TWICBS

Strikeforce Finally Announced April 17th Card

April CBS card confirmed.  What else do you have for me, Strikeforce?

Strikeforce finally announced its next CBS event.  The day will be April 17th. The place is Nashville, TN.  Headlining the event on April 7th will be Jake Shields defending his Middleweight title against the ever dangerous and Pride’s 2 division champion, Dan Henderson. Also on the card will be the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Gegard Mousasi taking on Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal. And to round out the championship bouts for April 17th, Lightweight champ Gilbert ‘El Nino’ Melendez will put his title on the line against DREAM’s Lightweight champ Shinya Aoki.  Aoki’s title will not be on the line in this bout.  A champion vs champion bout with both titles on the line would have been awesome, but since Marius Zaromskis was not asked to put up his DREAM Welterweight title against Nick Diaz with the Strikeforce Welterweight title on the line as well, I can understand why the DREAM belt is not on the line.

Three championship bouts ready for April 17th in Nashville, TN, but what about the rest of the card and what about future Strikeforce cards?

No other bouts were announced, but the speculation is that Herschal Walker is being looked to as a possible viewer savior for CBS and Strikeforce.  No one has yet come up with any possible opponent outside of Jose Canseco and please do not let Strikeforce bring in Canseco to face Walker.  No one wants to see that fight and no one cares about that fight.

With Walker being the 4th fight on the card, who would be involved in the 5th bout of the card. I feel that Strikeforce needs to start building fighters on the big show. Luke Rockhold had about 2 minutes of work on the Feb 26th and is an exciting fighter to watch. The rematch between Trevor Prangley and Karl Amoussou from Feb 26th would be a good promotable fight as well.

So, what is my point?  I think Strikeforce needs to start planning ahead.  Have 3 or 4 cards in the works that the public are aware of. I would like to see a plan.  A plan that would lead to better and better fights and cards and show fans, media and other fighters that Strikeforce has a plan for the future.  I think because Strikeforce for the longest time didn’t have to deal with monthly events.  I want to see a plan from Scott Coker and his crew.   How we will see the plan is to start talking about the May, June, July and August cards now.   Not waiting till 6 weeks out to officially announce the next card. Sign some fights a few months out. In a conversation I had with a fighter that will be appearing on the March 26th Strikeforce Challengers card in Fresno, CA, he did not know who his opponent was yet.  4 weeks out from a scheduled bout with no idea who the opponent is. Strikeforce may already be planning ahead, but doesn’t appear that way to me.

Please, Strikeforce, start planning ahead and the craziness that you are going through with a certain heavyweight might not have happened…but then again, probably would have happened anyway.  There may be many reason for the holdout, but who knows. The further ahead you plan the more you can build other fighters.   The more you can introduce the DREAM fighters to the american audience.  The more fans you can bring to Showtime and CBS in the future.

And, hey, Strikeforce, if you need help, drop me a line.  I have a lot of ideas for you.

Now, in defense of Strikeforce planning ahead.  An event in May seems to be in the works which will feature some of the top heavyweights in the world.  Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ Alistair Overeem will finally make his way into a Strikeforce cage for the first time in 2 years to face Brett Rogers.  The word is the title will not be on the line.  Makes me a bit mad, but hey, Overeem will finally fight in Strikeforce…we hope.  The other bout in the works and confirmed by the fighters is the return of Andrei Arolovski facing Antonio ‘Big Foot’ Silva.  Arlovski finally has a home after being in limbo for the last 9 months after losing to Brett Rogers in June of 2009.  The Pit Bull signed a 16 month multi-fight deal.

I would like to see more forethought from Strikeforce.  I would like to see rumors released about a June card and maybe even a July card.

Just what I would like to see.

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