Alistair Overeem will defend his belt for the second time in under a year, albeit in an unexpected and a seemingly sporadic agreement amongst fighters. The Strikeforce Grand-Prix begins in just a few weeks, when Alistair Overeem fights Fabricio Werdum, it will be a five-round bout for the Strikeforce heavyweight title. If, by another divine triangle, Werdum wins the fight, then he will inherit the belt and will bring it in the Grand-Prix tournament This essentially means the belt could change ownership multiple times before the end of the tournament. Josh Gross from ESPN has more info on this wildness:
“Beginning with Overeem’s quarterfinal bout against Werdum, each Strikeforce title fight throughout the tournament will be a five-round contest. All other bouts are relegated to three rounds. Should Overeem win out, he’ll have a strong case to be considered the No. 1 heavyweight in MMA. The same could be said for Emelianenko or Werdum.”
Keeping (not so) true to the nostalgia of Pride FC, the person who wins the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand-Prix will by default also be the Strikeforce heavyweight champion (including alternates). This will not negate the fact that we’re overly excited for the tournament to go down. At this point, we’ll basically take anything that’s thrown to us. [Source]
