When laying criticisms at the feet of Strikeforce, remember they are not a wholly autonomous entity. Instead, it is in the middle of a three-year deal with a cable network and who’s to know who’s really calling the shots. One thing we do know is that more than any other MMA organization -- even the UFC -- Strikeforce hopes to sell theatrics first and fighting second. Unfortunately for CEO Scott Coker and company, nothing but bad news emerged from Saturday night’s show in Houston.
First, their perceived meal ticket to the lucrative PPV market, Bobby Lashley, lost for the first time. Only he didn’t just lose, he quit halfway through a fight he was winning decisively against an inferior opponent (at least on paper), seemingly because of fatigue. Not that this will prevent Strikeforce from going forward with a rumored battle between former pro wrestlers Lashley and Dave Bautista, but it does move the idea from silly but potentially profitable to ridiculous and potentially insulting to fans.
In the evening’s main event, another one of their homegrown golden boys, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, lost both his light heavyweight title and his undefeated record to Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Now, for my money, Cavalcante is the better fighter and having him as the champ will provide better, more entertaining matchups. Unfortunately, his entrance doesn’t bring the pizzazz of Broadway. Be that as it may, he started off the fight with Lawal slowly as he most likely lost the first two rounds; it wasn’t until early in the third, he found a hole in Lawal’s suspect stand-up defense and dropped him for a TKO victory at 1:14.
The thing to consider about these losses, something that Coker certainly won’t want to hear, is that perhaps they were self-correcting victories that will help Strikeforce in the long run. Lashley and Lawal were heavily hyped but light on substance. Lashley entered Strikeforce as a pro wrestling star who had experience in both WWE and TNA and thus had built-in name recognition. He picked up a laughable victory back in January and has been MIA ever since. But what if he would have beaten Chad Griggs Saturday night as like he should have and then maybe steamrolled one or two more creampuffs?
Strikeforce most likely would have given him a title shot, and assuming it was against current champ Alistair Overeem, we very well may have seen him dismembered before our very eyes. Yes, he has a lot of muscle mass and a desire to compete in this sport, but here’s hoping he’s relegated to the prelims for his next two matches after his performance last night.
Lawal is a different case all together. His name value was at least built within the world of MMA, and while green, he still holds victories over Mike Whitehead and Gegard Mousasi. Really, the only mistake Strikeforce has made with him so far is pushing him too far up the ladder too quickly. His victory over Mousasi, while legitimate, seemed to have occurred on one of Mousasi’s off nights, and if they were to fight again in a few months, the safe money would be on “The Dreamcatcher.” “King Mo” needs to refine his game (better techniques, stronger defense), but unlike with Lashley, there’s no reason to think he won’t be a force in MMA for years to come.
The concern going forward is that just because Coker was forced to take a bitter pill last night doesn’t mean all of a sudden he’s a reformed man who will make the correct moves in the future. The hot topic of the moment is the impending arrival of another pro wrestler, Dave Bautista. There’s nothing wrong with bringing in a guy who could be very good for business by attracting a susceptible demographic and introducing them to your product; however, there needs to be some continuity to your booking and Strikeforce needs to respect the other fighters on its roster. He can’t be main eventing in his first pro fight, and Strikeforce will need to feed him stiffer warm-up competition than Wes Sims.
Also, let us not forget that Herschel Walker is still hanging around (mostly as a celebrity for them to cut to during their shows), and the fear is that anytime they desperately need a ratings bump, they will just toss him in the cage to beat up some local kid. Hopefully, Coker will realize that promoting the best fighter is always better than promoting the flashiest fighter and that predicting the winners of the fight is a fruitless and ultimately counterproductive endeavor.
