Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem Part Of a Successful Heavyweight Tourney?

Earlier today. Mike Chiapetta of mmafighting.com confirmed the signing of eight heavyweights to partake in a Strikeforce heavyweight tournament taking place over the course of 2011.

The tournament features a nice mix of current top talent, former greats trying to find a way back to the top and developing talents trying to make a name for themselves.

The signings include heavyweight fighters Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett and Sergei Kharitonov.

At first glance, there are some exciting possibilities that jump out to any fan of mixed martial arts. The possibility of seeing Overeem fight more times for Strikeforce than he has in over three years is tantalizing to say the least.

A chance at witnessing a Werdum vs. Fedor rematch will definitely spawn great debates. Finally there remains the possibility that Fedor and Overeem may meet for the first time in their respective careers.

A Fedor vs. Overeem bout is something fans have been wanting to see since Fedor made his debut for Strikeforce in November 2009.

Two quarter finals are already set to take place at Strikeforce 31 in East Rutherford, N.J., this Feb. 12. 

The heavily favored Fedor Emelianenko takes on underdog Antonio Silva and two talented strikers in Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov will face off as well.

The other two quarterfinals are set, but the date and place remain unknown. Alistair Overeem faces a big challenge in Fabricio Werdum, the first man ever to defeat Emelianenko legitimately.

Last and maybe least, Brett Rogers will face Josh Barnett, both men will attempt to make themselves relevant in the division again.

Digging a little deeper than the surface reveals tons of potential story lines that could develop a lot of interest in the Strikeforce heavyweight division. 

There are some interesting match ups and a lot of potential rematches in this tournament.

Arlovski could fight Rogers and/or Fedor for the second time. Overeem could face Rogers for the second time or better yet, a rubber match with fellow K1 competitor Kharitonov.

Josh Barnett may finally face Fedor after the two were expected to fight in August 2009. Barnett tested positive for performance enhancing drugs ultimately leading to the destruction of Affliction MMA as a promoter. With a tournament of this caliber, a potential media frenzy could ensue.

This tournament could really help to develop a nice little niche for the Strikeforce heavyweight division in the highly competitive world of mixed martial arts promotion.

The UFC as a whole does not have to worry too much about Strikeforce considering the apparent strength of their organization from bantamweight through to light heavyweight.

However, UFC president Dana White should pay close attention to this Strikeforce heavyweight tournament because contrary to Strikeforce, the UFC heavyweight division is on hold right now.

UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is out of action for at least six months with a shoulder injury, Shane Carwin is recovering from back surgery, Roy Nelson is in the midst of legal battles over a contract issue with another promotion and Brock Lesnar's future has been a mystery since he lost the title back in October.

The state of the UFC heavyweight division leaves top contender Junior Dos Santos without a title shot on the horizon and the remaining guys; Brendan Schaub, Stefan Struve, Matt Mitrione, Mirko CroCop and Frank Mir are either still too green or haven't looked good in their last outing, which is the case for Mir and CroCop.

Strikeforce has an excellent opportunity to generate a lot of fan interest in their heavyweight division especially for the first half of 2011 during the time the UFC sorts their heavyweight division out.

Despite the opportunity and possible reward coming with this heavyweight tournament, will Strikeforce take full advantage of this bold move? Although there is a lot of upside to this tournament, there is a lot of risk as well.

Signing eight heavyweights of which all will have to compete once, four will have to compete twice and two will have to compete three times in a given period of time sounds easy, but given Strikeforce's track record, it maybe isn't so easy after all.

First of all, this tournament is going to have to be completed over a period of around one year. If the tournament extends far into 2012 or later, fans will lose interest.

A drawn-out tournament also causes Strikeforce to lose the advantage it has over the UFC heavyweight division during the first half of 2011.

Secondly, the fighters are going to have to show up .

Alistair Overeem competes in K1, and Strikeforce allows him to do this. Is Alistair going to want to defend his K1 kickboxing title in 2011?

If yes, how will Overeem balance the potential and likely fact that he will probably have to fight three times under the Strikeforce banner and at least two to three times in K1?

Mixed martial arts and kickboxing are different sports and require different training, is Overeem really going to stick around in this Strikeforce tournament? Or will his love for K1 push him to pull out down the stretch?

Fedor Emelianenko has fought twice in 14 months for Strikeforce and much of the media surrounding Fedor has been on the contract disputes between Strikeforce and his management team amidst the rumors that he is picking and choosing his opponents.

Besides Overeem, Emelianenko and Werdum (the top three guys in the tournament), the tournament could afford to have one or two of the other guys pull out as long as they haven't beaten any of the top three yet.

Josh Barnett is one of the few guys that has the potential of upsetting Overeem, Emelianenko and Werdum. Barnett is a big risk to the tournament in that he is considered a threat, but he has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs on two separate occasions. What will Strikeforce do if he tests positive a third time?

Contract disputes, drug testing and fighting elsewhere aside, what about injury? This is mixed martial arts, guys are going to get hurt.

What happens when a fighter falls out due to injury later in the tournament? Does a loser get put back in? Should a new fighter be signed? Should Strikeforce wait the injury out and risk the advantage they may hold over the competitions' heavyweight divisions?

Obviously the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament is going to generate a lot of hype, and the upside for Strikeforce's strongest division can't be underestimated.

However, there are a lot of risks in organizing a tournament of this size and it is going to be interesting to see whether or not it all pans out for Strikeforce and fans of mixed martial arts.

In any case fans of mixed martial arts could be privy to some pretty exciting fights should everything come together.

If Strikeforce does succeed with this tournament, detractors won't have an easy time bad mouthing Strikeforce's heavyweight champion when all is said and done.