Scott Coker confirms Alistair Overeem will put his title on the line at every stage of the heavyweight tournament
Strikeforce CEO, Scott Coker has confirmed that the promotions heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem will indeed put his title on the line against Fabricio Werdum in the quarter-final match in the upcoming tournament, with the winner of that fight set to defend the belt in the semi-finals and so on.
Speaking via MMAWeekly.com, Coker said:
“It’ll be four nights over a period of eight months, then we’ll have one champion. The goal is to have Alistair put up his belt against Fabricio Werdum. If Werdum wins, then he will have to put up the belt, but at the end, you will have one champion.”
“Alistair wanted to be in the tournament. 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.’”
“I’ve been saying for the last six months, Strikeforce has the best heavyweight division in the world now, why not let these guys go fight each other. It’s gonna be a great time not only for fight fans, but for mixed martial arts as an industry.”
Overeem would have a legit chance of being considered the top heavyweight on the planet if he blew through say Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett to win the tournament this year. Stay tuned to MMABay for more on this and more as we get it.
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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Photo by Esther Lin – STRIKEFORCE
