| 22 August 2010
Some guys have all the luck. It is safe to assume, however, that those 'guys' aren't affiliated with Strikeforce in any way, shape or form. In their futile attempt to battle the UFC for MMA supremacy, the fledgling promotion can't catch any breaks. What transpired last night at Strikeforce: Houston was just the latest in a long string of bad breaks for the organization. Behold the setbacks they've endured just within the past four months:
- Strikeforce pulls off a coup, signing MMA and wrestling legend Dan Henderson away from the big, bad UFC. Henderson then goes and promptly loses his first bout for the organization, against Jake Shields.
- As if Henderson losing wasn't enough, an embarrassing in-cage brawl broke out after the fight, which was broadcast live on CBS. A black eye for the organization and possibly a serious deterrent to CBS ever welcoming them back on to their network.
- And to prove that bad things come in threes, the match versus Henderson was Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields last fight for the organization, as he bolted to the UFC afterwards.
- Well, at least Strikeforce has the unstopped Fedor Emelianenko, right? Wrong (about the unstoppable part). The mighty Fedor, who gets a cool $400000 plus a cut of the revenue of every event he's on, gets (legitimately) beat for first time in his career, getting choked out by Fabricio Werdum in June. In a blink of the eye, their most coveted asset no longer had the mystique and excitement surrounding him as he did before.
Which brings us to last night's Strikeforce: Houston. In an event marred by horrible refereeing, Strikeforce took some more heavy body blows. Wrestling star (both the 'real' and 'fake' kind of wrestling) Bobby Lashley, who the organization was hoping to market heavily due to his looks, skills and crossover appeal, lost for the first time, versus a virtual no-name in Chad Griggs. Then, its light heavyweight champion, Muhammed 'King Mo' Lawal, got his belt taken by Brazilian Rafael 'Feijao' Calvalcante. Yet another top star, capable of magazine cover attention and fan interest, falls by the wayside.
Which also brings us to an important questions - does Dana White believe in black magic, and, if so, does he have a Scott Coker voodoo doll stashed away somewhere?!
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