(“Mr. Fedor thinks you are a very amusing little man. He would enjoy it very much to see you dance for him … Dance! Dance, I say!” PicProps: Fedor’s Website)

Even by his own lofty standards for peculiarity, Fedor Emelianenko had a pretty enigmatic week in America leading up to his second appearance inside the Strikeforce cage. When he wasn’t no-showing scheduled appointments or turning interviews into literal games of telephone by funneling his quotes through a comically long series of interpreters and middlemen, Fedor plodded through his obligations to hype tonight’s fight against Fabricio Werdum with the same kind of indecipherable stoicism he usually shows his doomed opponents.

Amid rumors that his retirement was imminent and that he was planning a life in politics at home in mother Russia (both of which he’s denied), the whole circus served only to remind us how little we really know about Fedor. Aside from a few half-hour Showtime specials, a handful of feature stories — the best known of which was actually written by M-1 executive Evgeni Kogan, so it has to be considered no more substantive than an M-1 press release – and his own stilted and translated post-fight interviews, there is shockingly little primary source material on Emelianenko.

What we’re told, over and over again, is this: Because of his old-school Soviet sensibilities and deeply religious nature, Fedor has no need for fame or for money and apparently has no desire to be known or understood by the fans who’ve elevated him to near God-like status in hardcore MMA circles. He’s a simple, conservative-minded man who chooses to live in relative seclusion, train with a select group of close friends and views nearly everything else as bothersome, needless distraction. Yeah, that last part made him sound a little bit more like Brock Lesnar than any of you are comfortable with admitting, huh?

But as much as he remains a mystery outside the cage, he’s given us ample evidence of what’s capable of inside it. In preparation for tonight’s bout with Werdum, we give you our choices for the 10 fights that have, in different ways, defined his career thus far …

(VidProps: ShoSports/YouTube)
 
The above video gives you a look at the final product of that promo shoot we showed you a couple days back and the results seem, well, just as generic as we feared. As it turns out, the road to the probable destruction of Jan Finney and Fabricio Werdum will be paved in fireballs and misting sleet and Fedor Emelianenko will try to get as much mileage as possible out of that pair of nondescript black athletic shorts. Meanwhile the bass baritone voice of former Crash Test Dummies lead singer and current Strikeforce play-by-play man Gus Johnson – the voice certain CP editors hear in their dreams before they wake up screaming “My name’s Al Harris and I get buckets!” – will prattle on about legends and destiny and history or some such similar bullshit.

It appears that Strikeforce is going the extra mile to make Finney look both attractive and credible, though at least one of those concepts seems like a major stretch. Likewise, the only people giving Werdum much of a shot are Fedor himself, Renato “Babalu” Sobral and one of my co-workers at The Rumble. An extremely scientific internet poll of fans conducted by The Junkie shows just 13 percent of y’all think the 6-foot-4 jiu jitsu ace can pull the upset. Frankly, I’d hate to see the numbers on Finney.

After the jump,  some final thoughts from Fedor about why fighting him seems to be career suicide for his opponents and a few snapshots of the official weigh-in featuring the ubiquitous Rockstar Girls, just to get your Saturday started right …

(Even the awesome WWE-like flamethrowers couldn’t elicit a smile from Fedor "The Stonefaced Killer" Emelianenko)

Your perpetually absent "real dad" Ben Fowlkes spoke on the phone with Fedor
Emelianenko through his interpreter yesterday and covered a lot of topics of interest including the rumors of his foray into Russian politics, his recent comments about the UFC and where he sees himself after he finishes his Strikeforce contract.

