Author: Ben Fowlkes

Twitter Mailbag: Marquardt-Story, Rampage’s Future, and More

From doubts about Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s motivation to an imagined MMA Mt. Rushmore, this edition of the Twitter mailbag has got it all. And by all, I mean some.

If you want to ask your own question, or simply tell me how wrong my answers to the…

From doubts about Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s motivation to an imagined MMA Mt. Rushmore, this edition of the Twitter mailbag has got it all. And by all, I mean some.

If you want to ask your own question, or simply tell me how wrong my answers to these questions are, you can find me on Twitter @BenFowlkesMMA.

Now then, who’s first?

@tpears86 Should Rick Story get a title shot if he beats Marquardt? Just to piss off Fitch?

I don’t know if we really want to start giving out title shots with spite as our main motivation, but you do raise an interesting question. If Story pulls off the win against Marquardt, suddenly he has some very respectable pelts on the wall, not to mention a seven-fight win streak. But with GSP-Diaz already on the docket, Story would probably still have to win one more fight to get his shot. Maybe he could fight the winner of Carlos Condit–Dong Hyun Kim? Now that would really piss off Jon Fitch.

@JeremyFM We keep seeing guys with exciting styles who rank near the top at 135/145 being made to fight on the UFC undercard. Why?

First of all, the main event of the next UFC pay-per-view is a 135-pound title fight between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, and one of the top-billed bouts on the last UFC pay-per-view was a 145-pound bout between Kenny Florian and Diego Nunes. In other words, the situation is not as bad for the little guys as you make it out to be, and it’s only getting better.

I think the reason you see the smaller fighters on the prelims more often is because they’re still fairly recent additions to the UFC. The hardcores who watched the WEC religiously already know them, but obviously there weren’t enough of those hardcores to sustain a promotion. Bantamweights and featherweights are still introducing themselves to the general UFC viewership, so give it a little time. At least now they’re in the big show and getting paid.

@GrandpaJesus in all srsns, a) whats next for Maia? b) 1-10 how impressed were you with his boxing? c) isn’t maia dreamy?

a) He fought well and lost a close one, so I think you can put him up against just about any mid-level middleweight. Whether Chris Leben wins or loses against Wanderlei Silva next weekend, a Maia-Leben fight might be fun. b) I’ll say 7, but that’s at least partially because I wasn’t expecting much to begin with. c) I’d describe him more as ‘hunky,’ but okay, whatever.

@ZachLambertski Who is on your Mt Rushmore of MMA or UFC fighters? What’s the best thing to do in Missoula?

My personal MMA Mt. Rushmore would look a little something like this: Randy Couture, Kazushi Sakuraba, Fedor Emelianenko, and Anderson Silva. And yes, Sakuraba is the Teddy Roosevelt in this scenario, so everyone just has to accept it as my own idiosyncratic choice and shut up about it.

As for the second part of your question, we have many fine dive bars. And a river to play in. And some great hiking trails. Cram them all into one day if you want. Just probably not in that order.

@Gino301 who has impressed you the most in the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix?

I guess I have to say Josh Barnett. He had one of the easiest opponents, but he fought the smartest fight, took the least risk, and got through to the next round completely unscathed. That’s a man with some tournament experience for you.

@sephiroth872 would you be interested in Rampage holding the belt even though he’s only in it for the $$$?

I’d be interested in any champion who has what it takes to go out there and win the belt, regardless of what his motivation is.

Look, this is a job. It’s a passion too, of course, but everyone wants to make money. I don’t begrudge Jackson that. The drive to get paid is what fuels most people to get out of bed in the morning. It is the raison d’être for the entire pop music industry. Without that it’d just be bluegrass and NPR on the radio every day.

At the same time, a love of wealth and a desire not to get beat down on TV is probably not going to be enough to get Jackson past Jon Jones. Even a younger, fully motivated, and less gym-weary Jackson wouldn’t match up well against “Bones.” The current “Rampage” will probably fare even worse. But hey, if he lands one of those bungalows and ends up becoming champ, it won’t matter that he’s just there for the cash. The champ is the champ because he wins, not because he has the purest heart and the noblest motivations.

