Jay Hieron: Should he stay or should he go?

After Jay Hieron defeated Joe Riggs at Strikeforce: Miami most observers believed that Strikeforce would move forward with Hieron as the number one contender for their newly crowned welterweight champion. After all, when Jay signed with Strikeforce he was promised a title shot. But then Scott Coker threw a monkey wrench into the plan when he told Michael David Smith that he wants Hayoto Sakurai, not Jay Hieron, to fight Nick Diaz next. The plot thickened when Hieron confirmed that his fight with Riggs completed his Strikeforce contract and that he is now a free agent.

The revelation of Jay's contract status certainly explained why Coker publicly, if not yet officially, passed over Hieron to fight Diaz next. Why would any person give that kind of explicit leverage to someone you are potentially entering negotiations with?

Now there is a difficult choice facing Jay Hieron; should he try to re-sign with Strikeforce or attempt to close a deal with the UFC?

Like the famous song by The Clash if Hieron stays there will be trouble, if he goes it will be double. Actually, in this case it might be the other way around. But here is WKR's attempt to argue for both sides of the decision.

The case to go

Strikeforce has mishandled Jay Hieron from the beginning. Granted, Hieron's management bears some of the blame when they turned down a title fight against Marius Zaromskis but that doesn't change the overall impression that Strikeforce epically failed with their handling of Hieron.

The latest example comes courtesy of Matt Hughes' comments about Strikeforce. Hughes, who is never one to mince words about Strikeforce, told Cage Writer that it took three hours for someone to come and stitch up Hieron's wounds after his fight with Riggs. Of course, this is more on the athletic commission for not having enough medical staff on site but Hughes also talks about the difference in atmosphere compared to the Zuffa family.

It's not just treatment from the promotion that will make Hieron want to leave--it is the lack of opponents.

Entering the UFC, even if at a pay-cut, will ensure that Hieron will compete in meaningful fights and as we saw with Paul Daley the UFC really needs welterweight challengers. All it could take is two impressive victories to translate into a title shot.

The case to stay

Strikeforce is going to need welterweights and will soon run out of DREAM fighters to fight Nick Diaz --after Sakurai who is left? Ryo Chonan, Akihiro Gono and that's about it-- so Hieron will have more leverage in his negotiations with Strikeforce than the UFC. Plus, there is the added bonus of getting on CBS to build up one's brand.

Besides, WKR isn't so sure if Hieron tries to sign with the UFC they will offer him what he makes now. Granted the UFC did swoop in to sign the aged Phil Baroni for more money then Strikeforce was willing to pay. But even if Zuffa does pony up the cash, Hieron could easily fall prey to the meat grinder of the UFC's 170lbs. division by losing three of four fights and find himself out of a job. Then he is right back where he started, on the outside looking in.

With uncertain prospects in the UFC (well, potentially more uncertain than Strikeforce) it might behoove Hieron to stay in Showtime's promotion.

Basically the choice before Hieron is to stay in Strikeforce and try to become the big fish in a small pond or head to the ocean and potentially get eaten by the sharks.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Miami