Thursday Blog: Flawless UFC Victories -- Part IV

Originally posted on Sherdog.com

By Loretta Hunt (lhunt@sherdog.com)
Thursday, 5:05 p.m. ET: I was as surprised as anyone when Strikeforce suddenly added a bonus matchup between heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers to their June 6 event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. You hear a lot of rumors in the biz –- no secret stays one for long -- but this was a big one that seemed to slip through the cracks.

That is until I heard the deal had been masterminded in the wee hours that Tuesday morning.

I love last-minute deals –- it’s just another perk of this unpredictable sport. So, I asked Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker how it all went down.

“This fight was supposed to be between Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers, and then Alistair hurt his hand in the last seven days, we were waiting to see if his hand was going to heal or if he was supposed to come out [to the U.S.],” Coker said Tuesday. “It turns out that he could not, so Brett Rogers was left without an opponent. At that time, the opportunity for Andrei Arlovski to fight on our card appeared on our doorstep, and we thought it would be a great fight with him and Brett.”

With a main event between the Terminator that is Robbie Lawler against jiu-jitsu ace Jake Shields, as well as the scraps that will likely be Nick Diaz versus Scott Smith and Phil Baroni trading blows with Joe Riggs, I hardly thought this card needed an extra boost.

Click here to read the entire article at Sherdog.com