@1Atom How do you see Cormier fairing against more well rounded talent at the top of the HW division?

Magic Eight Ball says: Ask again in six months. But any man who’s a former Olympic wrestler — and who goes toe-to-toe with Cain Velasquez in the gym every day — has real potential in this sport. Let’s see him against either Chad Griggs or Shane del Rosario at the Strikeforce GP semifinal event, and then we’ll know a little more.

@breadwhite I know @danawhite says he doesn’t like “freak show” fights. Do u agree w/ me that @titoortiz vs. @ryanbader is a freak show?

Wait, what? You’re calling Ortiz-Bader a freak show? I almost don’t want to ask, but who’s the freak in that scenario? Is it Ortiz, just because he’s a former champion who’s on his way down (and probably out)? Or is it Bader, whose only loss is to the world’s best light heavyweight?

It might be a bit of a weird fight — or just an attempt to give Tito one more chance before they boot him out of the UFC — but it’s by no means a freak show. Neither of them is a giant or a Japanese TV personality or an internet brawler or a former pro baseball player. And, at least to the best of my knowledge, neither of them will be wearing a mask on fight night. You want a freak show? Go look up how Fedor used to spend his New Year’s Eve in Tokyo.

@RedsRunRampant Question-Can you explain why Spike is having a Nate M. show? Meaning why him as opposed to GSP, Jones, Brock, etc.?

I don’t know if you noticed, but Marquardt is headlining the UFC Live event on a competing cable channel that same night. Spike TV seems resigned to losing UFC programming once the current contract is up, which kind of makes you think that running a day’s worth of competing Marquardt programming — it actually overlaps and thus counter-programs the start of the UFC Live fights — might be an ‘eff you’ of sorts to the UFC.

Further in support of that theory is Spike’s choice of Marquardt fights. Usually, if you want to pump up a guy, you show his greatest hits. You don’t show fights like Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen (which Marquardt lost) or Marquardt vs. Ivan Salaverry (which Marquardt won, but which was so boring I would consider it a punishment if you made me sit through it again).

And yet, that’s what Spike’s doing, so maybe that tells us a little something about the relationship between the UFC and its longtime bosom buddy. Since Dana White holds grudges as if he invented the practice, chances are he’ll remember slights like this forever and always. Once the UFC goes, Spike TV will have a lot of programming holes to fill. And there’s only so many times a person can watch “Star Wars: Episode I.”

@dayronv what is the point of strikeforce still around? it’s not making that much money and one of their best draws has left (diaz).

The point is that Strikeforce still has a contract with Showtime. If you’ve ever heard Dana White speak on the subject, you know that he clearly takes a lot of pride in Zuffa’s track record for adhering to contracts, so it’s going to play this thing out. After that, well…

Strikeforce could stick around as something of a feeder league for the UFC, but if you do that you risk confusing some of the new fans who are still trying to get a handle on this sport. Plus, no matter how many great fights Strikeforce puts on, to many, many people the UFC is not just the name of an organization, but the name of the entire sport. Its brand will always be far more powerful and more profitable, so why run a separate promotion under a lesser-known name?

What I’m saying is, I wouldn’t get too attached to Strikeforce if I were you. Once the Showtime contract is up, I think Zuffa will take what it wants from the rusted-out hulk of Strikeforce and leave the rest on the side of the road to be colonized by a family of possums.

@dannyrube Why does everyone who is involved w/ MMA/UFC put “MMA” at the end of their twitter handle. Does it get u more followers?

No. But if your name is already taken by the time you figure out all this Twitter nonsense, then you have to make some tough choices. For me, it was either add MMA at the end or go with @ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBigPoppa. I think I made the right call, but sure, there are still some nights when I lay awake and wonder.

 

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The Cut List: Who’s in Desperate Need of a Win at UFC Live?

Filed under: UFCBeing on a UFC Live fight card is kind of a good news/bad news scenario for fighters.

The good news is that you get exposure on free cable TV, and it’s a little easier to stand out from the crowd without the pay-per-view megastars soa…

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Being on a UFC Live fight card is kind of a good news/bad news scenario for fighters.

