The Wheel

This past Saturday night in Nashville, Scott Coker and Strikeforce attempted to reinvent the wheel, but lacked the tools necessary for the job. Consequently the entire promotion’s forward progress came to a grinding halt in front of a prime time audience on CBS.

The Event

For all of Scott Coker’s talk of improving the production values of Strikeforce events, they continue to fall very short of the current standard set by Dana White and the UFC. After some pretty startling and effective opening credits, the bar came crashing down and you would have thought you were tuned into an IFL rerun instead of what is supposed to be the second biggest MMA promotion in North America. Coker and his team really need to study the UFC in the same manner that a fighter would study an opponent. The details are everything. From the type of entrance the fighters make to the cage, to the music, to the introductions. It’s about creating drama and telling a story that begins when the fights are signed. It’s so simple that it’s startling how difficult Strikeforce makes it look. You announce the signing of the fights, you announce the completed bill when it’s done, hopefully with enough time to properly promote the event. It’s important to note that modern MMA fans like to keep tabs on their favorite fighter’s camps, and then there is the big press conference, which should be an event in and of itself. After the initial press conference you have your weigh-ins, which is yet another event that involves actual planning and production, and not what you currently witness at Strikeforce’s badly conceived weigh-ins. Where is the live streaming? Where are the fighter’s daily blogs? Where is the promotional programming leading up to the event? Scott Coker talks a good game, and he is a master of being able to identify the best case scenario arguments in regards to his promotion, but he is in dire need of someone capable of implementing some serious change on the production and promotional front.

First thing’s first however, and that is an entire overhaul of the announcing team. Finding another Joe Rogan doesn’t seem likely, and his value to the UFC becomes that much more apparent after every Strikeforce telecast. However, there is still a Bas Rutten out there waiting to be called into action. Let’s face it, Gus Johnson and Frank Shamrock need to go away as fast as humanly possible. In Shamrock’s case, let’s hope that means moving away from broadcasting and back into training because suddenly a Shamrock vs Henderson fight doesn’t seem as unthinkable as it did a mere 48 hours ago. The low point of a night filled with low points wasn’t the Mayhem Miller vs Team Gracie melee, but it was Frank Shamrock imploring Dan Henderson to finish Jake Shields from his ringside announcing seat.

The first nails in the coffin had to come when CBS decided not to show the event live on both coasts, which is ratings suicide in this day and age of instant results via the internet.

The Fights

Strikeforce and CBS just pissed away another prime time opportunity to make some significant gains in their steep uphill battle for respect in the UFC dominated landscape of MMA. On the heels of a disasterous UFC 112, Strikeforce dropped the ball and failed to deliver a single memorable moment on a card that featured three different title fights. To make matters worse, the most exciting fight was probably Jason Mayhem Miller’s preliminary bout against Tim Stout, which was booked a couple of weeks before the event, then left off of the televised main card (although edited highlights were broadcast on the west coast). Mayhem may have gotten the last laugh when he entered the ring just as Jake Shields was about to give his victorious post fight interview and proceeded to challenge Shields to a rematch. A melee ensued, with Mayhem appearing to take on both Diaz brothers, Jake Shields, and Gilbert Melendez all at the same time, not to mention another three or four dudes who seemed to be connected to the Jake Shields camp, but in what capacity I do not know. Mayhem emerged uninjured, while Strikeforce was left with a black eye and little chance of returning to CBS any time soon.

April 17th was a night of worse case scenarios for Strikeforce. Gegard Mousasi suddenly looked his age, and I mean that in the best possible way. Mousasi is only 24, and so he has time to improve his conditioning, his striking, and takedown defense in anticipation of an eventual rematch with King Mo, not to mention the inevitability of encountering another wrestler or two in the next five to ten years. Mousasi claims that he will retire at thirty, but I’ll believe that when I see it. King Mo, for his part, took Mousasi down at will. Superior wrestling was Mousasi’s undoing, but in terms of 205 champions King Mo Lawal is going to have to do a lot more in the coming years to convince anyone that he would be able to seriously challenge any of the UFC’s top ten lightheavyweights. What does that say about Mousasi? Exactly.

Scott Coker claims to have been working on bringing Aoki stateside for over a year, but after all the negotiations and importance placed on getting Aoki, he never stepped in when he was told that Aoki wasn’t training in a cage? Coker took more of an interest in Hershel Walker’s preparation for his Strikeforce debut. Ultimately it may not have mattered much since Gilbert Melendez is by far the more complete fighter at this point in their careers, but watching the Strikeforce champion negate Aoki’s jiu jitsu by simply exploiting the challengers inexperience in the cage spoke volumes about the lack communication in that organization. Did anyone even mention the name to George Sotiropoulos to Shinya Aoki’s camp? Sotiropoulos has the blueprint for getting around the no pants rule in MMA. To add injury to insult, Melendez just cleared the lightweight division in Strikeforce, so I expect to see a Josh Thompson rematch before the year is out.

It goes without saying that Dan Henderson’s suddenly looking every bit of his 39 years of age is not the best case scenario for Strikeforce, but if you were looking for positives, then you could point to Jake Shields who proved to the world that he is no fluke, and that a Strikeforce champion is capable of dominating a fighter who was next in line for a UFC title shot against Anderson Silva before he jumped ship to Strikeforce. That means something, but unfortunately that meaning will be lost in the aftermath of the post fight assault on Jason Miller, and the UFC’s inevitable signing of Shields for a run at GSP’s belt.

-Jason Emanuel