Overeem, Big Foot, Kharitonov Likely Next for Fedor Emelianenko

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As StrikeForce tries to sort as to who will be the next man to face
Fedor Emelianenko as part of the last fight in his existing deal with
the San Jose, California based organization CEO Scott Coker has
shortened the list of three potential candidates which consists of
Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, Sergei Kharitonov and last but not least,
current StrikeForce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.
However, with Fedor’s management over at M-1 Global insisting on a rematch with Fabricio Werdum, Coker tells Sherdog.com that he is aware of the matter, but has this to say about their co-promoters.
“I just don’t think they’ll have a choice,” he said.


StrikeForce is likely planning to have Fedor’s next fight set on a
pay-per-view format and says that although it is the last fight on the
deal for the former PRIDE heavyweight champion that such a fight with
Alistair Overeem can still happen except for the fact that it would be
a non-title fight.
“That’s not it at all,” said Coker. “Depending on if
there’s any future fights, if he fights Overeem, it might not be a
title fight. It doesn’t have to be (for the title). If Fedor is on his
last fight with us, we wouldn’t make it a title fight with Alistair.
But why shouldn’t that fight happen regardless?”


Still, Coker adds that a fight with Overeem does not have to be on
the docket and that Antonio Silva and former PRIDE and DREAM veteran
Sergei Kharitonov could also be up next for the Russian.
“It doesn’t have to be Overeem,” said Coker this week. “It could be (Antonio) ‘Big Foot’ Silva or maybe (Sergei) Kharitonov.”


Should M-1 Global not get what they want which is a rematch with
Fabricio Werdum and they probably not get due to Werdum’s injury, it
appears they will likely renegotiate with the UFC which could be a dead
end once again. Stay tuned!