Strikeforce on Thursday clarified rules, rounds and stakes for its first World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament, which commences Feb. 12 in East Rutherford, N.J.
The eight-fighter event will stand on its own and crown a Strikeforce World Grand Prix champion, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said, with the winner earning a shot at the promotion's heavyweight title currently held by tournament participant Alistair Overeem.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will be conducted via three-round fights, while the finals are scheduled for five five-minute rounds.
The promotion originally intended for its heavyweight belt to be contested three times during the tournament -- first, in April, when Overeem is scheduled to meet Fabricio Werdum. However, Coker said, to "make it simple" he opted against having the title available or pushing for each tournament stage to feature five-round bouts, which is allowed under the Unified Rules of mixed martial arts.
Regulators in California, Missouri, New Jersey and Tennessee told ESPN.com they would have agreed to five-round, non-title tournament fights, yet Coker laid responsibility for the decision at the feet of states he declined to name.
"There was some confusion in the beginning but I said all along, unless we get all the commissions on the same page it would be a difficult thing to do," Coker said during a teleconference. "We didn't feel it was fair for one person to fight five rounds, another person to fight three rounds. There was debate about, well, should the final fight be a title fight? But what if Alistair wasn't there? It just became very confusing. We felt this would be a great way to launch the tournament and we're very happy about it.
"We would have to have all those commissions on the same page and we just couldn't do it in time."
Nick Lembo, counsel to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, said Thursday that Strikeforce never approached him or the commission about the possibility of five-round fights for the February event at the IZOD Center, which features quarterfinal matches pitting Fedor Emelianenko against Antonio Silva, and Andrei Arlovski versus Sergei Kharitonov.
"For the tournament fights or alternate fights, I had no problems with it going five five-minute rounds," Lembo said.
Prior to being asked about it by ESPN.com on Thursday, Lembo was also unaware of Strikeforce's intention to use a fourth judge, independent of the three assigned by whichever regulatory body oversees that event, to determine an advancing fighter in case of a draw.
"Strikeforce could utilize a fourth judge for their own tournament advancement purposes, but the fourth judge would not be an NJSACB judge, and such would not effect the official recorded result," Lembo said.
While a fighter would continue onto the next round of the tournament, his official record would reflect the result as a draw, Strikeforce rules director Cory Schafer confirmed. The fourth judge would score the fight as a whole, similar to Pride Fighting Championships' old scoring method.
In the event of a no-contest, a five-member World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament review committee headed by Schafer, will determine the advancing fighter. This committee is also tasked with selecting from a pool of main draw and reserve participants in the event that fighters cannot continue because of injury or something similar. A fighter disqualified during tournament action is ineligible to advance.
Joining Schafer are Dale "Apollo" Cook, a retired world kickboxing champion from Tulsa, Okla.; Al Wichgers, a veteran judge and referee licensed in 14 states based in Milwaukee, Wisc.; retired MMA pioneer Guy Mezger, of Dallas, Texas; and Steve Alley, a fight promoter out of Denver, Colo.
If the current Strikeforce heavyweight champion trumps the field, Overeem will hold both the tournament and promotional belts, as well as the K-1 World Grand Prix title he earned in December.
Said Coker, Overeem's promoter: "If Alistair wins he'll have proven he's not just the best MMA fighter or K-1 fighter, but he'll have proven he's the greatest martial arts fighter in the world."
Conversely, should Overeem lose to Werdum, who could subsequently lose in the semifinals or final, the 30-year-old Dutch heavyweight would be required in his next bout to defend a promotional title of questionable value.
No comments:
Post a Comment