Strikeforce Heavyweight Division 2010 and Beyond

After signing the number one ranked heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko last year, Strikeforce has decided to take a gamble and go head to head against the top dog in the mixed martial arts world, UFC.

So far it has done great building up its heavyweight division which I think will always be the big draw for the crowds. No matter who Fedor fights, fans are going to want to see, but there must be a good pool of top ranked fighters to choose from and this has been a problem thus far.

Having signed with the promotion, the fighter visibility was Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem. All good fighters, but it was not clear where to go from there. Strikeforce clearly needed to build up new fighters from below and this is something the promotion has so far not been able to do.

The first talent to emerge in Strikeforce will likely be Booby Lashley. The guy has decided to focus full time on MMA and this is his chance to face the top talent outside the UFC. Strikeforce has recently signed Andrei Arlovski who will likely face Antonio "Big Foot" Silva in May of 2010 while Josh Barnett having signed with Dream FC could likely be able to fight in Strikeforce as part of a co-promotion effort when he is cleared by the regulators.

As a result we could already have a good pool of heavyweight fighters: Fedor, Overeem, Rogers, Arlovski, Antonio Silva, Werdum and soon to be Lashley. (with a possible Josh Barnett) This is a pool of fighters that could really compete against the top guys in the UFC heavyweight division.

There are of course a couple of exciting add-ons from the LHW division such as Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi and King Mo Lawal, all of which have fought at heavyweight before. So actually we have plenty of talent. What needs to come through are the new guns that have the skills and the talent to make it in the division. Guys like Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez are such guys in the UFC, but did UFC create them? The answer is no. Cain fought at Strikeforce but went to the UFC while Dos Santos fought in many organizations prior to joining UFC. Strikeforce needs to build up its fighters and could potentially use the European angle, working with smaller organizations around the world and particularly in Europe.

M1 Global could be one source, but there are many such channels which Strikeforce could tap into. Scott Coker is a smart guy, and we should look towards a bright future for the division. Aleks Emelianenko, Jeff Monson and Marius Pudzianovski should also join.