantee a good semifinal so that they sell it out and they’re betting on it. Who doesn't want to watch a rematch like this one?"
The tournament begins on February 12 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as Fedor Emelianenko meets Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Andrei Arlovski meets Sergei Kharitonov.
Penick's Analysis: It's obvious that Strikeforce's Heavyweight Title is meaningless to Werdum. He's taking the fight against Overeem because Strikeforce has booked it, but he continues to act as if he's above Overeem due to defeating him four years ago. He still believes the money for him is in the rematch with Fedor, which may be true, but Strikeforce needs this fight to happen to bring some legitimacy to their belt. Right now, it has none even with the man that's fighting for it, but regardless of who wins this fight they will be the clear and rightful Champion of the division, and will have another meaningful title fight against a deserving challenger in the semifinals. Werdum's attitude about the fight is ridiculous, though, because Overeem is a completely different fighter than when they met in Pride. If he believes Overeem isn't a worthy opponent because he's beaten him once before, he's going to be in for a rude awakening in April.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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