(Jan’s hair was done by her mortician. He figured, "hey, why not get a head-start." / Props: Esther Lin for Strikeforce)


Journeywoman Jan "Cuddles" Finney (8-7) throws the dice on a real long-shot this Saturday as she steps up to take on 145-pound queen Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos (9-1) at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum. Finney describes MMA as a "hobby" that compliments her day-job as a personal trainer, but warns fans not to sleep on her: "I’m going to come right back at her. I’m not going to cower away. I’m probably going to be one of the strongest opponents she’s faced. I’m not saying I’m as strong as her, but you never know — I might be…I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I would also say I’ve got a pretty nice right hand."

After the jump: Fabricio Werdum shows off his size advantage against Fedor Emelianenko.

(Video courtesy YouTube/TheShoot)

The majority of MMA fans and media feel that Fabricio Werdum will likely lose his fight against Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday night. Apparently nobody gave Werdum the memo.

"I know it’s going to be hard but I know that I can [beat Fedor]," he explains.

Although he is confident about his chances this weekend, Werdum has no illusions of grandeur.

"If I beat Fedor on that night,  I’m better than him that night. I don’t consider myself better than anybody else," he says. "I just know that I have a place on the top. I think to beat Fedor is like having 10 belts in the house."

("Down in the Tremé / just me and my baby / we’re all throwin’ armbars / AND PUNCHIN’ AND HAVIN’ FUN!" Props: WatchKalibRun)

Just a quick update for all you MMA FightPicker players: Head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com right now to make your predictions for the main card matches at this Saturday’s Strikeforce show. We’ll assume that you don’t really care about the preliminary card, so we’ll keep this week’s batch of questions short and sweet. Do any of you have the balls to pick an upset in Emelianenko vs. Werdum or Cyborg vs. Finney? How do you see the Scott Smith/Cung Le rematch playing out? Review the questions below, then head over to MMA FightPicker when you think you have it all figured out…

– Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum @ ‘Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum’: Who will win?
– Will Emelianenko vs. Werdum end in a submission?
– Cris Cyborg vs. Jan Finney: Who will win?
– Will Cyborg vs. Finney end in a first round KO/TKO?
– Which fight will be shorter: Emelianenko vs. Werdum or Cyborg vs. Finney?
– Scott Smith vs. Cung Le: Who will win?
– Who will score the first knockdown: Smith or Le?
– Will Smith vs. Le end in a KO/TKO?
– Josh Thomson vs. Pat Healy: Who will win?
– Will Thomson vs. Healy make it to round 3?

* Note: We originally included the scheduled undercard fight between Ron Keslar and Magomed Shikshabekov in this week’s FightPicker pools, but Shikshabekov is off the card due to visa troubles, so we added another question related to Thomson/Healy. Please edit your pools if necessary.

(Video courtesy YouTube/Strikeforce)

Strikeforce released this pretty generic Q&A video interview with Fedor Emelianenko  ahead of his bout with Fabricio Werdum this weekend. Although it sounds like it’s being conducted by Napoleon Dynamite, the interview actually featured some solid answers from "The Last Emperor".

For those of you too lazy to press play, here’s what Fedor had to say:

On whether or not  he is a fan of the sport:
"I really like MMA as a sport itself and I like to be in this sport and I like to develop myself, but I don’t like to watch fights."

On how his ground game matches up with Fabricio Werdum’s:
"I cannot say anything right now; we’ll see that during the fight."

On where Werdum’s jiu-jitsu stacks up against other fighters he’s faced:
"Speaking about his ground technique, I think his technique is approximately the same as Nogueira at the time [when I faced him] and Babalu [when I fought him]."

("Evgeni, remind me to thank Scott Coker for these swans when we get to L.A. Dana White never bought me waterfowl.")

Call me cynical, but it’s seeming more and more unlikely that we’ll ever see Fedor Emelianenko in the UFC’s Octagon.

Many will recite the old "never say, ‘never,’" saying, but when you look at what both sides are saying, it’s seeming like an implausibility.

("’People think they have taken quite an extraordinarily bold step forward when they have rid themselves of belief in hereditary monarchy and swear by the democratic republic. In reality, however, the state is nothing but a machine for the oppression of one class by another, and indeed in the democratic republic no less than in the monarchy.’ That’s Friedrich Engels, bitch. Deal with it." PicProps: Business Week.com.)

