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Daniel Cormier vs. Shane Carwin: Head to Toe Breakdown

Heavyweight champions rarely suffer from a shortage of willing contenders vying for their title, but that’s the problem recently crowned Strikeforce kingpin Daniel Cormier faces after finishing off the promotion’s Grand Prix.The eight-man tournament fe…

The eight-man tournament featured a large percentage of Strikeforce’s heavyweight roster, with still more of its big fellas, Cormier included, rounding out the injury-replacement bracket of the competition.

With the Grand Prix firmly in the rear-view mirror, nearly all of its entrants, as well as the few outsiders left out, have migrated to other promotions. The only two guys left in the stable are Cormier and finalist Josh Barnett.

The complete absence of options has forced Cormier to look outside of Strikeforce for his next bout and the recently crowned champ has not been shy about dropping a name here or there.

As previously reported by mmafighting.com, Cormier feels that a fight between him and Shane Carwin would be a good thing. Says Cormier:

I think if there is a plus one and Zuffa’s going to send someone over it is going to have to be someone that is very good you know? Maybe Shane Carwin, as he’s coming back. He’s a guy with a lot of name value and I don’t necessarily know if that’s a step up (from Josh Barnett) but that is somebody with name value.

Here, we will examine this hypothetical contest and see how this fight might go down, should it become a reality in the not too distant future.

Either fighter will be assigned a slight, moderate, significant or extreme advantage for each area of the game that is analyzed.

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UFC 146: Lavar Johnson’s Keys to Victory

Saturday night’s contest between Stefan Struve and Lavar Johnson is perhaps the card’s most intriguing matchup.In Struve we have a 6’11” giant known primarily for his submission prowess, though he is certainly in no danger of being mistaken for a novic…

Saturday night’s contest between Stefan Struve and Lavar Johnson is perhaps the card’s most intriguing matchup.

In Struve we have a 6’11” giant known primarily for his submission prowess, though he is certainly in no danger of being mistaken for a novice on the feet.

In Johnson we have one of the strongest, hardest punching heavyweights in the entire sport of MMA. Deficiencies on the mat stand as the biggest weakness for either fighter, but Johnson is more than capable of ending any fight in a split second.

Here, we will outline what Johnson needs to do to emerge victorious over Struve at UFC 146.

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UFC 148: Mike Easton Steps in to Face Ivan Menjivar

The domino effect in the UFC’s bantamweight division caused by Dominick Cruz’s leg injury has ended with Mike Easton stepping in to face Ivan Menjivar this July at UFC 148.The Dominator’s trip to the DL forced Urijah Faber to search for a new opponent,…

The domino effect in the UFC’s bantamweight division caused by Dominick Cruz’s leg injury has ended with Mike Easton stepping in to face Ivan Menjivar this July at UFC 148.

The Dominator’s trip to the DL forced Urijah Faber to search for a new opponent, which he found in rising Brazilian star Renan Barao. Barao had been tapped to take on Jeff Hougland at UFC 148, but Hougland was called upon to fight on the UFC on Fuel TV card last week.

For a time, Hougland’s removal paired Menjivar and Barao against one another, but the latter was propositioned to challenge the California Kid in the UFC 148 co-main event.

Now, UFC.com reports that Menjivar will remain on the UFC 148 card and will take on Mike Easton.

“Barao was already scheduled to fight at UFC 148 against Ivan Menjivar. With Barao stepping in for the injured Dominick Cruz, Mike Easton will become Menjivar’s new opponent on July 7th.”

Menjivar is coming off three straight wins, including stoppages over Charlie Valencia and John Albert.

Easton is the winner of seven consecutive matches, including the first two contests of his UFC career. He holds wins over John Dodson and Chase Beebe, though Menjivar embodies the most accomplished opponent that the 28-year-old has faced to date.

A win would do wonders for either fighter as both are looking to propel themselves up the 135-pound ladder.

The fight will likely join UFC 148 as part of the event’s undercard rather than its pay-per-view portion.

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UFC on FOX 3: Why Rousimar Palhares Will Submit Alan Belcher

Alan Belcher has an underrated ground game. Yeah, I said it. It’s not like Joe Rogan has a patent on saying fighters have underrated grappling skills.But here’s the scoop: Belcher is a good grappler; Rousimar Palhares is an amazingly super-terrific gra…

Alan Belcher has an underrated ground game. Yeah, I said it. It’s not like Joe Rogan has a patent on saying fighters have underrated grappling skills.

