While I don’t necessarily agree with Gross’ solution (and quite frankly, that point is secondary), I do agree with him that MMA is at a crossroads and that Strikeforce has the legitimate potential to not only be a solid #2 but even become the new Pride to UFC’s juggernaut — in other words a possible equal to the UFC. After all, Strikeforce has continuously improved its roster in recent months and has big-time exposure in the form of Showtime and CBS.

If Strikeforce does realize its potential, then the reality is neither a UFC title nor a Strikeforce title will be meaningful because the MMA talent pool will be divided between the two promotions. If, as Gross believes, the goal of MMA is to determine who the best fighters are, the only way to resolve the dilemma posed by two strong promotions is with co-promoted fights.

Rather than using tournaments, which I believe would add a logistic hurdle that doesn’t make sense, what I propose is an annual Super Bowl of MMA (much like the one Dana White posited as an idea when Zuffa bought Pride.) This Super Bowl of MMA would take place the Saturday night before American football’s Super Bowl.

This proposal carries with it a number of advantages. For one, the co-promotional event would only take place on one night, which means that fighters would be fighting outside their respective promotions only once a year. This is certainly a palatable compromise in the spirit of determining the best of the best. Second, the night before the real Super Bowl has already been established by the UFC as a major night for MMA so re-orienting or educating fans would not be an issue. Third, only two promotions — the UFC and Strikeforce — would be involved in such an event meaning negotiations would be fairly straightforward (Gross’ idea was to involve fighters from all the major promotions throughout the world which I think is currently too ambitious.) Fourth, the event would serve to strengthen both promotions and would also give both promotions leverage as they attempt to negotiate favorable television deals. Strikeforce would bring to the table its relationships with CBS and Showtime, while the UFC would bring its own relationships with Spike TV, Versus, as well as strong pay-per-view numbers. The promotions would certainly be in the position of power at the negotiating table and maybe, just maybe, another network or even ESPN would step in to televise this yearly event.

As fans know, the major sticking point in getting such a proposal to become a reality is Zuffa. And, who can blame White and the Fertittas for their aversion to co-promotion? What’s the incentive for the acknowledged world’s top MMA promotion to share the spotlight with another promotion? Well, hopefully the following five fights we most likely won’t see this coming year — fights that I believe could help take the sport to the next level in a Super Bowl-type event — should give the powers-that-be the motivation to work together.

Heavyweight: Brock Lesnar (UFC) vs. Fedor Emelianenko (Strikeforce)

 This fight alone would be enough to attract fans in droves. There are no fighters in MMA more intriguing than Lesnar and Emelianenko. While Lesnar is reportedly on the mend from what sounds like a very serious illness and will apparently be defending his UFC belt in the not-too-distant future, Emelianenko continues to show fans in the US why he is widely considered the top fighter of the past decade. While all parties involved missed the boat on another potentially epic heavyweight bout a few years ago between Randy Couture and Emelianenko, it would be a shame if MMA fans weren’t treated to a match between the super-athletic and charismatic behemoth Lesnar against the cerebral, quick, and reclusive Emelianenko. 

Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida (UFC) vs. Gegard Mousasi (Strikeforce)

Sure, Machida struggled against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his last bout and many observers felt he lost that fight, but the reality is that Machida did something that’s been a rare feat in recent years — he actually successfully defended the UFC light heavyweight belt. I believe Machida has learned from his mistakes from that first fight and will extend his unbeaten record when he rematches Rua, who has regained his once-dominant Pride form, later this year.

Of all the Super Bowl bouts I’m suggesting, one could argue that this is the least appealing. Not because Mousasi isn’t one of the top 205 lb-ers in the sport but because the UFC essentially has most of the top fighters in this weight class locked up. In other words, the belt that Mousasi holds doesn’t have quite the meaning as the one Machida holds. Regardless, Mousasi has shown fans enough in his two very convincing Strikeforce victories to make this a worthy contest. And, don’t underestimate the man who counts Fedor as a training partner.

Middleweight: Anderson Silva (UFC) vs. Dan Henderson (Strikeforce)

If Strikeforce has one division that rivals or surpasses that of the UFC, it’s the San Jose-based promotion’s middleweight division. The promotion’s current champ at 185 pounds is Jake Shields, which may make my pick a bit confusing. While Shields has proven to be a very worthy 185 pound champ, I believe his true prowess is at welterweight. With that said, I also believe that the newly-signed Henderson will eventually become the promotion’s middleweight champ.

