Will Strikeforce Appear On CBS Again In The Future?

That's the big question now that the ratings are in, and they were pretty dismal but not unexpected to people in the know.  I was of the belief that a show as horrible as their last show would be the final show on CBS in regards to Strikeforce.  However, Dave Meltzer spoke about it on his radio show yesterday and offered his thoughts.  Zach Arnold with the transcription at FightOpinion:

Strikeforce, it was a 1.8 rating… and… it’s… you know, I mean… it wasn’t, you know, after talking to a lot of people today including people there (at the show), it was certainly disappointing. It was not disastrous. They have done worse, you know when they did the show from Stockton and it did come back from that… Will they do it? You know… CBS is going to have to make the call. I mean there’s, it’s not a sure thing either way. It’s not like, ‘Oh my God, they’re dead for sure!’ They haven’t informed, certainly no one in Strikeforce knows that they’re dead. And they haven’t been, I mean just based on talking to people and everything like that today, they’re not acting like it’s a dead thing. There are signs that are positive that they’ll probably do another show in the fall. You know one of the things that you know was brought up to me was that you know realistically in another day or two, no one’s going to talk about that brawl again and certainly by Saturday you know it’ll be a dead subject.

In regards to the bolded part, they do have a few aces in the hole if they can manage to get another show on CBS.  Which in all likely-hood is the only reason why it's possible they'll be given another shot on CBS. 

-Gina Carano

-Herschel Walker

-Fedor Emelianenko

That's all they have in regards to 'star power', and Zach Arnold dents the armour on those 'stars':

1. The truth is that Herschel Walker is their biggest drawing card. Say of it what you will, but it’s reality. He got the biggest pop of anyone in Nashville. His fight against tomato can Greg Nagy drew more attention in the sports world than anything on the Strikeforce show in Nashville did.

2. It seems almost inevitable that Fedor will end up fighting in Japan again, likely against Barnett on New Year’s Eve. As for fighting in UFC… I say 50/50. Which makes Strikeforce pushing Fedor vs. Brett Rogers on CBS last Fall dumb. Fedor’s not a cornerstone guy of any promotion. Note the emphasis.

3. Can the light switch be turned on and off for Gina Carano’s star power?

I pretty much agree with these sentiments, but I do think Carano's star power is a bit more powerful than Arnold gives her credit for even though she got dismantled against Cyborg.  If they brought Carano back and re-matched her against Cyborg in her first fight back, it would do huge numbers ratings wise.  She would probably get destroyed even worse with the long layoff, but she kind of has that Kimbo Slice appeal in my opinion...people will watch her fight win or lose.  Then Fedor Emelianenko, he's still not a huge draw but I think enough people saw his fight with Rogers that he's definitely a factor in regards to if Strikeforce will appear on CBS.  In fact, I think Fedor will ONLY fight on CBS if he fights for Strikeforce again.  So if they put all three of these fighters and maybe Bobby Lashley(even though he's not that much of a draw), I do think they could duplicate the numbers put up by the Fedor/Rogers event if not surpass them.  I guess we'll see, in the meantime, do you think we'll see Strikeforce on CBS again?