But here’s the scoop: Belcher is a good grappler; Rousimar Palhares is an amazingly super-terrific grappler.

Now, you’re probably wondering how many degrees of separation fill the void between good and amazingly super-terrific. While this is a bit of a gray area that even Plato and Socrates struggled with thousands of years ago, I’ll do my best to give a very brief rundown.

A good grappler can handle his opponents on the ground. He is able to fend off submission attempts, get back to his feet when the opportunity to do so is there and can even score a stoppage of his own on the ground.

An amazingly super-terrific grappler is an absolute horror when the fight hits the mat. Whether on the bottom or top, any time this species of grappler tussles with an opponent, he seamlessly turns his foe from enemy to prey in a heartbeat. This is even the case when the opponent is a good grappler.

Belcher is no dummy—he knows how to win this fight. While “Paul Harris'” striking has improved drastically over the past couple years, it is not even in the same universe as Belcher’s.

To win this fight, Belcher knows he will have to keep it standing.

On the other hand, Palhares knows that dragging Belcher to the mat will be his key to victory Saturday night.

The question then becomes: Can Palhares take Belcher down?

While it is not inconceivable that Belcher does a Dan Henderson impression and scores points while backpedaling his way to a decision win, Palhares has become much more savvy at dragging his opponents to the ground since his loss to Hendo.

It is one thing for a guy to stuff his opponent’s takedowns, but quite another to prevent him from pulling guard for a full 15 minutes. That’s not to mention that the guy is only a second or two away from submitting you as soon as he lays a finger on your leg.

Throw in that Palhares happens to be built like (and named after) a tree stump, and it’s going to be quite a chore for Belcher to avoid the ground Saturday night.

Sooner or later, this fight will make its way to the mat. From there, it’s academic.

Rousimar Palhares will submit Alan Belcher.

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10 Fights to Get B.J. Penn Back into the Octagon

The past few months have brought out conflicting schools of thought regarding the career path of B.J. Penn. After losing to Nick Diaz last year, Penn himself announced that he was done with the sport, but Dana White recently scoffed at the idea, c…

The past few months have brought out conflicting schools of thought regarding the career path of B.J. Penn.

After losing to Nick Diaz last year, Penn himself announced that he was done with the sport, but Dana White recently scoffed at the idea, citing a conversation with B.J. as his source of knowledge on the matter.

While the situation is a bit hazy, one thing is for certain—B.J. Penn is definitely either going to retire or fight again.

Is it all clear now?

If it turns out that the former welterweight and lightweight champion does intend to take another kick at the can, the following are 10 opponents whom he could spark his comeback with.

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UFC on FOX 3: Can Pat Barry vs Lavar Johnson Become the Next Griffin-Bonnar?

There are many reasons to be excited about this weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 card. The show features a solid main event, a welterweight feud, a stylistically intriguing middleweight clash and of course, two big heavyweights who knock their opponents out as n…

Lavar Johnson and Pat Barry are set to square off as part of the event’s main card this Saturday. While neither fighter is considered a title contender, both employ styles that fans absolutely love, and consistently deliver exciting performances.

Barry is a kickboxer by trade, and has made a name for himself by earning six knockouts in seven career wins.

Johnson’s career adheres to a similar, albeit more expansive template, with 14 of his 16 victories coming by way of knockout.

Neither of the bout’s participants have anything of a penchant for grappling, and in all likelihood, this one is going to take place exclusively on feet.

At an elementary level, what we have here are two strikers that love to strike, are aggressive, and are very good at what they do–going toe-to-toe.

This spells fireworks.

The potential is there for this bout to become a classic, however, imagining this to be so is slightly unrealistic. Rather than providing a Griffin-Bonnar type war, this one is more likely to deliver a classic knockout than anything else.

With the sheer amount of power that will be in the Octagon during the UFC of FOX 3 lead-in fight, it is difficult to imagine that the contest goes long enough for it to be a truly great fight.

While I have a feeling we’ll all be wanting a bit more when this one comes to a close, chances are that Johnson-Barry goes out with a bang rather than a whimper.

Just lower your expectations for this bout from a great fight to a great finish, then sit back and wait for your gratification.

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