During today's Strikeforce press conference it was announced that Alistair Overeem's heavyweight title will not be on the line during the bouts that will take place in the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament. This has led to disappointment by many but honestly makes a good amount of sense.
Alistair Overeem’s Strikeforce Title Will Not Be On The Line In Tournament
↵It was entirely unlikely that all the fights would have been contested as five rounders and that would make it unbalanced to have Overeem potentially fight three five round fights while others are only fighting three rounders. Not to mention the increased amount of risk of injury for fighters if they’re taking on an extra 10 minutes of work each fight. And injuries are what crush tournaments in combat sports. There’s also the simple fact that this is not a tournament for the Strikeforce heavyweight championship it’s simply a heavyweight tournament that the champion is taking part in.
↵If anyone but Overeem wins the tournament Strikforce CEO Scott Coker said that they will earn a shot at Overeem’s title. Thus setting up a big future fight. And should Overeem run the table he will erase any fears that he is not a legitimate top level fighter and Strikeforce will now have him as a true star on their roster.
↵The tournament still sounds fantastic to me and I’m not really seeing how this decision taints it in any way.
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