Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said the promotion is considering a heavyweight championship bout between Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko next, despite Emelianenkoā€™s recent defeat to Fabricio Werdum.

Werdum submitted Emelianenko with a 69-second choke triangle-armbar at Strikeforce/M-1 Global ā€œFedor vs. Werdumā€ on June 26 in San Jose, Calif. It was the 33-year-old Emelianenkoā€™s first loss in 29 fights and nearly 10 years.

Emelianenkoā€™s M-1 Global management, which co-promotes select events with Strikeforce, has already requested the rematch with Werdum ā€œright away,ā€ according to Coker. Under the current contract, Emelianenko will return to the U.S., at least one more time to compete under the Strikeforce/M-1 Global banner.

ā€œMy feeling is maybe Fedor should fight Alistair Overeem and whoever wins that fight gets to fight Fabricio Werdum,ā€ Coker told the Sherdog Radio Networkā€™s ā€œBeatdownā€ show last week. ā€œAlistair vs. Fedor? Iā€™d love to see that fight happen.ā€

Coker said negotiations to extend the agreement between the two entities for more co-produced events featuring Emelianenko are forthcoming.

ā€œWe just saw Fedor fight Werdum. Iā€™m not saying we couldnā€™t do the rematch first,ā€ said Coker. ā€œIā€™m just saying there are a couple of options on the table and the other option would be to fight Alistairā€¦but until we sit down with M-1, these are all just the optionsā€¦For me, the times have changed and itā€™s going to be an interesting negotiation now.ā€

As for the promotionā€™s heavyweight champion Overeem, Coker quelled talk that the 31-year-old Dutch strikerā€™s attention might be divided with his preliminary plans to enter a K-1 tournament this summer.

ā€œI talked to Alistair and have really good contact with his management and they told me his priority is going to be fighting in America,ā€ said Coker. ā€œIf he does want to enter the K-1 tournament, I have no problem with that. Weā€™ll schedule around that because I know he has a personal goal that heā€™d like to win that tournament.

ā€œI think (Overeem) wants to fight Fabricio Werdum really bad and I think he wants to fight Fedor really bad,ā€ added Coker. ā€œHe is our champion, so weā€™ll put those fights together for him.ā€