Strikeforce: An Analysis

by

Kevin Sampson

Correspondent Written on August 03, 2009

Ever since I first heard of Strikeforce, I’ve liked them have been quietly rooting for them. They’ve got a very cool name and a lot of potential broadcast support behind them. They’ve also got something of a truce with the UFC—something that can save your backside as an MMA organization. They have some very exciting fighters like Cung Le, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Brett Rogers.

The biggest problem they’re facing is "Champion Lethargy". All totaled, their current champions have defended a total of zero times! For their Heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem, the problem seems to be a need to compete outside of Strikeforce, which may be due to boredom within Strikeforce. Sobral has racked up one fight since winning the title, but that fight was for Affliction and unrelated to the Strikeforce belt. Cung Le is a phenomenal fighter who seems to have lost interest in fighting, and would rather pursue a Hollywood acting career. As for their Welterweight Champion…well, they don’t have one of those yet. The Lightweight Champion Josh Thompson hasn’t defended since he got the belt a little over a year ago, which led to the creation of an Interim champion.

If the UFC has taught us anything about successfully building an MMA promotion, it is this: If you want to survive, you have to keep busy. That means your champions need to stay active and defend their Championship Belt frequently. One solution would be to get your champions to stop running off to fight in other promotions. But Strikeforce is still a small name promotion. Do they have the clout to insist that Overeem must (at long last) defend his Heavyweight Title? Can they even hope to insist that their fighters stay inside Strikeforce without triggering a mass coup and seeing them leave Strikeforce in droves? For example, it’s quite possible that if Strikeforce tries to push Overeem, he’ll just drop out of the promotion. Prior to signing Fedor, the outlook for Strikeforce’s leverage over Overeem was pretty bleak.

The best thing that could happen to Strikeforce just landed in the person of Fedor Emelianenko (and right in the middle of putting the finishing touches on this article, I might add.) Gergard Mousasi was just the gravy on top. It will be interesting to see what Emelianenko does for Strikeforce. Every other promotion he’s ever signed with is dead—and one could make a good argument that he’s a massive jinx—but he brings a lot of legitimacy to Strikeforce, even if it is only at the heavyweight level of competition. On the other hand, this could open a feud with the UFC, something that might destroy Strikeforce as a promotion. Time will tell if Strikeforce survives their greatest signing ever.

Here’s what the champions at Strikeforce look like right now:

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION = Alistair Overeem

Title Defenses = 0.

Last fight for Strikeforce = 11/16/07 (when he won the title.) Overeem has fought 4 times since, all for non-Strikeforce promotions.

Fight record Strength (on a scale of 1 to 5) = 4-Excellent. Losses to Chuck Liddell, Fabricio Werdum, Sergei Kharitonov, two losses to “Little Nog” Antônio Rogério Nogueira, two losses to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Getting pummeled by the Light Heavyweights doesn’t look that good for a Heavyweight Champion. Most significant victory: Vitor Belfort twice. Has a lot of wins under his belt, but you’ve never heard of most of the fighters he’s beaten.

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION = Renato “Babalu” Sobral

Title Defenses = 0

Last Fight for Strikeforce = 2008-11-21 (when Babalu won the title). One fight since winning the title, for non-Strikeforce promotion.

Fight Record Strength (scale of 1 to 5) = 5-Elite. Sobral has quite handily beaten some of the best of the best Light Heavyweights in the world. Easily ranks in the top 10 Light Heavyweights in the world on any sane person’s rankings.

Additional Notes: Babalu still has the end of the David Heath fight hanging over his head. Renato refused to let go of a choke hold well after his opponent tapped. During his post-fight interview, Sobral told UFC analyst Joe Rogan that he was aware that Heath had tapped, but "he (Heath) has to learn respect. He deserved that. He called me 'motherfucker'." So any speculation of it not being intentional was forever shattered. The fallout from that fight makes Babalu a potential PR nightmare to whatever promotion he fights for, especially to those who are critical of MMA for being “too brutal.”

MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION = Cung Le

Title Defenses = 0

Last Fight for Strikeforce = 3/29/2008 (when he won the title.) He also hasn’t fought for a year and a half, raising concerns over how committed his is to his fighting career.

Fight Record Strength (scale of 1 to 5) = 4-Excellent. Cung Le has an undefeated career MMA record of 6-0, with all wins by KO or TKO. It is only the scant number of MMA fights that keeps him from ranking amongst MMA’s elite fighters. His most impressive win over Frank Shamrock was particularly interesting: Repeated kicks that Shamrock blocked left Frank Shamrock with a broken arm by the end of the fight. Cung Le is also undefeated in kickboxing.

WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION = VACANT

LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION = Josh Thompson (Champion), Gilbert Melendez (Interim Champion)

Title Defenses for Josh Thompson = 0

Title Defenses for Gilbert Melendez = *1 (Melendez is a former Lightweight Champion, and successfully defended the title once. He lost to Josh Thompson in his second title defense.)

Last fight for Strikeforce for Josh Thompson = 9/20/2008.

Last fight for Strikeforce for Gilbert Melendez = 04/11/2009.

Josh Thompson Fight Record Strength (scale of 1 to 5) = 4-Excellent. Josh has a lot of wins, but most have come over mediocre MMA competition. Still, credit must be given for his 16-2-1 record. Most significant win: beating Gilbert Melendez for the belt. Most significant loss: losing to Clay Guida.

Gilbert Melendez Fight Record Strength (scale of 1 to 5) = 4-Excellent. Gilbert also has a lot of wins, the most significant of which was beating Clay Guida for the Lightweight belt. Most significant loss: losing title to Josh Thompson.

Additional Notes: The Lightweight Division is the busiest of Strikeforce’s weight divisions. Both the champion and interim champion seem to be sticking around and fighting for Strikeforce exclusively, a feat that none of their other champions seem to be able to do.

WOMEN’S CHAMPION = VACANT

The fact that Strikeforce sports a Women’s MMA division at all makes them a rarity amongst all MMA organizations. This certainly might help them become a more significant force in the sport.