Remember that report from earlier this month where Dana White alleged that some MMA journalists were either being so influenced by ad revenue that they were cooking the books on fighter rankings or, even worse, out-and-out selling their votes to the highest bidder? Well, despite the fact that story is obviously totally fucking ridiculous, Big DW is sticking to it. In fact, he’s taking it a step further, implying this week in an interview with MMAJunkie – yes, that one – that MMA websites shouldn’t be considered “news sites” if they (gasp!) try to make money off their work.

“My biggest beef with a lot of these MMA websites is that these guys are for-profit websites,” White told the Junkie during one of his trademark, seemingly only partly thought-out rants. “They’re not [expletive] news sites. They’re for-profit websites."

These comments come on the heels of White’s earlier suggestion that the MMA media is somehow “in it for the money” and the sentiment itself isn’t particularly surprising, given that the UFC brass has historically had a tough time grappling with the idea that the media doesn’t work for them and isn’t responsible for advancing their agenda. However, the above statement is a bit more troubling than all that, because it seems to show that despite his own vast fortune, White also may not understand the basic workings of free-market capitalism.

(Fedor, didn’t I lay out the black tie for you?)

Ray Hui from MMAFighting spoke with M-1 Global director of operations, Evgeni Kogan and asked him why the heavily anticipated Fedor Emelianenko-Alistair Overeem Strikeforce bout has yet to materialize.

According to Kogan, contrary to popular belief, his company has very little to do with picking opponents for their client and he says that they would take a fight with Overeem if it were offered to them.

"The matchmaking for this is more coming out of Strikeforce than from our side. We are open to fighting basically whoever is put in front of us," Kogan explained. "There has never been a point where [a fight with Overeemt] was offered and turned down. M-1 management is not ducking Overeem, and once again, if that fight is presented to us, then that’s what that fight will be."

The Lowercase a-Team – Watch more Funny Videos
(Another gem from our friends at Break.com, in honor of The A-Team’s release this Friday. Remember, there are no little roles, just little people. Do what tiny Rampage says and follow Break on Twitter.)

– ‘King’ Mo Lawal Comments on Training Sessions with James Toney (MMAFighting)

– Let’s Hope Jan Finney Is Training as Hard as Cyborg in This Clip (MiddleEasy)

- Fedor Emelianenko, M-1 Global and Strikeforce headed to Pay-Per-View (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Inside the Life of Chuck Liddell (MMA Scraps)

- UFC Grants Dan Miller Another Chance (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Pat Curran Is On MMA’s Fast Track (FightMagazine)

– ‘UFC Undisputed 2010′ Off to a Slow Start (WatchKalibRun)

– Enter this week’s UFC 115 pools on MMA FightPicker! (fightpicker.cagepotato.com)

(Video courtesy UStream/MorencySports)

Alistair Overeem was a guest on Gabriel Morency’s MMA Meltdown radio show last night and among other topics, the Strikeforce heavyweight champion spoke about his desire to face WAMMA heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko.

"I’ve been calling Fedor out for a long time now — for a year, ever since he signed with Strikeforce. Actually my manager has been trying to arrange the last fight on May 15. My original plan was not to fight Brett; My plan was to fight Fedor May 15. Fedor didn’t agree on the fight. I’m not sure if it’s Fedor himself or if it’s his management. I think it’s his management. They declined to fight me. They rathered to fight [Fabricio] Werdum one month later. So I’m a little bit confused about that. But I clearly do want to fight him. I do have the feeling that his management is avoiding me, yes."

(Beating Fedor…uninterested in Ubereem…UFC co-promotion? Do his pupils look dialated?)

Heading into his potentially career defining June 26 battle with Fedor Emelianenko, Fabrício Werdum spoke with TATAME’s Eduardo Ferreira about his chances in the fight and his future in the sport beyond.

