Should Fedor Emelianenko Be An Alternate In Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Tournament?
Fedor Emelianenko was bounced from the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament by Antonio Silva. Now Strikeforce President Scott Coker says “The Last Emperor” should be an alternate. Such a move, however, would undermine the significance of the tournament.
Scott Coker believes so. The Strikeforce President told the media in attendance at the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva press conference that Fedor Emelianenko, should he choose not to retire, would be considered as an alternate in the event another heavyweight has to drop out for the grand prix.
The logic goes something like this. According to Coker, the loss to Antonio Silva was not so clear cut that he has no business competing with the other heavyweights in the field. In addition, Fedor is still popular among the fans and folks are still interested in seeing him fight. The pre-determined tournament committee (on which Coker does not sit) will ultimately have to decide which alternates they'll use, but Fedor should be one of the fighters given the previous considerations.
None of what Coker said is exactly false, but it’s all immaterial. A third-round comeback for Fedor, despite his gruesome eye injury, was not out of the question. And most certainly, fans will still pay money to see him fight. But that’s not really the point.
I was forgiving of Strikeforce’s dubious bracketology for this tournament given the market realities for Strikeforce and MMA. Strikeforce does not have the luxury of seeding a tournament on pure rankings, where 1 meets 16, 2 meets 15 and so on. In MMA, especially for the number two organization, gerrymandering and engineering some measure of favorable outcomes for the sport and for the tournament itself should be permissible.
But this goes beyond the tipping point of allowable fight engineering. No one should pretend any of the reserve bout winners on Saturday night stand a chance at beating anyone among the regular seeds save Brett Rogers. Shane del Rosario neither has the fighting ability nor the popular appeal of Fedor.
Again, however, that isn’t the point. If Strikeforce wants Fedor to still be usable, fighting the loser of Overeem vs. Werdum is a much better idea. Strikeforce can still use his promotional muscle without overly interfering with the integrity of the tournament.
All of this is to say the flexibility we allow promoters to give fans the fights they want to see should be respected, but when promoters erect more rigid confines of a tournament structure, they must respect basic realities of what gives tournaments meaning. It is part promotional vehicle, but also part divisional fleshing out. The two must be kept in balance. Putting Fedor in as an alternate undermines that key consideration.
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