Author: Nick Caron

Strikeforce Grand Prix Results: Ranking the Top 10 Heavyweights in MMA

Many believed that the top heavyweight in the world would be crowned when the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament was announced in January of this year. At least four of the consensus top-10 ranked heavyweights in the world were entered in th…

Many believed that the top heavyweight in the world would be crowned when the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament was announced in January of this year. At least four of the consensus top-10 ranked heavyweights in the world were entered in the tournament, including Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett.

At the time, it appeared almost to be fate that we would see Emelianenko vs. Overeem in the semi-finals of the tournament, given the structure of the tournament. But now, eight months later, as we head into the finals, only one of the original top four remains, while the other slot is filled by a fighter who wasn’t even in the original bracket.

Josh Barnett vs. Daniel Cormier will face off, likely later this year, to crown the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion. So where do these two heavyweight juggernauts rank among the top-10 in their weight class, which has been dominated by UFC fighters in recent years?

Read on as we count down and rank the top-10 heavyweights in MMA following tonight’s Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix semi-finals round.

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Strikeforce Grand Prix Tournament: The Real Winners and Losers

A crazy week of mixed martial arts news outside the cage was capped off by an awesome event inside the cage tonight as the Strikeforce Grand Prix tournament continued from the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH. Tournament combatants Josh Barnett and S…

A crazy week of mixed martial arts news outside the cage was capped off by an awesome event inside the cage tonight as the Strikeforce Grand Prix tournament continued from the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH.

Tournament combatants Josh Barnett and Sergei Kharitonov battled in the main event after a night of great fights that also included the other semi-final bout between Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Daniel Cormier.

As we can do with any MMA event, looking back on the record books will give us somewhat of an overview of what happened during tonight’s fight card, but it’s tough because there are often things that happen inside the cage that change who the true “winners” and “losers” of the night really were. Sometimes those affected aren’t even in attendance, let alone fighting.

With that being said, let’s take a closer look at tonight’s real winners and losers.

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Strikeforce Grand Prix: Ranking The Striking Of The Fighters In The Tournament

Tonight’s Strikeforce event will feature the semi-finals of the heavyweight grand prix tournament with tournament newcomer Daniel Cormier fighting Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Josh Barnett fighting Sergei Kharitonov. These four fight…

Tonight’s Strikeforce event will feature the semi-finals of the heavyweight grand prix tournament with tournament newcomer Daniel Cormier fighting Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Josh Barnett fighting Sergei Kharitonov.

These four fighters each bring a very different style into the cage which should make for some interesting match-ups both tonight as well as when the winners finally meet again to determine the tournament champion.

Each fighter will be looking to implement his own gameplan tonight, utilizing his own skills and his opponents’ weaknesses to try to secure a victory in this very important tournament. But while the fights may end up on the ground at some point, we do know one thing—these guys are going to have to exchange some punches first.

So which of the four fighters remaining in this tournament has the best striking striking skills?

Let’s take a closer look at not only offensive, but also defensive striking skills of these four fighters.

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Strikeforce Grand Prix: Where Would Roger Gracie Rank in the UFC?

The Gracie name is perhaps the most important in the history of mixed martial arts. With one word, an entire fighting style gained notoriety and has become a staple of some of the greatest fighters in the world, even as we inch closer to 20 years from …

The Gracie name is perhaps the most important in the history of mixed martial arts. With one word, an entire fighting style gained notoriety and has become a staple of some of the greatest fighters in the world, even as we inch closer to 20 years from the first UFC event won by Royce Gracie.

Today, a new Gracie is carrying on the family name. His name is Roger Gracie, and he brings his unbelievable 65-7 jiu-jitsu and grappling tournament record into MMA.

He currently sits as one of the top up-and-comers in the light heavyweight division within Strikeforce, but with all of the top talent headed from Strikeforce to the UFC, one has to wonder how long it will be before he shows up in the Octagon.

And if he did, where exactly, would the undefeated up-and-comer fit in within the current UFC 205-pound division?

This is what the UFC light heavyweight division rankings might look like if Roger Gracie were to sign with the company. 

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Strikeforce Grand Prix: Where Would Josh Barnett Rank in the UFC?

When the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix began, many analysts came in with the assumption that not only would the winner of the tournament be the top-ranked heavyweight in Strikeforce, but that he would also be generally considered the top-ranked he…

When the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix began, many analysts came in with the assumption that not only would the winner of the tournament be the top-ranked heavyweight in Strikeforce, but that he would also be generally considered the top-ranked heavyweight in the entire world of MMA.

But with the loss of Fedor Emelianenko and the drop-out of Alistair Overeem who has since left the organization for the UFC, suddenly Josh Barnett has become the odds-on favorite to walk away with the tournament crown. Certainly there is still prestige in the tournament, but a tournament victory from Fedor, Overeem or even Werdum would have almost surely secured them the title of top dog in the heavyweight division, at least for the meantime, while Cain Velasquez was out with an injury.

Now the writing is on the wall for the inevitable demise of Strikeforce as an organization as Zuffa continues to transition many of the company’s top fighters, including champions, over to the UFC.

Given that Barnett is now the top-ranked heavyweight on the Strikeforce roster, it is reasonable to think that despite his past differences with UFC management, he could be considered for a possible spot on the UFC roster. So if that happened, where would he rank, given his current accomplishments and the volatile nature of the heavyweight division?

Read on as we breakdown and rank the top 10 of the UFC heavyweight division: Josh Barnett edition.

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Nick Diaz: The 10 Most Outrageous Moments of His Career

UFC President Dana White hit the nail right on the head today when he rhetorically asked the press whether anyone was surprised that Nick Diaz was no-showing his press appearances for his scheduled UFC 137 fight with Georges St-Pierre. Members of the …

UFC President Dana White hit the nail right on the head today when he rhetorically asked the press whether anyone was surprised that Nick Diaz was no-showing his press appearances for his scheduled UFC 137 fight with Georges St-Pierre.

Members of the media could be heard chuckling as together they reminisced about the crazy moments throughout the 28-year-old’s mixed martial arts career.

It didn’t need to be said. No one was really surprised that he wasn’t there. Sure, they expected him to be there, but if there was a poll taken of one fighter who was most likely to not show up, it would be a landslide victory for Diaz. Simply put, the guy is just weird.

It has been long speculated that Diaz has a rather intense case of social anxiety, and Cesar Gracie addressed the issue today, agreeing with the assessment.

“I personally think there’s some kind of social anxiety happening here with Nick,” Gracie told MMAJunkie. “This is about being a man and being responsible. And Nick has done neither in this situation.”

This is certainly not the first time that Diaz has been involved in a controversial incident during his MMA career. The Stockton native has made waves with countless ridiculous antics throughout his career.

This may have been the most recent, but let’s take a trip down memory lane as we remember the 10 most outrageous moments of Nick Diaz’s career. 

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