Werdum says that he thinks he has pinpointed some of Emelianenko’s weaknesses and plans to exploit them.

(Although it’s admittedly understated, I think his campaign poster works)

M-1 has announced that Fedor Emelianenko is following in the footsteps of fellow fighters Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen and is running for a congressional seat as state representative in the Russian senate.

Losing isn’t always the end of the world. Sometimes, taking an ass-kicking — or getting screwed out of a well-deserved victory — can be the best thing for a fighter’s career. Don’t believe us? We’ll start with one that should still be fresh in your minds…

#7: Jason Brilz‘s split-decision loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
UFC 114, 5/29/10

(Early front-runner for Punch Face of 2010. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

What happened: Lil’ Nog was originally supposed to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 114, until Griff was struck down by a shoulder injury three-and-a-half weeks before the event. The UFC had to book a replacement, and fast, so they called up wrestling specialist Jason Brilz. Like a true warrior, Brilz put down his beer, blew off his 10-year wedding anniversary, and stepped up to the plate. On paper, he should have been destroyed by the sharp hands and top-flight experience of Nogueira. Instead, Brilz nearly choked Nog out with a guillotine in the second round, wobbled him with strikes, out-wrestled him, and arguably controlled the majority of the fight. But after the last horn sounded and the scores were added up, only one judge saw it his way.

Victory in defeat: If you didn’t know who Jason Brilz was before last weekend’s show, you do now. Brilz picked up even more classy-points by not bitching about the decision: "I’m not upset. Sure, I’d have liked to win. Everybody likes to win. I think I went out there and I proved to people, but more importantly I proved to myself, that I can compete with the top dogs. That’s sort of what I’ve been aiming for my whole career.” We don’t know exactly what Jason’s future holds, but it’s looking a lot brighter now. The $65,000 bonus check probably doesn’t hurt either.

#6: Jon Jones‘s disqualification loss to Matt Hamill
TUF 10 Finale, 12/5/09

(Dana had to buy these dress shoes from a guy in the airport just so he could tell $kala to get his shine box, but it was worth it.)

In an interview on ESPN’s Bill Simmons’ podcast last week, Dana White made a pretty lofty claim that certain MMA websites are receiving money from his promotion’s competitors to include fighters on their pound-for-pound and weight-class restricted rankings lists.

Pointing to the inclusion of WAMMA champion Fedor Emelianenko on the majority of heavyweight and pound-for-pound lists, White stated that he emphatically believes that there is money changing hands between certain sites and particular fight organizations.

"He’s not even the best heavyweight in the world. To put him on the pound-for-pound list. I think some of these guys don’t even know what pound-for-pound means," White said. "It’s just so disrespectful to all the other fighters it’s crazy."

(Feelin’ lucky?)

Okay, I know it’s too early to do a Gambling Addiction Enabler on Strikeforce’s "Fedor vs. Werdum" show (June 26, San Jose), but I just had to pass along the squashtastic betting lines that have been released for the top four fights on the card. Check it out:

– Fedor Emelianenko -1000 vs. Fabricio Werdum +500
– Cristiane Santos -2500 vs. Jan Finney +1000
– Cung Le -400 vs. Scott Smith +275
– KJ Noons -500 vs. Charles Bennett +360

Let me try to put this in perspective. According to BetUs.com, if you place a $100 parlay bet on all four of the underdogs listed above, and they all somehow manage to win their fights, you would walk away with a profit of $89,150. A more modest $20 parlay bet would net you $17,830. 

