Pezão in photo by Carlos Ozório

Fedor Emelianenko may soon decide on his future at Strikeforce, where he still has one fight to do if he doesn’t renew his contract. After losing to Fabrício Werdum after going ten years unbeaten, everyone expects the greatest heavyweight in MMA history to have a rematch with the Jiu-Jitsu black belt. But that is not yet certain.

Another possibility would be to face Alistair Overeem, the current champion of the organization, and now there’s a new matchup being speculated on: Sources close to the fighter told MMAJunkie.com that Fedor may face Antonio “Pezão” Silva. The bout would take place on December 4 at a so-far undetermined location.

Pezão, though, was also linked to a fight with Overeem for the belt. Neither of the matchups has yet been confirmed by Strikeforce or the fighters involved.

According to Pezão, either possibility would be fine for him.

“Both Overeem and Fedor are great fighters. I’d be really happy to fight either of them. I have a lot of respect for them both,” he told MMAJunkie.

“That shows what we, here, have known for a long time. This is the greatest MMA breeding ground in the world.”

Check out the chat the fighter had with GRACIEMAG.com:

Ronaldo Jacaré will face Joey Villasenor on the same night. What do you expect from your teammate?

He’s on fire and will win this fight. We work together on both the physical and technical aspects of training. He’s well trained, disciplined, a true athlete. He’ll do just fine.

Another much-anticipated fight is between Antonio Pezão and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski…

I have much to say about Pezão too because we’ve trained together and we’re friends. He has a good shot at beating Arlovski. He’s good at takedowns and his standup game has come a long way. He gets better and better with every day.

What about you? How do you feel for your fight?

I’m doing really well and I’ve stabilized my weight. I’ll fly out with some weight to lose. The same gang as always has been helping me, Team Nogueira. Rogério Minotouro, Anderson Silva, Ricardo Demente, André Galvão… I’m dying for it to be time to fight because training is even worse than fighting!

Your opponent, Antwain Britt, isn’t that well known. What can you say about him?

He’s a tough guy, a striker. From what I could tell from his fights, he has heavy hands and a number of knockouts. I’m training the same way I always do, expecting the toughest guy of all. Whether he’s well known or not is of no importance to me. I’m always serious about what I do and I don’t even think about that.

Check out the card:

Strikeforce
May 15, 2010
St. Louis, Missouri

Alistair Overeem vs Brett Rogers

Andrei Arlovski vs Antonio Silva

Ronaldo “Souza” Jacare vs Joey Villasenor

Roger Gracie vs Kevin Randleman

Antwain Britt vs Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante

Justin DeMoney vs Jesse Finney

Lyle Beerbohm vs Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro

Federico Lopez vs TBA

Lee Brousseau vs Fransisco “Kiko” France

Mike Chandler vs Sal Woods

Pat Benson vs Erik Steenberg

Tom Aaron vs Matt Ricehouse

Darryl Cobb vs Booker DeRousse

Alistair Overeem. Photo: Susumo Nagao

Strikeforce is serving up an unusual fight for its heavyweight belt. The match had been confirmed, but was not worth the title. Now that situation has changed. The fight in question is the one between Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers, which takes place April 17 in St. Louis.

Why is the organization’s decision so odd? First of all, Overeem hasn’t fought in the event in over two years. His last fight was against Paul Buentello in November of 2007. Before that he Dutchman had only made one appearance in Strikeforce, when he defeated Vitor Belfort, in 2005.

Stranger still is Rogers having a shot at the belt, since he is coming off a resounding-knockout loss applied by Fedor Emelianenko.

The fight will be at the same event as Roger Gracie’s debut in the organization. Besides the Jiu-Jitsu black belt,Andrei Arlovski will also see action against Antonio Silva and there’s a likelihood Vitor Shaolin will face Lyle Beerbohm.

Roger hits the mitts. Photo: Carlos Ozorio

Two-time absolute world champion of Jiu-Jitsu Roger Gracie could finally make his Strikeforce debut. According to MMAJunkie, he may appear on the card set for May 15 in St Louis, Missouri, to be broadcast live on Showtime.

Roger’s opponent hasn’t yet been named, but it is speculated that Kevin Randleman and Rameau Sokodjou, two veterans of the Pride and UFC events, are on the cards.

Despite his limited MMA experience, Roger won both his outings using pure Jiu-Jitsu. He submitted both Ron Waterman and Yuki Kondo while still in the first round.

On the same day Alistair Overeem is expected to face Brett Rogers and Antonio “Pezao” Silva is set to fight Andrei Arlovski.

Pezão will have his hands full with Arlovski. Photo: Carlos Ozório

As Antonio Pezão had previously announced in an exclusive GRACIEMAG.com interview (see here), Andrei Arlovski signed with the event and shall be his next opponent, on May 15. The former UFC champion confirmed the news over his official website.

