Scott Coker admits heavyweight tournament was difficult to put together but in the end everyone wanted in
Strikeforce CEO, Scott Coker has today revealed that the promotions upcoming heavyweight tournament was tough to put together after having to deal with so many different personalities, but in the end everyone wanted to be a part of it.
Speaking via MMAFighting.com, Coker said:
“You’re dealing with eight managers, from eight different camps, wanting eight different things. But in the end, everybody wanted to fight in the tournament, and they said, ‘Sign me up.’ From Fedor [Emelianenko] to Alistair [Overeem] to, you know, Andrei [Arlovski], they all wanted to be in the tournament, because in the old days, let’s say, in Pride, the tournament was very, very popular. I think this is kind of a throwback to that era.”
Coker also revealed why the tournament appears to be so lopsided, saying it was a conscious decision to put both Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko on the same side of the draw.
“Very rarely in a tournament does it ever work out where the last two guys are the guys everyone wants to see fight. So I said to my guys, ‘What about this scenario: let them fight in the semi-finals, and let them get it on, and whoever wins moves forward.’ …Let’s say Fedor does get past ‘Bigfoot’ and then Alistair wins that fight, then we’re guaranteed to see a big fight.”
The tournament kicks off on February 12th in East Rutherford, New Jersey with two quarter final bouts, pitting Fedor Emelianenko against Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, as well as seeing Andrei Arlovski take on Sergei Kharitonov. Stay tuned to MMABay for more on this event and others as we get it.
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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Photo by Esther Lin – STRIKEFORCE