(Image courtesy of FLOTV.com)

Happy Memorial Day, Potato Nation! As promised, we are proud to present the finalists of our FLO-TV t-shirt design contest, which brought in nearly 100 brilliant entries over the last two weeks. Please study all 16 (!) of the nominated designs after the jump, then vote for your favorite in the poll over on the right. (It’s a little bit down the page, under the "Most Recent Comments" box and the Power Rankings link.) Get your votes in by Thursday night at midnight ET; we’ll announce the winner on Friday, who will score their own FLO TV Personal Television, with access to the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 115. Überprops to everybody who entered, and to FLO TV for making this happen! 

(Props: tj.labs)

We’ve reached the mid-way point in our fighter t-shirt design contest, and the submissions are rolling in nicely; many thanks to everybody who sent in designs. To re-ignite your competitive fires, we’ve posted some of our current favorites, which continue after the jump. Please send your entries to feedback@cagepotato.com by Sunday, 5/30, at midnight ET. Voting on the finalists will begin the next day, and the top vote-getter will score that FLO TV Personal Television, with access to the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 115. So get crackin’…

(Props: Brian R.)

(Props: Stevicus. Click here for larger version.)

(Werdum taking advantage of his only opportunity to try on Fedor’s belt.)

Today Strikeforce put to rest the rampant rumors that Fedor Emelianenko would be signing with the UFC with the announcement that "The Last Emperor" will face two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum in a headlining bout on the promotion’s Saturday, June 26 card.

The event, which will be co-promoted by M-1 Global will be featured on SHOWTIME. Strikeforce was hoping to have CBS showcase the bout, but the organization’s president Scott Coker mentioned last week that have not met with the network to discuss their plans moving forward since the post-fight brawl that took place during their last broadcast event last month.

Seasons Greetings From Cagepotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos
(Back by popular demand. Who says you can’t have Christmas in April?)

First of all, let me start by assuring everyone that I am not leaving Cage Potato to fight Anderson Silva, manage the utterly hopeless Dave Farra, work for the UFC, or begin a prison jolt (my mom asked me to be very specific about debunking that one). Instead, I am leaving to take a job with AOL’s MMAFighting.com, which is where you’ll find my work beginning next week.  Hope to see you there.

Second, I’m overwhelmed by the appreciation and support from you guys – even the sort of mean appreciation and support – and I can’t thank you all enough. That said, don’t act like this is a death blow to this site. Half the hilarious stuff you guys have attributed to me was written by Ben Goldstein, who was holding it down well before I came on board, and I happen to know that a very capable replacement has been chosen who will keep CP fully stocked in LOLs long after I’m gone.

Now, on to your petty questions.

I guess my question is WHY, oh WHY ARE YOU LEAVING US?

– LargeMidget

Because I hate you. And I mean you, personally, LargeMidget. Okay, not really. I just strongly dislike you. The real reason I’m leaving is because, after two years, I feel like doing something a little different. It’s been great writing for the Potato, and I’ve enjoyed the hell out of it, but it feels like it’s time to move on and try something else. That’s all.

(Gentlemen, please…you’re *both* wrong.)

The last time I put serious effort into crafting an MMA pound-for-pound list, Anderson Silva had just Jedi’d the shit out of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, Georges St. Pierre was fresh off his domination of Thiago Alves — on a torn groin, no less — and Fedor Emelianenko had once again proven his invincibility earlier that year, knocking Andrei Arlovski out of mid-air at Day of Reckoning. Unable to rank one fighter over the other with anything close to objectivity, I wrote the following: "Whoever has the most recent awe-inspiring, damn-near-inhuman performance gets to be #1."

A lot has changed since then. In 2010, so far: BJ Penn lost his first match at lightweight in over eight years. Anderson Silva proved that he has no desire to finish fights at his natural weight class. GSP couldn’t put away Dan Hardy in five rounds on a healthy groin. Fedor Emelianenko hasn’t competed at all. Miguel Torres lost his second fight in a row. Lyoto Machida has been sidelined, still waiting for the rematch of a fight he probably should have lost on the scorecards, which effectively put a halt to his "Machida Era" hype.

