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Today at 2PM ET, Strikeforce will be hosting a media conference call with:
- Alistair Overeem
- Fabricio Werdum
- Scott Coker
The 4 fighters will all be participants on the Overeem vs. Werdum show featuring the following fight card:
Main card (Showtime)
- Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal bout:
Alistair Overeem vs.
Fabricio Werdum
- Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal bout:
Josh Barnett vs.
Women's (145 lb) bout:(Cancelled - Carano injured)- Lightweight bout:
- Heavyweight bout:
- Heavyweight bout:
Preliminary Card (HDNet)
- Lightweight bout:
- Lightweight bout:
- Fight TBD
PRESS CONFERENCE LIVEBLOG AFTER THE JUMP...
2:07pm ET - The call has begun
- Scott Coker announces Gina Carano's medical clearance was revoked by doctors and will not participate on June 18th. Reads statement by Carano apologizing and thanking fans. Replacement fight will be KJ Noons vs. Jorge Masvidal (already was on card but moves up to showtime Main Card).
- First question of the day: "How are you guys all doing?" Fantastic. This is going to be a great call.
- Overeem says he is happy, in great shape, and said "yeah" 10 times during the course of his answer.
- Werdum says he likes Tournaments bc it means he fights sooner.
- Coker: Undetermined if D'Alelio will get new opponent. Will be announced by end of day.
- Overeem: I've wanted to fight Werdum for a long time. You'll see how motivated I am on Saturday night.
- Overeem: The tourney brackets don't matter bc you're going to have to fight the tough guys anyway.
- Werdum: Plans to beat Overeem in the first round. Excited for this fight.
- Werdum: Answers question about how a win would affect his ranking in the world. His answer was almost completely unintelligible (the phone reception is fine btw).
- Props to Werdum for trying to speak English and not using a translator but this is brutal.
- Overeem: I'm training differently now. I train with the cage, and am familiar with my surroundings.
- Ron Kruck weighing in with a Q. We got the all-star cast on today.
- Scott Coker says he cannot go into detail regarding Carano's injury. She is very disappointed. It's an unfortunate situation.
- Coker: Noons-Masvidal fight winner will probably be the next opponent for Gilbert Melendez (God, I hope not).
- Coker: We will replace the Noons-Masvidal fight on the HDNet card.
- Overeem: I see the GP as opportunity to show I am the #1 HW in the world. You don't get to be #1 by beating no-names.
- Werdum: Likes fight, likes exciting, likes Overeem, likes beating Overeem. Like.
- Overeem: I'm taking this fight very seriously. Fabricio has been incredible the past couple years, but I haven't exactly been sitting still. I've been preparing for his jiu jitsu. I'm eager to step in cage and show fans what I got.
- Overeem: I see the american market as the future. Japan has some problems (especially after the disaster). US was already dominating place for MMA. I do see myself fighting more in the States in the future. Let's focus on this fight first and then we'll see how it goes.
- Overeem asks reporter to repeat a question that took almost 2 minutes to ask. Lolz.
- This fight will be very different than last time. I'm going to look for KO from the first second. I'm gonna be way more aggressive.
- Another question is being repeated. They have to fix this for future calls.
- Overeem: Focusing on this next fight and not any crossover fights with UFC opponents. If I would win the tournament, I'd love to (and believe fans would love to see me) fight Cain Velasquez.
- Werdum has now switched over to Portuguese (thank God). "If I win GP, I will win SF HW title, then I will defeat the UFC Champ." Btw, Werdum's translator that he is now using, definitely does not speak any better English than Werdum.
- It would be awesome to go back and fight in Japan but I love fighting in the US too.
- Coker: Brett Rogers is underrated. He has one punch KO power. Anything can happen ("you know"'s were edited out by yours truly)
- Conference call awkwardly delayed now due to people not paying attention to it being their turn to ask questions. "Can you hear me now?" Wow. Unbelievable. Bleacher Report "reporter" asks question regarding an opponent for Sarah D'Alelio, which was already asked and answered earlier in the call. Sigh.
- Coker: We'll have an announcement but look for early Fall for next GP date after this one. The original plan was to finish GP by end of year, but we'll see.
- Werdum: Overeem is very good standing. I'm very good on the ground. It will be the best standing, and the best on the ground. I have no secrets. I'm gonna "do my guard".
- A reporter asks Werdum and Overeem if they have been working on any 'special moves'. Apparently she thinks this is a video game.
- Werdum: Very focused on this fight and wants this fight a lot.
- Coker: Noons-Masvidal could have title implications depending on how they perform. The Cavalcante-Wilcox fight could as well. (I can't stress enough how much I hope this is false).
Summary:
A lot of bad questions were asked, and asked more than once. Yes, Overeem and Werdum have been training for this fight. Yes, Gina Carano was disappointed that she became injured and unable to fight. Yes, Werdum and Overeem are aware that they fought each other before, and are fighting each other again on June 18th.
The only thing that was really noteworthy about this conference call was just how nervous and unsure Coker sounded when asked about completing the Heavyweight Grand Prix. "Business as usual" people. Move along.
As seen in the transcript, Coker alluded to the possibility of a title shot for the winner of the Noons-Masvidal fight, or even possibly the winner of the Cavalcante-Wilcox fight. Looks like we can expect Gilbert Melendez to start talking about pro boxing soon.