The good news is that you get exposure on free cable TV, and it’s a little easier to stand out from the crowd without the pay-per-view megastars soaking up all the attention. The bad news is, if you’re on one of these to begin with, chances are it’s because the UFC doubts there are enough people willing to pay to see you fight.

Obviously, everyone wants to go home with a win bonus and a smile on his face on Monday morning, but some fighters need a victory worse than others on Sunday night. Let’s sort through the undercard and see who they are, and what their chances look like this weekend.

Cheick Kongo (15-6-2, 8-4-1 UFC)
 Who he’s fighting: Pat Barry
Why he’s in danger: Honestly, when I looked up Kongo’s career record in the UFC I was surprised that it was — at least on paper — this good. Twice as many wins as losses? That’s not bad. Then you look at who he’s beaten (aside from that one big win over Cro Cop) and you see names likes Dan Evensen, Mostapha Al-Turk, Christian Wellisch, and Gilbert Aldana. In fact, of Kongo’s eight victims, only one is still in the UFC (again, Cro Cop, and just barely). The rest of those guys are long gone, and a few have stopped fighting altogether. Suddenly that record doesn’t look so impressive. Still, the UFC likes him, and it’s not like he’s been on a horrible losing skid, though in his last fight he fought to a mediocre draw with Travis Browne, and he was lucky to get that. The last time he looked good in a fight was against Antoni Hardonk in 2009. If he can’t beat Barry, you have to wonder how long he can realistically hang around the bottom of the division before dropping out the bottom.
Odds of getting cut: 4-1. Maybe it’s his impressive physique, or maybe it’s just because he’s avoided the dreaded three-fight losing streak. Whatever it is, the UFC seems content to keep giving him work. Unless he looks absolutely horrible against Barry, expect that trend to continue at least a little while longer.

Matt Brown (11-10, 4-4 UFC)
 Who he’s fighting: John Howard
Why he’s in danger: Brown is currently in the throes of the aforementioned three-fight skid that usually spells doom for a UFC contract. It’s a little surprising that he wasn’t cut after his loss to Brian Foster in November, but hey, apparently the UFC believes in fourth chances, at least for some guys. When he broke into the big leagues Brown seemed like a hard-nosed fighter with lots of potential. A few losses here and there can be written off as a consequence of the steep learning curve, but Brown is 30 years old and has more than five years as a pro. The time to develop gradually is over. Now it’s time to get busy winning some fights, or else seek your destiny elsewhere.
Odds of getting cut: even. Howard is the betting favorite, and for good reason. Brown just hasn’t shown many bright spots lately, and he’s had plenty of opportunities. If he loses on Sunday — and if he’s not related to someone important in the UFC front office — he’s getting cut.

John Howard (14-6, 4-2)
 Who he’s fighting: Matt Brown
Why he’s in danger: Howard started off his UFC tenure with four straight wins, then followed it with two straight losses, which will always place you firmly on the chopping block. Let that be a lesson to the kids out there: try and sprinkle your losses in among your wins rather than clumping them all together like that. It just looks bad. 4-2 in the Octagon is actually pretty respectable, and the two losses came against Jake Ellenberger and Thiago Alves, so it’s not as if he’s getting beaten by chumps. Still, you can only lose so many in a row. The problem with fighting a guy like Brown, who is hovering over the unemployment abyss already, is that if you beat him, well, he was on his way out anyway. If you don’t, then you might just swap spots with him. Howard has proved his toughness in two grueling battles recently. Now he needs to prove that he can still beat the guys he’s supposed to.
Odds of getting cut: 5-1. Howard should win this fight, and even if he doesn’t the UFC might give him one more chance just because, hey, Matt Brown got to lose three in a row. Why not Howard?