A bout against Silva would be the realization of a goal Henderson has had to rematch the man he lost to just about two years ago. Most MMA fans probably thought Henderson would get that opportunity after his knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Alas, that was not to be as his UFC contract expired and the fighter and the promotion both decided to move on.

Anderson, on the other hand, hasn’t faced much of a challenge in recent bouts as he’s bounced from middleweight to light heavyweight, but he is next scheduled to fight Vitor Belfort while fighters such as Nate Marquardt and Wanderlei Silva wait for their opportunities (for Marquardt, the fight would be a rematch.) Still, no fighter has put Silva quite on the brink of defeat like Henderson and with very few challenges for the Brazilian at middleweight, who wouldn’t welcome a reprise of their UFC 82 bout?

Welterweight: Georges St. Pierre (UFC) vs. Jake Shields (Strikeforce)

Georges St. Pierre faces a similar dilemma as Anderson Silva — he’s convincingly dispatched of the rest of the division and now has to wonder where his next true challenge will be. Some have openly discussed a move up to 185 pounds, with hopes that such a move, even if temporary, would result in a super-fight against A. Silva. For now, however, GSP faces Dan Hardy at 170 pounds, and while Hardy is certainly no slouch, it’s difficult to see the Brit doing anymore than previously vanquished UFC welterweight title contenders.

Enter Jake Shields. Shields first became welterweight champ in the now-defunct EliteXC. When he moved over to Strikeforce, he decided to fight at 185 pounds. And while he’s certainly big enough and skilled enough to be one of the best at either weight, his wrestling and BJJ skills along with his size make him a formidable matchup at 170 pounds. If Shields has one weakness, it’s his stand-up game and I have a feeling that at middleweight, this relative weakness would be exposed by the likes of all-around studs like Henderson or Marquardt, let alone Anderson Silva.

Of course, what complicates this scenario is that Shields’ stablemate Nick Diaz is fighting for the now-vacant Strikeforce welterweight title against Marius Zaromskis later this month. If Diaz were to win the belt, I’d have to imagine Shields would be hesitant to fight his fellow Cesar Gracie fighter for the belt. Regardless, in my ideal scenario, Shields would be Strikeforce’s 170 pound representative in the Super Bowl.

Lightweight: BJ Penn (UFC) vs. Shinya Aoki (Strikeforce)

Much like GSP and A. Silva, Penn has also cleared out his weight class. While his next opponent, Frankie Edgar, has certainly proven he’s one of the best in the world, the bottom line is that Penn is simply a step above every other lightweight in the UFC. Certainly a future match-up against former Pride stud and newly-signed UFC fighter Takonori Gomi holds promise but the reality is that MMA fans are clamoring for a Penn fight that the UFC can’t currently make — one against Gomi’s fellow countryman, Aoki.

Aoki was only recently announced as a Strikeforce signee and while he’s not Strikeforce’s current champ, he holds a ton of MMA cred given his performances in Dream. And, this is not to diminish the abilities of current Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez and past champ Josh Thomson. In fact, I think Melendez has a very legit shot of winning against Aoki, but given Aoki’s otherworldly ground skills, it would take an A+ effort from Melendez to do so. So, while I’m dreaming, I’ll predict that Aoki figures out a way to finish Melendez (which has never been done, by the way) and sets up the dream match against the lightweight demi-god Penn.

In addition, we spend the last few minutes looking ahead to this week’s UFC 105 card, which emanates from the UK and is available on SpikeTV on a tape-delayed basis.

Audio player after the jump.

Here are some of my thoughts about the night of fights and where Strikeforce is headed from here.

Fedor adds to his legend. Regardless of what else might have happened Saturday night, the evening would ultimately be judged by the main event fight between WAMMA heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers. The crowd clearly knew who Fedor was and gave him a loud ovation during the pre-fight introductions.

While Rogers was the lesser known of the two men, he proved that he was a worthy competitor, gashing Fedor on the nose very early in the fight with a jab. Even as Fedor’s nose began to bleed heavily and the commentators speculated that it might be broken, Fedor never relented, constantly pushing forward. The two exchanged flurries and the Russian managed to take the fight to the ground in the first round, where conventional wisdom stated that Rogers was at a severe disadvantage.

However, Rogers proved on the ground that he is a true MMA fighter — a multi-dimensional athlete — and swept Fedor, ending up on top while also fending off submission attempts.

But, the inevitable happened midway through the second round as Fedor landed a violent overhand right that knocked Rogers to the ground and precipitated the TKO victory.

