Strikeforce has officially signed Fedor Emelianenko, the heavyweight MMA fighter considered to be number one in the world today days after negotiations between M1 Global (promotion representing Fedor) and UFC fell apart. The reason has been Vadim Finkelstein's (Fedor's manager) insistence on co-promotion rights which just didn't make any sense for UFC.
Now it seem Strikeforce, a smaller competing promotion is heading for head-on competition with the UFC. Here Strikeforce has the chance to create some competition in the market by nurturing a) its heavyweight division and b) developing its distribution channel.
So far they have a contract with Showtime which gives Fedor some nation-wide pay television coverage and hopefully an agreement with CBS will also soon be reached. This is a good start.
M1's limited talent, coupled with Strikeforce's roster of fighters including Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers could great a decent card for the fall when Fedor is expected to compete. The war should start soon as the UFC will almost certainly look to comment on this action in the next few days.
If Strikeforce management are smart, they will take advantage to expand their business by developing media distribution and chipping away at the UFC.
As for Fedor, lets just hope he keeps up his training because lately there has been just too much focus around him on business and politics. So far we fans have seen our share of disappointment with Affliction being cancelled, M1/Fedor/Vadim screwing around. Lets see a good fight now!
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