Strikeforce: More Liabilities Than Assets

A few years ago, Strikeforce was known as the small promotion that could put on a good show and pull off a profit.

Sometime last year, Strikeforce's CEO Scott Coker got tired of being a small, yet only slightly profitable promotion, and decided to take a real run at being a big-time promoter, and competing with the UFC.

Strikeforce's roster now looks very impressive and he's got broadcasting deals with Showtime and CBS. All that being said, I can't help thinking that those very things Scott Coker has as assets may wind up becoming liabilities.

Here's the list of some Strikeforce assets that could end up becoming more like liabilities.

9. Co-Promotion

Co-promotion allowed Scott Coker to bring over fighters like Shinya Aoki, but there is a big drawback in that he's going to eventually need to pay those organizations back.

Gegard Mousasi is already scheduled to appear in the Dream Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, and it seems likely that Muhammed Lawal will join him. If both fighters do well (and they would be the best two fighters in the tournament), that tournament will keep them occupied for months.

With those two fighters occupied, it will be difficult for Strikeforce to find star power to fill their cards in the near future.

8. Alistair Overeem

Due to his impressive physique, Overeem would serve as an ideal foil for Fedor Emelianenko.

Unfortunately, many people still doubt that Overeem will actually return to Strikeforce.

Also, he's scheduled to fight Brett Rogers next. If Rogers beats him, Strikeforce will lose Overeem as champion and as a marketable Emelianenko opponent, but Rogers will still be difficult to market for a rematch.

7. Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson signed a big contract with Strikeforce and was supposed to bring a lot of attention and relevance to the organization.

Instead, Strikeforce found out that not only is Henderson not a big ratings draw, but he also can't fight off his back.

When Jake Shields defeated Henderson, Henderson's stock dropped dramatically, and now Strikeforce will be paying out his big salary without being able to put him in the kind of fights that would merit it.

6. Gegard Mousasi

Mousasi is another unproven draw who Strikeforce re-signed right before his loss to Muhammed Lawal.

He still has an upside, but it will probably be a long time before he's gained back enough hype to warrant his salary after last Saturday's effort that exposed the holes in his game.

5. The Cesar Gracie Brawlers

Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, and Jake Shields all were involved in the post-fight melee last Saturday.

Fight contracts have been torn up over less. Instead, Scott Coker was forced to blame the whole thing on Jason Miller because he can't afford to suspend his champions.

4. Jake Shields

Strikeforce gambled that Dan Henderson would beat Jake Shields. It seemed like a smart gamble, but now Shields appears to be a free agent, and he could leave the organization with the Strikeforce middleweight belt.

Strikeforce has a real dilemma here, because if they let him go to the UFC, they lose their title holder, but if they choose to re-sign him, they'll pay through the nose for a fighter who is a proven ratings disaster.

3. Fedor Emelianenko and M-1

Strikeforce really could have used Fedor last Saturday, but they couldn't get him on television because M-1 wants to "tweak" the current contract.

"Tweaking" is one way to put it.

The other way to put it is that M-1 is refusing to honor a contract because they don't like the terms anymore and they now feel that they're in a better bargaining position.

It's a dirty negotiating tactic and it makes you wonder if Dana White was right about M-1 after all.

2. Nick Diaz

Cesar Gracie said that the brawl last Saturday was an isolated incident.

Nick Diaz's list of achievements now includes:

- a fight with Joe Riggs in a hospital

- an unplanned encounter with KJ Noons

- testing positive for marijuana

- going AWOL and missing a drug test (allegedly avoiding the drug test on purpose to avoid getting caught with marijuana)

All other antics aside, these incidents alone should be enough to prove that last Saturday was far from an isolated incident for Diaz.

Is this really the guy Strikeforce wants as it's welterweight champion?

1. Showtime Partnership

Showtime now has a large amount of control when it comes to Strikeforce matchmaking.

Thanks to that matchmaking, Strikeforce finds itself with a Challenger's Series that is putting on fights between mediocre fighters rather than developing prospects.

Strikeforce has had trouble finding fight card space for exciting prospects like Andre Galvao, Ronaldo Souza, Brett Rogers, and Bobby Lashley, yet they've managed to trot out a series of meaningless undercards and terrible bouts like Jason Miller vs. Tim Stout.

At the same time, the Challenger's Series has also failed to market challengers for most of their champions.

Is there a challenger ready for Mo Lawal?

Does the casual audience know who Ronaldo Souza is?

Does Strikeforce want to feed Nick Diaz a bunch of easy opponents, or are they finally going to start answering Jay Heiron's phone calls?

Is there anybody to face Gilbert Melendez other than Josh Thomson again?

These are questions that shouldn't need to be asked about an organization that wants to be taken seriously.

Unfortunately, the emphasis has been placed upon one-off fights rather than any long-term planning.