STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Fabricio Werdum 100% healthy, but looking to fight in Abu Dhabi or Japan next

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Fabricio Werdum underwent surgery two months ago to repair a lingering issue with his left elbow, but the Strikeforce heavyweight is now 100% healthy and ready to return to action. However, he's not planning on returning to Strikeforce just yet.

Speaking with Sherdog.com, Werdum revealed that he's looking to get back into action sooner than Strikeforce had planned for him, and he'll likely do so in Abu Dhabi or Japan.

"Strikeforce want me to return in March against Fedor [Emelianenko] or [Alistair] Overeem, but I'm looking forward to having a fight before that one," Werdum stated. "I don?t have an exclusive contract with Strikeforce, only for the U.S., and I got a nice proposal in Abu Dhabi and another one in Japan."

"My arm is 100 percent now and I feel that by February, I'll be ready to fight in Abu Dhabi or Japan."

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Looks like we may end up with a Fedor-Overeem bout after all. Strikeforce's "open contracts" continue to look like a bad idea for the organization, and their inability to put fights together between their top heavyweights is becoming a running joke. It really should have been a simple and easy proposition to put together Werdum against Overeem once Fabricio defeated Fedor. That bout was touted as a #1 contender bout for their title, Werdum won, and that should have been that. Now, if Werdum takes a fight in February, he won't be able to return to action in Strikeforce for a couple of months after that at the earliest, most likely, keeping him out of their cage for nearly a year. Who knows when Overeem will return after December's K-1 Grand Prix. Same goes for Fedor. It's got to be an on-going headache for Scott Coker and the organization right now.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_7527.shtml

Andrei Arlovski Tim Sylvia Randy Couture Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Scott Coker confirms much discussed middleweight tournament officially dead

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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For much of 2010, Strikeforce openly discussed their desire to put on a tournament in the middleweight division after Champion Jake Shields jumped ship to the UFC and left the belt vacated. But the tournament never came to fruition, a number of middleweight bouts were booked spread across several cards and they crowned a new Champion in Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.

Now the tournament is officially dead, as Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that they are no longer going forward with the idea.

"We were hoping it would happen, but it didn't happen, and we're happy with Jacare being our world champion," Coker said. "I think he's a great representative and a great fighter."

The report stated that problems with the athletic commissions, among other things, in putting on a one night tournament caused the promotion to scrap the plans. The plan now, according to Coker, is to put together a number of middleweight fights before February of 2011 to determine the next challenger to "Jacare."

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: The way they kept talking about it, it was clear this tournament was never coming to fruition. First it was going to happen in August, then in October, then in December, and nothing ever came of it. The only issue with that is Strikeforce kept talking about it. Had they simply not said anything until it was a done deal there wouldn't be any criticisms on the situation, but once again they bring scrutiny on themselves by constantly making statements such as, "we'll have an announcement on that in a couple of weeks" when no announcement is forthcoming. It extends to a lot of their public comments and the situations that arise in that area, and there are going to still be some that are disappointed a tournament isn't happening.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_7444.shtml

Nathan Jones  Kevin Jordan Jeff Joslin Scott Junk 

Alessio Sakara Out of UFC 122 Co-Main Event with Jorge Rivera

Alessio Sakara was been forced to withdraw from today's UFC 122 co-main event against Jorge Rivera with an illness and the matchup has been scratched from the card. The UFC is expected to officially announce the news shortly, while undercard bouts are expected to fill the slot on the tape-delayed Spike broadcast.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/16541/alessio-sakara-out-of-ufc-122-co-main-event-with-jorge-rivera/

Rich Franklin Ian Freeman Don Frye Tony Fryklund

Bob Reilly's Opponent for New York State Assembly Close to Conceding Defeat as Mail-In Ballots are Tallied Today

(Video courtesy WNYT-NBC New York)

The vote gap between staunch MMA opponent New York Democrat Assemblyman Bob Reilly and his opponent Jennifer Whalen is widening as State officials total the absentee ballots from last week's midterm election today.

According to a TimesUnion.com report, with 44 of the 60 voting districts counted today Reilly's lead has increased by 91 votes to 522 over his Republican opponent.

Although she hasn't completely given up hope, Whalen doesn't seem optimistic that she can recover from such a large hole with only 16 districts left to count.

"I don't know if I can make up the ground. I'm not going to give up until everything is opened and counted," she said. "I can't be happier with the fact I'm a newcomer and I almost unseated an incumbent."

Hopefuly Zuffa's campaign donations to newly-elected Governor Andrew Cuomo weren't as big of a waste of money as Tito Ortiz's latest obscene UFC deal.

Source: http://www.cagepotato.com/bob-reillys-opponent-new-york-state-assembly-close-conceding-defeat-mail-ballots-are-tallied-today

Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao  Josh Barnett