Yes, I’ll update the very dusty CagePotato Power Rankings soon, you have my word. But coming up with a new set of P4P rankings is a hairy proposition, considering that all of the usual suspects haven’t had any awe-inspiring, damn-near-inhuman performances in a long time.

    
      
(Keep your eyes on the grand prize. Images courtesy of 62Gear.com)

After two weeks of furious photoshopping, we have nominated 15 artists as finalists for our Six Deuce MMA poster design contest. Please spend the rest of your afternoon considering the posters after the jump, then vote for your favorite in the poll over on the right. (It’s a little ways down the page, under the "Most Recent Comments" box and the UFC Fan Expo ad.) Get your votes in by Sunday night at midnight ET. We’ll announce the winners on Monday. Many thanks to everybody who entered, and please show Six Deuce some love for making this happen!

(Props: FightersOnlyMagazine)

It’s the first time we’ve seen Brett Rogers in months, and what are the very first words out of his mouth? "Basically, man, I feel like I’m kinda going back to my old style." Nooooooooooo! Grim, you are hereby fined 500 PotatoChips for violating our most recent CagePotato Ban, and an additional 250 for shaving off your badass mohawk for some ill-advised reason.  

Anyway, Brett’s back, and is a month out from his Strikeforce heavyweight title fight against Alistair Overeem. But his November loss to Fedor Emelianenko still weighs heavily on him, and he’s hungry for a rematch: "When I went into that fight, I guess my mind was just playing tricks on me…I was expecting him to be a little more aggressive, and I was just playing off of him, but next time I’m just going through him, man. If he comes in to fight like he came in the first time I fought him, he’s definitely gonna get beat. It’s gonna be a murdalization."

As for Alistair, Rogers calls the Demolition Man a "chipmunk" and a "pretty boy to heart," and vows to crush him. "He’s one of those guys that’s really cocky and arrogant…It’s gonna be a fun fight because I don’t like him. He’s talking about he’s gonna smack me when he sees me? I’m definitely gonna put that the test whenever I see him."

(Props: Brion S.)

We’ve reached the mid-way point in our massive MMA event poster design contest, and we’ve already gotten some amazing submissions. To inspire the rest of y’all into getting your asses in gear, we’ve decided to post some of our current favorites, which continue after the jump. Please send your poster entries to feedback@cagepotato.com by next Tuesday. We’ll pick some finalists for voting a week from today; the top vote-getter will score a big ass prize-package from Six Deuce, which includes MMA fight shorts, a Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory t-shirt, Muay Thai training gloves, hand wraps, ankle supports, and a leather speed bag. Three runners up will score the shorts — a prize worth $45, just for losing. Please swing by 62gear.com and let ‘em know you care!

(Props: Brian R.)

(Props: Steve W.)

by Cage Potato contributor Matt Kaplan

With his new Strikeforce deal completed, it seems like “The Pitbull” might soon be barking up a couple of old trees.

Popular Strikeforce heavyweight Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-7) is set to take on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on May 15, and while he isn’t looking past the big Brazilian, he understands that a win over Silva could put him in position to avenge his devastating 2009 losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers in the not-so-far future.

Since his June loss to Rogers, Arlovski has murdered Mike Pyle, beaten up a bully, done a ton of video blogging, and trained with some of the best camps in MMA. Arlovski recently signed a new multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, and the former UFC heavyweight champ is looking to avoid a third straight loss. Arlovski has lost two consecutive fights three times in his career, and if history teaches us anything, it’s that 1) the first man killed in the American Revolution was Crispus Attucks, and 2) after back-to-back losses, Arlovski quickly goes back to crushing people. The sometimes hairy, always scary Arlovski says he has a few scores to settle in Strikeforce, but before he can do that, he needs history to repeat itself on May 15 against “Bigfoot.”

Kaplan: You’ve announced on Arlovski.com your 16-month, multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. Exactly how many fights are you hoping to have in the coming 16 months?

