When Strikeforce bought select assets of ProElite in February 2009, it was the first step in a marathon from regional promoter to the national scene. The purchase gave Strikeforce an abundance of new fighters and paved the way for broadcast deals with both Showtime and CBS. Prior to the deal, Strikeforce had champions such as Alistair Overeem and Cung Le that for various reasons had never defended their titles. In fact, they only really had three fighters on the regular roster that could be considered elite – in a loose sense of the word.

On April 11, 2009, the "new" Strikeforce debuted and did a great job at building towards their future. All five main card winners – Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, Scott Smith, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, and Brett Rogers – would go on to either main event or be prominently featured on a card within the next year. The event was a success on TV as well, pulling in 364,000 viewers, slightly more than EliteXC's last effort on the same network. Two months later only 275,000 tuned in to see Jake Shields to submit Robbie Lawler, but all was not lost as Diaz once again shined and Brett Rogers became a legitimate contender with a quick win over Andrei Arlovski.

Those first two shows did a good job of building towards the future, but there was something lacking. The biggest bout they could possibly put together – Gina Carano vs. "Cyborg" Santos – had already been announced for August 15 on Showtime, rather than CBS. With no proven draw on the roster sans Carano, there was a feeling that she must win the bout in order for the company to draw an impressive rating on CBS.

Then the big break happened.

Following a series of stupid and unfortunate events, Affliction bowed out of the promoting game and left dozens of fighters unemployed. The UFC picked up some of the pieces including Vitor Belfort, Paul Buentello, Vladimir Matyushenko, Gilbert Yvel and many up-and-coming fighters. Strikeforce was able to sign Gegard Mousasi and the crown jewel of them all, Fedor Emelianenko. Emelianenko was aggressively pursued by the UFC, who dreamt of putting him against their champion Brock Lesnar in a bout many feel would be the biggest of all time. However, Fedor's notoriously hard to work with management wanted to co-promote the UFC and the deal fell apart over that issue. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker had little problem co-promoting with M-1 Global to bring in a man that draws intrigue from news outlets that normally would treat Strikeforce like it was infected with tuberculosis.

Carano vs. Cyborg drew a record 576,000 viewers to Showtime for their fight and the San Jose based organization was rolling. Three months later it was time for Fedor to make his company debut against Brett Rogers on CBS. The event was a success, as not only did it draw a respectable 4.04 million viewers, but Fedor, Mousasi, heavyweight challenger Fabricio Werdum and Jake Shields were all victorious.

The next month Strikeforce showcased some of their new talent as well as their established fighters. In the main event Cung Le, who had vacated the middleweight title due to inactivity, took comeback kid Scott Smith. Smith won the bout in a thrilling come-from-behind performance, which wasn't too bad of an outcome for Strikeforce. Gilbert Melendez defeated Josh Thomson for the lightweight title in a thrilling rematch of their 2008 bout in the co-main event. Rounding out the card, middleweight BJJ master "Jacare" Souza defeated Matt Lindland, and Muhammed Lawal won via knockout. Going forward, Lawal, who goes by the moniker of King Mo and is among the most entertaining personalities in the sport, would be a guy Strikeforce should have promoted heavily.

To kick off 2010 Strikeforce enlisted the help of ex-NFL great Herschel Walker. The then-47-year-old made his mixed debut to much fanfare on Strikeforce: Miami. He was the man responsible for many of the 517,000 viewers. Also that night, Nick Diaz captured the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship and "Cyborg" Santos retained her belt, though much of the interest in her had dwindled due to the lack of a threatening challenger and Gina Carano. Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley also debuted on the card in winning fashion against Wes Sims.

In April Strikeforce was back on CBS, this time without Fedor. The event featured three title bouts, all of which went the distance. Jake Shields defeated UFC and Pride veteran Dan Henderson in the main event, King Mo beat Mousasi for the light heavyweight belt, and Gilbert Melendez dominated Shinya Aoki. Not surprisingly, the company drew a measly 2.63 million viewers for the event, which was also marred by a post-fight brawl following the main event.

To make matters worse, champion Jake Shields' contract was up after the event, and he will likely sign with the UFC I don't know what Scott Coker was thinking when he gave Shields a title shot in the first place or even put him in such a high profile fight without first renegotiating the deal. Secondly, did they really think the event would draw as well as the first? It seems to me they lack both common sense and the ability to survey fans on what they're interested in seeing. Lastly, King Mo was not promoted as well as he should have been. Prior to the bout, I felt they were rushing it. Not because Mo wasn't ready for Mousasi, but because Strikeforce hadn't done a good job of promoting either fighter.

Saturday was a pivotal event for Strikeforce. The card was aptly titled "Heavy Artillery" and featured the return of heavyweight Alistair Overeem. "The Reem" had been destroying can after can outside of Strikeforce while competing in K-1. He defended his belt against Brett Rogers, which gives the impression that Fedor is above the Strikeforce belt. Übereem was destructive in the bout and is being touted as an elite heavyweight by fans and media alike.

A Fedor vs. Overeem bout for the heavyweight crown is the second best potential heavyweight match-up there is in my opinion. It pits the unassuming yet incredibly talented and undefeated Fedor against a 253-pound muscle bound fighter that's been absolutely ravaging opponent after opponent. Unlike the situation with Carano vs. Cyborg, where Strikeforce could afford to make a mistake with the bout by putting it on Showtime, there is no room for error with this fight.

An edition of Fight Camp 360 would be necessary, but the focus should be on the stories of Fedor and Alistair. I would build one portion around Fedor's legacy. He's the greatest fighter ever, beaten everyone in his path and has been the #1 ranked heavyweight for seven consecutive years, why not have experts and fellow fighters talk about that? For Alistair, Strikeforce should reach out to their friends at FEG for footage of Alistair's K-1 bouts and recent MMA fights. There should also be a feature on their bouts against Brett Rogers. Seeing how much easier Overeem beat Rogers than Fedor was able to will increase the notion that he has a good chance of overthrowing "The Last Emperor."

For Strikeforce, the real question they should be asking themselves for this fight is whether it should be on CBS or PPV. Their relationship with CBS may be in limbo after the poor ratings and post-fight melee, but in order to start making money and become a legitimate threat to the UFC, Strikeforce needs to move to PPV at some point. With this being the biggest fight they can put together in the foreseeable future, this time is as good as any to go into the PPV business. This decision will be a key one for the future of Strikeforce. Fedor vs. Overeem would do very good numbers on CBS, likely surpassing the 4.04 million of Fedor vs. Rogers. On PPV, there is more room to fail as it's tough to get fans to commit $45 to a company they're not overly familiar with.

If it was me, I would go with CBS. The relationship may be a bit strained at the moment, but the prospect of such a big fight being on free TV and the subsequent ratings may ensure Strikeforce's future on the network. With the backing of a national network, Strikeforce would have the exposure to go forward with a PPV in the future. I would also make sure King Mo was on that CBS card, since he could be a great asset for a PPV; same goes with Gina Carano.