Several great quotes, as well as several more noteworthy news items surfaced following last nights Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum event from Dallas, Texas.
Saturday nights event featured the next set of quarterfinal bouts for the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament. Heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem moved onto the next round by earning a unanimous decision over Fabricio Werdum, and Josh Barnett submitted opponent Brett Rogers to make it into the second round.
Overeem now meets Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, while Barnett steps into the cage next against Sergei Kharitonov.
During the post-fight press conference at the American Airlines Center, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker made a few announcements. (MMAjunkie.com)
– The Overeem vs. Werdum event reportedly drew 7,639 fans into the arena for a live gate of $543,060
– Jorge Masvidal is not a lock as the next lightweight contender but he’s “going to be a frontrunner” according to Coker.
– A rematch between Justin Wilcox vs. Gesias ‘JZ’ Cavalcante is a possibility after Saturday’s eye poke. Coker noted that it will depend on the timing of a possible rematch and the length of time Wilcox will be sidelined due to the eye injury.
– No date has been set for the tournament semi-finals but Coker did reveal that the end date of the World Grand Prix has been set for February 2012.
Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva (MMAjunkie.com)
– “I told you before, if I beat Fedor, I would win this tournament. I promised my fans, I promised my family, and I’m going to win this tournament. I actually feel Overeem respected Werdum a lot, and he didn’t do as much as he could. But I expected more. I didn’t see too much. I respect Overeem, but I’m going to train hard. I’m going to train for three rounds, hard. I know I can knock out this guy. I can fight standup, fight on the ground – believe me.”
Alistair Overeem in his post-fight interview (transcription via BloodyElbow.com)
– “Considering that Fabricio is the best grappler in MMA, the game plan was to not go into his game. I consider myself, with the K-1 title, the best striker in MMA, so I wanted to keep it standing. He made so many takedown attempts. It was a little frustrating to me, because I couldn’t finish him in that first [round], and I also couldn’t deliver the fight that I wanted to deliver to the fans.”
“We worked a lot on my cardio. I wasn’t worried about that,” said Overeem. “He just did not want to stand and bang with me, and I expected that. He had a lot of words before the fight, so it’s a pity. My apologies to the fans.”
Josh Barnett (transcription via MMAFighting.com)
– “I’m not here to do everything that everyone tells me to,” Barnett said. “I’m here to entertain. I don’t need my hand held. I don’t need to be directed. I don’t need to have anybody try to prompt me to give something interesting. Just give me my moment, give me my time, and I’ll give you what you want and then some. People want to hear what I’ve got to say, and if anybody wants to see how I finished the fight, hit rewind on the DVR. You can check it out as much as you want…”
“This is my chance,” he said. “This is my triple crown. This is my WGP. This is my opportunity to go out there and display myself as one of the best heavyweights who’s ever walked the earth. I know it, but people want to see it. They want me to prove it. Fine. As long as you can line people up against me, I’m going to go out there and keep taking them out. That’s my job. I’m born and bred to fight. So anybody that thinks they want to kick my a–, make them sign so I can go prove them different.”
Jorge Masvidal (transcription Yahoo! Sports)
– “KJ was more aggressive. He made more openings happen. He’s a good striker, but I’m a bad style for him. I’m a good counter fighter. I felt comfortable striking with him. You’re not going to see me getting on my knees or something, but if [Strikeforce CEO] Scott Coker wants to give me the shot, I’d be more than happy.”