Tyson Griffin (14-5, 7-5 UFC)
 Who he’s fighting: Manvel Gamburyan
Why he’s in danger: In the face of three consecutive defeats, Griffin has chosen the ever-popular weight class jump as a cure for what ails him. He hasn’t fought at featherweight since 2005, but now that he doesn’t have to take a pay cut to do it in the WEC, why not give it a shot? His current losing streak is deceptive, however, since most people agreed that he deserved to win the decision over Nik Lentz at UFC 123. The UFC couldn’t exactly kick him to the curb off a questionable split decision loss like that, so of course it had to let him try to drop a few pounds and begin anew. Will it make a difference? Quite possibly. He’s always been a tad undersized for a guy who relies on wrestling and top control as much as he does. Maybe this is the rare situation where a drop in weight really is the answer. Or maybe not. We’ll find out soon enough.
Odds of getting cut: 3-1. I like Griffin’s chances in this fight, and even if he loses he might be able to blame it on the weight cut. That excuse only works once, however.

Joe Stevenson (31-13, 8-7 UFC)
 Who he’s fighting: Javier Vazquez
Why he’s in danger: As lovable a guy as “Daddy” is — and he is — his career has taken a troubling turn lately. It’s not just the three straight losses. It’s that a) Mac Danzig knocked him out with a punch that didn’t appear to have too much behind it, and b) he followed that up by losing to former WEC also-ran Danny Castillo. It is at about this point that you start to look at the 44 fights Stevenson has packed into an 11-year career and you wonder if the wear and tear is catching up with him. He, too, is trying the old drop-to-featherweight trick. He’s also fighting another relatively undistinguished WEC transfer, so he really needs to win in order to show the UFC that he’s still competitive. The UFC has already demonstrated its willingness to cut past TUF winners. If Stevenson keeps dropping fights to lesser-known opponents, his number will come up next.
Odds of getting cut: 2-1. If he doesn’t win, wave goodbye to Joe “Daddy.” As much as we all hate to see bad things happen to good people, win percentage means more than good citizenship in the UFC. That’s just the way it is.

 

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Miesha Tate: Marloes Coenen Got ‘Exposed’ in Her Last Fight

Filed under: StrikeforceBy the time Miesha Tate steps in the cage to challenge for Marloes Coenen’s Strikeforce women’s welterweight title on July 30, it will have been nearly a year since her last fight.

For most fighters, that’s about the point whe…

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By the time Miesha Tate steps in the cage to challenge for Marloes Coenen‘s Strikeforce women’s welterweight title on July 30, it will have been nearly a year since her last fight.

For most fighters, that’s about the point where the dreaded ring rust starts to be an issue. But in this case, at least according to Tate, inactivity might prove to be a virtue.

“I’ve had a lot of opportunity to study her and see where her game is at,” Tate said of Coenen. “This time, since I haven’t fought for a year, I think it will benefit me because she’ll be expecting and game-planning and preparing for the fighter I was a year ago. I switched camps, I’ve been training in Sacramento with Urijah Faber and Chad Mendes and Brian [Caraway] and all the guys at Team Alpha Male, and the amount of growth I’ve had in this past year, I’m just a completely different fighter.”

It also helps that Tate got a chance to see Coenen fight as recently as March, and in a contest where she struggled early on. That was supposed to be Tate’s title shot until an injury forced her to withdraw. Instead, Strikeforce slotted the relatively inexperienced Liz Carmouche in against the 135-pound champion, and for the better part of three rounds Carmouche roughed Coenen up with superior wrestling and ground-and-pound skills.

The fight served as something of a scouting report, Tate said, and even though Coenen pulled out the win via a fourth-round triangle choke, the challenger was encouraged by what she saw that night.

“I think Liz is a somewhat greener version of me,” Tate said. “What happened to [Coenen] in that fight, that was what I’d already suspected of Marloes. She kind of got exposed in that fight as far as some of her weaknesses.”

The problem for Tate, and for Coenen, is that while Zuffa seems interested in continuing the women’s division under the Strikeforce banner for now, there’s no telling what might happen once Strikeforce’s contract with Showtime runs out and Zuffa is forced to make some decisions about the future of the organization.

That’s why there’s more pressure than ever on the female fighters to show that they are a viable draw, Tate said — though they get precious few opportunities to make that point.

