Strikeforce tourney audio update: Overeem's belt not on the line and no five rounders
Scott Coker spoke with the media Thursday about the upcoming Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix. Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem is in the tournament, but his belt is not. As a consequence, there will be no five-round fights.
"In this tournament, everyone has to climb the same mountain. We just couldn't put [the five-round fight concept] together," Coker said (1:30 mark). "To make it simple just like they do in Japan ... the tournament champion will stand on his own. And we will have our heavyweight champion and our tournament champion."
The Strikeforce CEO said he was worried about getting all the commissions on the same page.
"It would be a difficult thing to do and we didn't think it was fair for one person to fight five rounds and one person to fight three rounds," said Coker.
After a year where Strikeforce and Coker gave Overeem plenty of freedom to explore fights outside the organization, the boss said in 2011 the fighter is fully committed to this tournament (5:40 mark).
Coker's also a big MMA fan and said if Overeem comes away the victor, it puts him in a new stratosphere.
"If Alistair wins, he'll have proven that he's the greatest, not just MMA fighter or K-1 fighter. He'll say he's the greatest martial arts fighter in the world."
