I can only imagine that mixed emotions will wash over the fans who have been clamoring for Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem to climb back in the cage and defend the title, something he hasn't done since first winning the strap way back in November of 2007.

On one hand, Overeem has indeed been booked to face Brett Rogers in a heavyweight throwdown, and the report indicates that the encounter will most likely take place May 15 on a card that Strikeforce is still building in St. Louis.  This is great news for anyone who genuinely wants to see one of the most talented heavyweight knockout artists get back to fighting stateside under the Strikeforce banner, and will take a chunk out of the argument that Overeem is avoiding the U.S. for fear of testing positive for steroids.

On the other hand, during Alistair's extended absence in Strikeforce, the promotion has leveraged none other than the world's #1 ranked heavyweight in Fedor Emelianenko, who just blasted Brett Rogers with a 2nd round KO in his last fight.  Despite Emelianenko being considered not only the top contender, but already the uncrowned champion, it was he that was expected to be paired versus Overeem with the belt at stake. 

Instead, Overeem will face the man that Fedor just folded, and the bout will be a non-title affair.

Let's look on the bright side:  if M-1 Global wants to insist that Fedor is "above the Strikeforce title" (a sentiment that sounds incredulous, but is pretty hard to argue against), that Overeem has only beaten no-names and would first need to pass a stateside drug test; and considering the M-1 brass has already hinted towards a fight between Fedor and fellow established heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum in May--I only need to hear the same month being mentioned for both fights to realize that we could be talking about a card that would feature Fedor-Werdum and Overeem-Rogers on the same night.

I think I would probably tune in for that.  I think you would, too.

 ***UPDATE***

Bloody Elbow reports that the fight will in fact be for the Strikeforce heavyweight championship.