Now Brett Rogers, who recently suffered his first career loss to Fedor Emelianenko and was also in Pezão’s sights, shall have before him Alistair Overeem. The bout will not count for the title, now in the Dutchman’s possession, and should also take place on May 15, in St. Louis.

The other big-name acquisition the event can boast of is Japanese sensation Shinya Aoki. The grappling specialist will face off against current Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez. The fight, although it hasn’t been announced officially, will likely take place April 17 in Tennessee. At the same event, broadcast live on CBS, Jake Shields faces Dan Henderson and Gegard Mousasi faces Muhammed King Mo, in another title bout.

Pezão returns to the Strikeforce fold. Photo: Tom Casino

Not having fought since November, Antonio Pezão should return to cage in April, at Strikeforce. His opponent is likely to be heavyweight Brett Rogers, who recently lost his unbeaten record to Fedor Emelianenko, or former UFC fighter Andrei Arlovski. 

“I expect confirmation for April, the next Strikeforce. I have two opponents in sight, probably Brett Rogers or Andrei Arlovski. There’s nothing confirmed for either of the two, but the date is set. Meanwhile, I continue training at ATT and despite the uncertainty, the advantage is that they are both strikers. So I can prepare for this type of fight, regardless of who it is. Not much changes as far as strategy goes,” Pezão  told GRACIEMAG.com while watching the fights at Bitetti Combat in Brasilia.

The fighter also maintains contract with the Japanese Sengoku organization, which offered him a great fight.

“They called me to fight on March 22, but that would be really cutting it close. It would be against Josh Barnett and left it up in the air. The focus remains on April, at Strikeforce, which is likely to go down,” he reaffirms.

Recently, Fedor Emelianenko’s managers confirmed the fighting between the Russian and Fabricio Werdum, the last fighter to beat Pezão .

“Tho one to win the fight between me and him (Werdum) would face Fedor. The event came up with that. I really feel it should be Werdum and hope it goes well. I’m rooting for him since he’s Brazilian like me, since he’ll carry our flag and I hope he wins it,” he said, giving his former opponent a pointer:

“I think he should avoid standing too long, or else he’ll take a fall,” he concludes.

Fabricio Werdum is still celebrating his second win at Strikeforce, where he overcame Antonio “Pezao” Silva on November 7. But he wants more.

Twice champion of the ADCC over 99kg division, the heavyweight has his mind on greater challenges: Russian Fedor Emelianenko and the heavyweight belt.

He reveals when he will fight again and explains how his training has been going, now that he represents Chute Boxe but still works with Rafael Cordeiro, the team’s former trainer. Check out the conversation Werdum had with GRACIEMAG.com.

Just after your win at Strikeforce you talked of facing Fedor. Will this fight happen?

It’s hard to say now, because he hurt his hand and should go five months without fighting. So I don’t know what is going to happen. I think I’m one fight from facing Fedor. I can’t go five months without fighting, that’s a lot of time. But we’re in the mix and it should come about some time. That’s 100% for certain.

The current champion of your division is Alistair Overeem. Wouldn’t fighting him be even better?

I still don’t understand why they’re letting the belt stay with Overeem. I know he deserved it, but that was two years ago. I should have mugged him for it by now, right? I think I’ll go over to Holland to get that belt from him. I’d tell him this, “Hand that belt over. I beat you that time in Pride (May of 2006), it’s been two years since you fought over there (at Strikeforce) and that belt is mine!” (laughs). Now seriously, I’m going to spend Christmas in Spain with my family and I’ll come back to the USA thinking of my next fight. Regardless of my opponent, in February or March I’ll fight again.

You represent Chute Boxe but remain with Rafael Cordeiro. How does that work?

In the old days there was great rivalry between gyms, but now things have changed. I represent my academy, which is Werdum Combat Team, Kings MMA, which is Rafael Cordeiro’s, and Rudimar’s Chute Boxe. Nowadays everyone trains with everyone and I was even one of the first to do this exchange, when I went to train with Cro Cop [in 2003]. At the time a lot was said about it. But today it’s normal and professionalism prevails.

You had a rough time at the start of your fight with Pezao. What is your assessment of your fight?

I was able to show how well prepared I was. Before the fight I had some injuries, which can happen to anyone. I cut my brow twice and also hurt my ribs. Even Pezao’s manager (Alex Davis) knew about my brow, which goes to show how news spreads. But now everything’s alright. It’s always good to win. If you win you’re happy, have sponsors… If you lose, you’re screwed; you have to start from scratch. A win is a step forward; a loss is three steps back.

In the end, was competing at the ADCC a help or hindrance for you MMA fight?

It was great to compete at the Abu Dhabi, even more so because I was at home there, in Spain. It helped a lot because the ADCC is a sort of World Championship without the gi. It helped me and I didn’t stop there. I fought Mike Kyle, then went on to the ADCC and then had this fight. So it was great.