Punch Drunk Preview: Strikeforce — Fedor vs. Werdum

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (9-1-0) vs. Jan Finney (8-7-0) for the Women’s Featherweight Championship

This one is just plain ridiculous. Nothing like rolling out the most dominant female fighter in the sport today against an 8-7 opponent no one has ever heard of as the co-main event of your show.

While I applaud Strikeforce for taking a vested interest in female MMA and giving female fighters a place on the poster and a spot in the co-main event, am I really supposed to believe that Jan “Cuddles” Finney is any kind of threat to the female “Cyborg” in this one?

The champ has steamrolled through quality contenders Marloes Coenen, Gina Carano, Hitomi Akano and Shayna Baszler in the last two years, while Finney’s earned her place here with a split decision win over Adrienne Jenkins at a March FCF event. Outside of that, she’s lost to every name she’s faced, and Santos will quickly be added to that list on Saturday night.

Can we please see the long-awaited fight with Erin Toughill after this? Please?

Fedor Emelianenko (31-1-0, 1 NC) vs. Fabricio Werdum (13-4-1)

For all the people who want to continually bring up the fact that Werdum was smashed on by Junior dos Santos as if that lessens his viability as a contender or place as a Top 10 heavyweight: Georges St-Pierre was once smashed on by Matt Serra. I rest my case.

This is a great fight and one that I think will showcase why so many people are adamant in their belief that Fedor Emelianenko is awesome and will be for eternity.

Sadly, no matter what happens, here are the two dominant narratives that could possibly emerge from this fight:

Fedor wins: So what? He needs to fight in the UFC. Who’s he ever really beaten?
Fedor loses: See? Fedor Sucks!

Is there any way I can negotiate a nickel for every post along those lines after this fight is over?