I think Strikeforce has made an excellent effort to pack their first CBS card full of potentially great fights which is great for the fans.

Surprisingly they've stepped up the promotional push lately too. I've seen tons of big banner ads on most of the big MMA sites as well as on CBS NFL and college football games.

The 360 program on Showtime was very well done and made me even more interested in both Fedor and Rogers.

My only worry is regarding the production and the commentating. Previous CBS MMA broadcasts were, well, bad. Very bad. I hope they've put some attention into the details of making a well put together broadcast.

Whenever Frank Shamrock grabs the mic I cringe. He comes off as a douchy goof which really isn't the best thing for Strikeforce. I hope he's been actively taking classes at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting during all this downtime.

For Strikeforce, this is their “shot” – the Kimbo debacle proved that major networks don't have time for costly mistakes. A big night here makes them the #2 MMA promotion in North America. A bad night will lose them their network contracts. It's all or nothing.

The real pressure, though, is on Fedor. He has to prove he can be a major draw outside of hardcore MMA fans, and this is his last and greatest chance to do so. All or nothing, again.

A friend of mine recently told me he wasn't going to be watching the Strikeforce card this Saturday. He's as big a fan of MMA as me, so this was pretty surprising news. When I asked him why, he said that he was frustrated with the direction of both Strikeforce and Fedor and wouldn't watch out of principle.

Now, people who have read my writing know i've said some less then flattering things about Fedor Emelianenko in the past. This dude knew I agreed with him when it came to Fedor's career, and was probably expecting me to agree with him and join his little boycott. Let's just say I disagreed.

Say what you will about Fedor, about M-1, or about “Gracieforce” – after the corrupt, embarassing fiasco that was the Elite XC network offerings last year, I'm damn proud of the fact that it's Fedor Emelianenko that's headlining a major MMA card on network TV. Simply put, he represents everything the sport should be about – the hard work, the lack of trash talk, the martial spirit – and everything Kimbo Slice and Elite XC wasn't.

No wonder its so hard for me to get a girlfriend!

LOL

Good read brah

CBS wont be let down a second time, thats for sure

Thanks.

I personally think that less people would be inclined to tune in if it were another EliteXC show, but I am hopeful that more people will be willing to give this show a “second chance” given that it is a separate company.

I also think that Fedor is a better “mainstream” attraction than Kimbo anyway, so that may help.