With the Strikeforce signings of Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson, as well as the CBS deal, it appeared as though the company was finally ready to take the next step into mainstream stardom. However, recent booking decisions have again proven that Strikeforce is not at a level where they can challenge a monopoly like the stronghold that the UFC has over the sport.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem will finally return to the promotion after a two and a half year absence on the May 15th card. The logical decision would pit mixed martial art’s greatest heavyweight in Emelianenko against the heavyweight champion in a long awaited matchup. Instead, the man whom Emelianenko defeated in his Strikeforce debut, Brett Rogers, will get the first crack at Overeem while Fabricio Werdum takes on the Last Emporer.

With Fedor’s resume, a tune up fight should not have been necessary to receive a title shot, let alone two of them. Since the early 2000′s, Emelianenko has been the top ranked heavyweight destroying all of the competition the PRIDE organization could put in front of him on his way to a near 10 year undefeated streak. This would be the equivalent of Michael Jordan being traded from the Bulls in the mid-nineties and having to have multiple tryouts before getting to play for the major league team. It simply wouldn’t happen.

As if this is not enough, Strikeforce has announced yet a third heavyweight bout for the May 15th card between Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva. Three heavyweight matches on the same main card is unheard of in non-tournament events in the modern mixed martial arts era. Most cards try to feature a mix of everything to keep fans of all sorts entertained. Instead, Strikeforce has loaded their May offering with one aspect of what it takes to have a well rounded card, and in doing this will only endear themselves to a portion of the mixed martial arts audience.

On the other hand, the April CBS card that Strikeforce has put together features three title fights that are all five round encounters. Shinya Aoki will make his North American debut against Gilbert Melendez, Gegary Mousasi will face off against wrestling phenom Mo Lawal, and in the main event Jake Shields will defend his middleweight title against veteran Dan Henderson.

As a fan of the sport, there is no need to complain about a card with that many competitive title defenses. However, from a business standpoint, it makes little sense. Not only are you leaving your May card with a nearly complete heavyweight main card, but you also will have little to offer on their summer outings.

Would it not make more sense to put one of the heavyweight fights on the April card in exchange for one of the title fights on the May card? In putting three championships on the line in April and having the heavyweight champion compete on the May card, Strikeforce has left itself with few options for the summer months. Those who compete on the April card will likely be out of action until at least August and those competing on the May card will be inactive even longer. So what does this leave Strikeforce with for June and July?

Last year’s UFC numbers show that the summer months are often the most popular for pay per view purchases as UFC 100 and UFC 101 were the two most purchased cards of the year. Obviously the stacked cards had a lot to do with these numbers, but it does show that fans still tune in during this season.

With four of the champions being used in April and May, it is likely that Santos’s Featherweight Championship and Diaz’s Welterweight Championship will be defended at some point throughout the summer. Erin Toughhill appears to be on tap for Santos and as for Diaz it appears he could be defending against either Hayato “Mach” Sakurai or Jay Heiron. Neither of these champions is able to sell a card on their own especially with these two divisions being so uncompetitive as of late. Even if Strikeforce is able to bring in a few names from the DREAM promotion in Japan, most of their talent is rather unknown in North America and will not significantly contribute to pay per view buys.

Strikeforce has put all of their eggs in one basket this spring. Instead of leveling the cards out, they are loading up and leaving themselves dry of competitive fights for the summer months. The promotion is working with few big stars as it is and will have none of them available for June and July. What can Strikeforce do to stay competitive with the UFC over these months? Only time will tell.