Strikeforce announces Fedor vs Brett Rogers

Strikeforce has announced Fedor Emelianenko’s first opponent, and it will be none other than hard hitting Cinderella man Brett ‘the Grim’ Rogers. The news was announced at an open training session in New York, and has many people divided on how they feel.

Fedor Emelianenko - Image: Zuma Press

Here’s the deal: so long as Fedor – considered by many to be the best MMA fighter on the planet – isn’t in the UFC, there’ll be a whole segment of fans who won’t be happy with any of the opponents he faces. To them, it’s Brock or bust. Or at least Randy Couture or something! Having Fedor in Strikeforce is like keeping a whale in a fish bowl. But that’s not entirely fair. There are a few moderately interesting fights in that bowl, and Brett Rogers is one of them.

I’ll admit, it isn’t because I think Brett Rogers has a decent chance of winning the fight. He’s got a puncher’s chance, which against Fedor is complicated even more by the fact that he can put you on your back before you even get that punch.

The reason I’m into this match is because it’s a great underdog story. You could take Brett Rogers’ tale and turn it into a Rocky style movie one day (or Rocky 2 movie if he actually manages to win). You see, two years ago no one had even heard of Brett ‘the Grim’ Rogers. Even after he began to climb the rankings with knockout wins on EliteXC’s short lived CBS shows, he was still generally ignored as a prospect. At one point he ended up back at his old job at Sam’s Club rotating tires because he wasn’t getting fights.

Then Strikeforce picks him up and booked him against former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski. Up until that point Brett’s biggest opponent had been James Thompson of puss-eared Kimbo fight fame, and everyone saw it as throwing Rogers to the wolves. But Rogers didn’t just win … he destroyed Arlovski in 22 seconds. And suddenly Rogers found himself on everyone’s heavyweight top ten list.

Here’s where Fedor comes into the picture. The Russian was set to fight Josh Barnett at a show earlier this month but Barnett failed a pre-event steroid test. Another opponent was needed, and Brett Rogers was at the center of many people’s chatter. Even Fedor and his management chimed in, saying Brett Rogers was the opponent they’d like to fight. Unfortunately, instead of replacing Barnett with Rogers, the entire event was canceled.

And that brings us to today. While not as dramatic as a last second replacement fight would be, Brett Rogers will get his shot at Fedor sometime in November (Strikeforce is being secretive of the date to try and keep the UFC from organizing a competing event). And while the guy probably doesn’t stand that much of a chance against Fedor, there’s something pretty exciting about seeing him get an opportunity after all the crap he’s had to go through. And if there’s ever a guy who embodied the harsh MMA reality that anything can happen in a fight, it’s a power puncher like Brett Rogers.