For all those people who wonder why Dana White wouldn’t just agree to co-promote with M-1 Global so that he could land Fedor for the UFC, this event is your prime example.
The power brokers at M-1 were not pleased with how little recognition they received as co-promoters of the first Fedor fight with Strikeforce and made it known. They wanted people to understand that it was Strikeforce and M-1 Global who put Emelianenko in the cage opposite Brett Rogers on CBS last November. They also wanted you to know they have more clients than just “The Last Emperor” as well.
As a result, we get the cumbersome name of this event and an undercard featuring four pretty much unknown M-1 Global fighters facing off against a collection of combatants from in-and-around the San Jose area, all of whom look better on paper than their M-1 opponents. Seriously; I wouldn’t be too surprised if the only M-1 win of the night came in the main event.
While the usual Punch Drunk Preview protocol is to run through each fight on the card and give you my thoughts accordingly, I’ll say this for the undercard instead:
Showcasing local guys is great, and Yancy Medeiros is a solid home-grown prospect for Strikeforce. That said, putting all these M-1 guys on the undercard to appease your foreign friends is like naming the non-athletic kid that can’t throw starting quarterback because you work with his dad and want that promotion.
If they want more fighters featured, maybe they should sign more meaningful clients, and not piss off the promising ones they used to have… cough Mousasi cough…
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Punch Drunk Preview: Strikeforce — Fedor vs. Werdum