Strikeforce farming out women's matches

Before I get into the main topic of this post, you may have already heard that Cristiane Cyborg injured her shoulder at the recent ADCC grappling tournament and is off the Nov. 7 Strikeforce show on CBS. She was scheduled to face Marloes Coenen. Fans have been asking me who will face Coenen on the show. Though Strikeforce hasn't said anything, it doesn't look like there will be a women's match on the show. Why not move Erin Toughill into that slot? I would be OK with that but I understand Erin's negotiations with Strikeforce aren't progressing very well. The rumour mill has been working overtime that Strikeforce will acquire Bobby Lashley's contract and he will face Ron Waterman. It doesn't particularly surprise me. Remember they just signed Herschel Walker. So they're doing silly stuff like that and at the same time are planning to farm out women's matches to regional companies for their own convenience. Surprise!





As you probably know, Strikeforce owner Scott Coker announced back in July that he is planning women's MMA tournaments for a 135lb title and a 145lb contender. You have to understand that he used to promote the K-1 Vegas shows. They were all tournaments. We're all curious about the details because I expect a logistical nightmare. I have comfirmed that Strikeforce is not planning to have these tournaments on Strikeforce shows. They are going to farm them out to Freestyle Cage Fighting in Tulsa probably beginning in January. The reason for doing this is they claim they have too many mediocre male fighters on the roster and thery need to use up their contracts. Huh? Obviously Strikeforce could just release those guys. So it's not a reason. It's a lame excuse. The main problem I have with this is that FCF will be broadcast on HDNet. That's a lot less exposure than Showtime. I guess Strikeforce still has the mindset of a regional promorion. They need to understand that the national exposure on Showtime or CBS is just as important as the money in the fighter contract. None of the fighters signed with Strikeforce expecting to be farmed out. And they haven't told fans either. Don't ask how I found out about this. Do they need to do tournaments? It's questionable but Coker likes tournaments. Farming them out cheats the fighters and the fans. I guess Strikeforce isn't as supportive of women's MMA as they would like us to believe.