Strikeforce: Brett Rogers, Alistair Overeem and Lack of Depth

This Saturday Strikeforce is once again presenting us with another event, Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery. The main event is Strikeforce champion “Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (30-11) versus Fighters.com sixth-ranked heavyweight Brett Rogers (10-1). This fight is a microcosm of the problem the organization has with lack of depth and proper marketing which could bring the end of Strikeforce in the near future.

Alistair is the heavyweight champion in Strikeforce although a casual fan of the organization probably doesn’t know this fact. This would be due to his inactivity here in the states. The last time he fought for Strikeforce or in the U.S was back in November of 2007. Since then he has been active in Japan and Holland but has yet to defend his title.

He has gone 6-0 with six first round stoppages, dealt with an injury received as the result of a night-club incident as well as constantly mentioned concerns over his massive frame that many believe is due to performance enhancing drugs.

Media and fans alike called for Overeem to be stripped of the title but Scott Coker did not feel it was the correct move. “There was dialogue about [stripping Overeem of his title], but I was really against that,” Coker said. “In 2007, I think he fought for us in November, and in 2008, I don’t think we really had a fight for him. In 2009, when we launched the TV deal, that was just last year. Since we’ve had the TV relationship with Showtime and CBS and went from a regional promotion to a national promotion, it’s just been a year.

“We had an opportunity to have a fight with him last year, but then he was injured, and then he had a fight with K-1. But with Golden Glory (Overeem’s management team), we had a clear understanding that he was going to have to fight for us in the spring of this year and then fight for us and have the U.S. be the priority from here going forward, which they agreed to. I know he wants to fight in K-1 at the end of the year, but he’s going to be available between now and December, and that was part of the deal.”

Saturday he steps into the cage to finally defend that title against Brett Roger who possesses serious knockout power.

I am not alone in questioning the match-up between the champion and a man coming off a loss to Fighters.com top-ranked heavyweight and arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world, “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (31-1).

I had an extremely difficult time remembering the last time a challenger received a title shot immediately following a loss until I remembered Justin Eilers (19-7-1) getting a shot against then current UFC champion “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7). Typically a loss would knock you out of title contention rather than catapult you into a main event for the strap.

This match-up is a direct result of the lack of depth in Strikeforce which in turn makes it difficult to give fans fights that have a significance in the overall division as well as exciting fights the casual fan will pay to see take place.

This is an issue that plagues Strikeforce and if not corrected could spell the end of the organization.

Typically the lack of depth in Strikeforce has been in the middleweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions as the UFC and Bellator have been active in signing some of the best known talent as well as the high level prospects. Yet here we are discussing a fight in the heavyweight division that is illogical to say the least.

The casual fans will eat up the story of Brett Rogers considering he was a tire changer at a chain store and now is a full-time fighter. However, they will also see a man who got beat by “the Russian guy” in his last fight and likely be confused by why he his now fighting for the title. Strikeforce needs to be bringing fighters up through the ranks and giving them some television time even if the ranks are very shallow.

The end to Strikeforce is near if they can’t bring in more fighters while retaining the fighters on their current roster as well as spending time to properly promote the up and comers.

The UFC has a unique avenue for just that in “The Ultimate Fighter” and the “Ultimate Fight Nights” on Spike TV. They can use these to give people exposure to the young fighters so when they get a bug fight the fans are already invested one way or anther in the fight. Strikeforce does have their Challenger series but the number of people actually watching that pales in comparison to the same style UFC events. I would guess the people watching that series is those of us in the media as well as the hardcore MMA fans that can never seem to get enough of the sport.

Hopefully we can see a change come about in Strikeforce as I feel the organization could be good for the sport but that will need to happen soon or they will be forced to close up shop.