“The thing about this, as with any fight card, for the men there’s going to be exciting fights and boring fights,” said Tate. “Just like [Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum], there were exciting fights and boring fights. But the women only get one shot. We usually only get one [women’s] fight per fight card. Sometimes it might be boring, just like the men, but then all of women’s MMA gets judged on that one fight. So yeah, there’s a little more pressure on that one fight to really shine, so that not everyone goes away with a bad taste about women’s MMA overall.”

That pressure to perform — along with the anxiety about long-term job security for female fighters under the Zuffa banner — makes this title fight an even bigger deal for Tate. Not only does she have to worry about making the most out of her long-awaited crack at the belt, she also has to put on enough of a show to make the powers that be appreciate her value.

It isn’t an easy burden to bear, Tate admitted, but it’s not as if she has much choice.

“I know we’ll probably be around at least as long as the Strikeforce and Showtime contract is still in motion. After that, I don’t know. I really want to go out there and put on a spectacular performance against Marloes just to show that we’re really talented athletes and we bring it every fight. We’re entertaining, and we can sell tickets. Bottom line, that’s what it comes down to.”

 

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Chad Griggs vs. Daniel Cormier Could Be ‘Logical Next Step’ for Strikeforce

Filed under: StrikeforceChad Griggs knows that Strikeforce officials didn’t sign him to a contract because they were dying to be in the Chad Griggs business. Not at first, anyway.

Offering him a fight with a well-paid prospect like Bobby Lashley last…

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Chad Griggs knows that Strikeforce officials didn’t sign him to a contract because they were dying to be in the Chad Griggs business. Not at first, anyway.

Offering him a fight with a well-paid prospect like Bobby Lashley last summer was Strikeforce’s way of giving him a lottery ticket. No one expected his numbers to hit the way they did, which might explain why the organization still seems unsure of what to do with him.

“That’s the joke for us,” Griggs told MMA Fighting after his win over Valentijn Overeem at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on Saturday night. “Every time I walk in it’s like, hey, you can’t get rid of me. I won’t go away.”

With the first-round stoppage of Overeem, Griggs won his third straight Strikeforce bout, and his second in a row as a Grand Prix alternate. The win also made some people look at the other victorious heavyweight alternate from Saturday’s event — former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain, Daniel Cormier — and wonder whether Strikeforce should throw those two in the cage together next just to see who’s still standing when it’s over.

Cormier — who was originally slated to face Shane del Rosario in a Grand Prix reserve bout before del Rosario was injured in a car accident — dominated MMA vet Jeff Monson for three rounds on Saturday night, showing off some impressive striking in the process.

But while it was a nice win for his still young career, Cormier doesn’t necessarily think it makes him the clear reserve choice for the tournament just yet. Not as long as Griggs keeps winning his reserve fights as well.

“Right now I think you match up me and Chad or me and Shane, because in reality there’s no clear reserve,” Cormier said. “Who goes into the tournament right now if someone gets hurt? How do you choose? You’ve got three guys going into this, so match two of us up and have us fight whenever the semifinals are. I’d like to fight Chad or Shane to find out who’s the reserve in this tournament. I think it makes sense.”

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said a Griggs-Cormier fight on the semifinal card this fall was a real possibility, but added “we just finished an event, so we haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk about it yet.”

Still, Coker admitted that he wouldn’t mind seeing a fight between the two heavyweights, both of whom have put on exciting performances of late.

Even Cormier’s coach — AKA’s Javier Mendez — likes the idea.

“I think the rightful thing is to have [Cormier] fight Chad Griggs,” Mendez said. “He’s another alternate, so that’s a logical next step. But I don’t know what Strikeforce is going to do. We just have to get Daniel ready for the next step.”

As for Griggs, he said he hasn’t said no to any of Strikeforce’s suggestions yet and it isn’t about to start now. Besides, after stopping Gian Villante in a wild brawl and then punishing Overeem in a first-round TKO win, hasn’t he earned a fight like this by now?

“I feel like I’ve fought two good fights and they were both alternates,” Griggs shrugged. “I had two good performances and stopped my guy in the first round in both of them, so we’ll see how it goes.”