Though Fedor won in the record books, Rogers and Strikeforce also came out victorious in the process. Rogers acquitted himself very nicely, going toe to toe with one of the most dominant MMA fighters of the last decade. He may have done more for his career with that defeat than he had done previously ringing up ten straight victories to begin his career. Rogers was more than game — he was a credible opponent who pushed Fedor further than former UFC champs Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovksi had in the past year or so.

Strikeforce benefited too because the man the promotion hyped above all others came through with a decisive, spectacular, highlight reel victory. But, he had to work for that victory, which only adds to the legend of Fedor.

The question going forward is who will Fedor fight next? He could take on Febricio Werdum, who was impressive in a decision victory over Antonio Silva earlier in the evening. Or, he could fight Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem.

With that said, Strikeforce’s heavyweight division certainly has potential. At this point, I would say there are five credible fighters in the division. And, don’t forget Bobby Lashley, a former WWE fighter and recent Strikeforce signee who as a long-term project could be Strikeforce’s answer to the UFC’s Brock Lesnar.

Middleweight division is promotion’s strongest weight class. The Jake Shields-Jason “Mayhem” Miller title bout at 185 pounds was a back and forth affair that Shields rightly won by decision. Shields earned the victory by controlling where the action took place — namely on the ground. Anytime Miller threatened with his stand-up game, Shields used strong takedowns to push the fight to his strong suit. On the ground, the fight was essentially a draw, though, with both men showing good BJJ defense in a bout reminiscent of the Martin Kampmann-Carlos Condit UFC tilt earlier this year.

In fact, Miller himself scored a beautiful slam in one of the early rounds and looked close to finishing the bout towards the end of round three with a rear naked choke. On that occasion, however, Shields was saved by the bell.

Even in defeat, Miller is a great addition to the Strikeforce roster. Not only can he fight, he’s also a personality – as he showed with his entrance complete with dancing girls — who has entertained Japanese crowds for years.

There’s also plenty of other talent in the division, including former champ Cung Le, former UFC champ Frank Shamrock, Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, Nick Diaz, and Benji Radach. In addition, Strikeforce announced the forthcoming debut of two more 185 pounders — Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Matt Lindland – who will face each other on December 19.

There are also rumors that former two-time Pride champ Dan Henderson may sign with Strikeforce now that his UFC contract is complete. Although Henderson’s services are badly needed in the thin Strikeforce light heavyweight division, the Team Quest fighter has the versatility to compete at 185 pounds as well.

King “Mo” Lawal is another fighter on the roster who, while he’d be welcome in the light heavyweight division, could potentially venture down to the middleweight division too.

Gegard Mousasi has no peer in Strikeforce Light Heavyweight division. Saturday night marked the second TKO for Mousasi, this time in defense of his title. Although the 205 pound title holder was pushed by a rejuvenated Sokoudjou, I kept waiting for Mousasi to pounce, which he finally did midway through the second round as he ended the fight via ground-and-pound. By then, it appeared Sokoudjou had had enough as he rolled over on his side, forcing the ref to stop the action.

With the victory, Mousasi has now defeated “Babalu” Sobral as well as the “African Assassin” and Strikeforce will have to do its best to find more talent to push the man who trains with Fedor. Lawal would certainly serve as an interesting foe, given his strong wrestling base and ground-and-pound ability. However, if Henderson does sign with the promotion, he would certainly have to merit consideration as the next man up at a shot at Mousasi’s title.

Strikeforce announces next major card. Saturday night’s card was barely over before Strikeforce announced it’s next major card, which will be televised on Showtime on December 19. Emanating from San Jose and dubbed “Evolution”, the card will feature a main event between former champ Cung Le and Scott Smith. In addition to that and the Souza-Lindland bout, Lawal will also make his Strikeforce debut on the card. It will be interesting to see with whom Scott Coker and company pair Lawal up. If Coker can sign Henderson soon, a Lawal-Henderson match-up to decide the next challenger for Mousasi would certainly be tantalizing.

Without a doubt, Strikeforce is proving itself to be a worthy competitor to the UFC. With a growing pool of intriguing up-and-coming as well as accomplished talent, a network deal with CBS, and a premium cable deal with Showtime, the promotion is quickly becoming a destination for fighters and should be attracting the attention of casual fans, many of whom may have previously equated MMA with the UFC. If sponsors and advertisers follow, Strikeforce may ultimately prove to be more than just the appetizer to a UFC main course. In the end, fans (and fighters) win out, as both promotions will be forced to put on consistently top-notch cards at a price the masses can afford.