Arlovski: I hope to have four fights in the next 16 months. The first one is against “Bigfoot” Silva on May 15.

In the eight months that you were out of MMA competition, was your focus on a return to the cage, or were you considering other pursuits?

("Y’know, Alistair, I think I can get you a role in the next Iron Man flick. We can call you ‘Juice Man.’ Or ‘Needle Man.’ No offense." / Photo courtesy of allelbows.com.)

Strikeforce confirmed last night that the May 15th heavyweight battle between Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem and mohawked contender Brett Rogers — originally thought to be a non-title fight — will now be for the belt. The decision was made "after much internal debate," and will bring Overeem back under the Strikeforce banner for the first time since he beat up Paul Buentello in November 2007. Since then, Overeem has gone 7-0 with 1 no contest against such notable cans as Tony Sylvester and James Thompson.

So let’s get this out of the way: Of course it’s ridiculous that Brett Rogers has effectively earned a title shot by getting smoked by Fedor Emelianenko. But he and Alistair were available in May, and Fedor wasn’t. And what would happen if Rogers beat Overeem in a non-title fight? Would they need to have an immediate rematch for the belt, while Fedor takes another meaningless exhibition? Would it be another 30 months before Alistair decided to grace Strikeforce with his presence? In the end, it just makes more sense if the champion defends his title against somebody. Anybody.

 
During a press conference following DREAM 13, Scott Coker told reporters that Fedor Emelianenko would finally make his Strikeforce return this summer, seven months after his second-round knockout of Brett Rogers: 

Better than nothing, I guess — although it’s still ridiculous that Fedor is fighting another contender, while Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem is booked for a non-title exhibition against Brett Rogers in May. No other matches have been announced for Strikeforce’s June card yet.

The relationship between Strikeforce and M-1 Global appeared strained in recent weeks, with reports of renegotiations making the rounds. But although the dispute may sound like a money grab, M-1 says that what they’re really after is greater brand visibility. From a report by Dave Meltzer on Yahoo!:

Behold the sparse, no-bullshit poster for Strikeforce: Nashville, which clearly takes its design cues from this. Tickets for the April 17th event — priced from $25 to $195 — go on sale to the general public on Friday. Pre-sale begins today at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT for Strikeforce Insider members.

Speaking of Strikeforce, Mauro Ranallo passes along the rumor that the Overeem vs. Rogers fight in May could be for Strikeforce’s heavyweight title, as Fedor Emelianenko’s status with the organization grows hazier. Facepalm, bro. If Fedor can’t make it work with Strikeforce, his only available option is to track down Josh Barnett in Dream. And after that? Is Zuluzinho available for a rematch?

(If you think the Dream promoters won’t throw this kid in there with Barnett, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention.)

Josh Barnett has officially signed with Dream, according to MMA Weekly, and is gearing up for a return to non-scripted fighting action on their March 22 event.  There’s just one problem.  As he mentioned on his Twitter yesterday, nobody seems to want to fight him.  Or maybe that’s not true.  Maybe there are people who want to fight him.  They’re just, you know, a little busy at the moment.

Of the non-UFC, non-joke heavyweights out there who might actually give Barnett a fight, there just aren’t too many people with an empty dance card.  Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers are both betrothed to one another, as are Andrei Arlovski and "Bigfoot" Silva.  Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum seem headed for a May date, but even if the M-1 boys are throwing a wrench in those plans by angling to get a higher price tag for Fedor, it seems unlikely that Dream could convince Werdum to take a fight with Barnett on a couple weeks’ notice in the meantime.

Aside from some of the more ridiculous options (no offense Bob Sapp, it’s just, well, you know…), that doesn’t leave a lot of meat on the table for Babyface.  Whaddaya say, any huskier members of the Potato Nation feel like stepping up on short notice and making a few extra bucks?  We’re not going to lie to you, it’s probably going to hurt.