A fight between Griggs and Cormier could not only solidify an established reserve for the Grand Prix, it would also be a nice addition to any Strikeforce fight card now that fans have seen enough of both men to know what they have to offer.

For Griggs, however, going up against a highly-touted former Olympian might seem like just one more bout where he’s not supposed to get his hand raised at the end. Not that those kinds of expectations matter much to him, of course.

“I still feel like they’re looking at me going, this guy got lucky again,” Griggs said. “But hey, I’ll take it. Maybe I’ll just keep being lucky.”

 

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Falling Action: Best and Worst of Strikeforce – Overeem vs. Werdum

Filed under: StrikeforceAfter a long wait and a lot of buildup, the first round of the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix is finally in the books, even if the final fight of the quarterfinal round ended with more of a bizarre whimper than the thunderou…

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After a long wait and a lot of buildup, the first round of the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix is finally in the books, even if the final fight of the quarterfinal round ended with more of a bizarre whimper than the thunderous bang we’d hoped for.

But now that it’s over, who were the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum? I’m so glad you asked…

Biggest Winner: Jorge Masvidal
He was the only underdog on the main card to pull out a win, and he did it by turning K.J. Noons into something out of ‘The Hills Have Eyes.’ Right away it seemed as though Masvidal had Noons figured out. Nearly every time Noons went to slip, he slipped right into a Masvidal punch or kick. By the end of the first he was bloodied and dazed. By the end of the second he had a Hominick-esque tumor growing out of his forehead. With the win, Masvidal jumps up to the front of the line in the Strikeforce lightweight division — or at least he should. Scott Coker stopped just short of declaring Masvidal to be Gilbert Melendez‘s next challenger, but then again, Coker rarely makes any statement that’s 100 percent declarative these days. As long as Melendez is going to face a Strikeforce fighter next, Masvidal ought to be the guy. He’s earned it.

Biggest Loser: Fabricio Werdum
It’s one thing to pull guard when you’ve given up hope of getting your opponent to the mat any other way. It’s another thing to pull guard and then cling to your opponent like a piece of driftwood in a storm when you’re clearly losing on the scorecards. Early on Werdum seemed to be at least trying to set something up off his back. Later in the fight he was content with simply being on the mat, as if Overeem might get frustrated with the lack of action and just armbar himself. The crazy thing is, for the brief moments when he did stand with Overeem, he didn’t do so badly. He landed some punch combos and knees, and even put Overeem on the defensive. I can’t imagine that he thought he was going to win a decision by flopping onto his back every twenty seconds, so what was he thinking as time ticked away in the final round? Where was the sense of desperation? Overeem may have fought like a man who was trying not to lose, but Werdum fought like a man who was just trying not to get hurt. If the goal was to squander everything he’d gained with the win over Fedor in fifteen minutes or less, that was a great way to go about it.

Most Predictable: Josh Barnett
He had the easiest first round draw in the tournament, and it showed. You put an experienced, savvy grappler up against a green striker like Rogers, and this is what you get. That’s not a knock on Barnett. He did exactly what he had to do, and he was smart about it. At the same time, that one went down exactly according to the script, from the fight strategy to the finish, right down to his post-fight monologue about skull-stacking and body-piling. You pretty much know what you’re getting with Barnett these days. It’s just a good thing that it’s still entertaining even when you’ve seen it before.

Most Impressive in Defeat: Magno Almeida
You could make a compelling case that he deserved to win the decision over Connor Heun, but even in defeat he showed off a dangerous ground game that made the decision to take him down seem like a critical error in judgment. As soon as Almeida’s back touched the mat he had had a submission attempt in the works. All Heun could do was hold on and try not to get his limbs snapped. Judging by the look of his elbow by the time he left the cage, he had mixed results in that department.

Least Impressive in Victory: Alistair Overeem
He’s right that it takes two to tango, and Werdum didn’t even want to step on the dance floor. At the same time, Overeem was either too winded or too conservative to try anything late in the fight, and as a result he ended up contributing to the poor showing through his own inaction. I’m not saying he should have gotten into a grappling match with Werdum, but there were times when he seemed glad just to get a chance to rest in the Brazilian’s guard. Maybe it was ring rust. Maybe he just wanted to play it safe and move on into the semis. Or maybe that “40 pounds of whoop-ass” comes at a price, and Overeem was still paying it while he huffed and puffed his way through the post-fight interview. He might still win this whole thing and shut us all up, but he didn’t convert a lot of new believers on Saturday.

Most Surprising: Daniel Cormier
Most people expected him to win, but I don’t think many of us expected him to play the bongos on Jeff Monson’s head for three rounds. Cormier’s stand-up skills have improved dramatically in the past year or so. Did I even see a headkick or two thrown in there? Not that Monson is known for his skills as a boxer, but Cormier put on a clinic. In the process he showed that he’s not simply a great wrestler — he can also put on a show. Monson hung tough under some heavy punishment (the man’s only been knocked out twice in over fifty fights), but I don’t think that should be seen as a sign that Cormier can’t finish. The only thing I wonder is how a 5’10”, 240-pound heavyweight will stack up against some of the monsters in this division. If he keeps winning, Cormier is going to have to find out sooner or later.

Least Surprising: Valentijn Overeem
When he’s winning, he’s a holy terror. As soon as the tide turns against him, he’s flagging down the waiter and asking for the check. You want to know why the man has a career record that’s barely over .500? It’s not a lack of physical talent; it’s because he quits when things aren’t going his way. He’s done it before, and he did it again when Chad Griggs put some leather on him. His response after the loss tells you that maybe this is a fighter who has gotten a little too used to losing.

Fighter Least Likely to Fade Out Quietly: Chad Griggs
Strikeforce still seems unsure what to do with this guy. He threw a wrench in the works with his win over Bobby Lashley, then beat up Gian Villante and now Valentijn Overeem. I can’t think of any other Strikeforce fighter who has racked up a three-fight win streak like that with less fanfare. Strikeforce doesn’t seem all that interested in promoting him, yet he won’t go away. He just keeps showing up and punching people in the face. Now that he’s won more Grand Prix reserve bouts than any other participant has won actual tournament bouts, perhaps he’s earned a little more of a push. A fight with fellow reservist heavyweight Cormier makes the most sense now. Plus, it just sounds like a lot of fun.

 

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Josh Barnett’s Licensing Issues Likely to Keep Grand Prix Out of California

Filed under: StrikeforceDALLAS — Just minutes after wrapping up the quarterfinals of the heavyweight Grand Prix, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was already discussing plans for the semifinal round, which he said would take place some time early this fall…

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DALLAS — Just minutes after wrapping up the quarterfinals of the heavyweight Grand Prix, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was already discussing plans for the semifinal round, which he said would take place some time early this fall.

As far as where the event will go down, that’s a trickier question, but Coker added, “We’re open to anything.”

Anything, that is, except the state of California, where semifinal participant Josh Barnett is still not licensed.

“I guess that’s a caveat,” Coker said.

Barnett has not held a license in California since 2009, when he defeated Gilbert Yvel at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Since his inability to get licensed for a fight with Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: Trilogy in July of that same year, he has been embroiled in a series of unsuccessful attempts to get back in good standing with the California State Athletic Commission, but is currently still without a license in the state.

Coker doesn’t expect that to change any time soon, he told MMA Fighting following Saturday night’s Strikeforce event. In fact, the Strikeforce CEO doubts that the issue will be resolved before the tournament finals, which are tentatively slotted for February of 2012, he said.

“That’s between Josh and the commission and I think Josh is willing to do that, and I think that will get done at some point,” said Coker. “But I don’t think it’ll get done before this tournament’s over. …I don’t think he will fix the issue with the commission by then. That’s one of those things that will take time, so I don’t think it will happen before the tournament is over. So we’re going to go where we have to.”

As far as what states are still in the running, Coker said that most other commissions Strikeforce has discussed a possible event with have expressed a willingness to allow Barnett to fight. It’s just a matter of choosing between them, he added, and getting the next round scheduled, most likely in September or October of this year.

“Actually about two-thirds of the states we’ve talked to have welcomed us,” Coker said. “So we have a lot of choices.”

 

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