The Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix began with much fanfare on February 12, 2011 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersy.
After a long delay, the Grand Prix will come to a close on May 19, 2012 when Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett meet to decide who will be crowned the first and last Strikeforce Grand Prix champion.
When the tournament started, hopes were high while expectations were tempered. Strikeforce did not have the strongest reputation as far as follow through. Those that had their doubts were able to crow, “I told you so” when the tournament ran past the end of 2011, the time frame by which Strikeforce originally claimed the Grand Prix would be wrapped up.
Interest in the tournament seemed to wane with each passing round. The opening date of the tournament drew 11,287 to witness Antonio Silva defeat Fedor Emelianenko and Sergei Kharitonov knock out Andrei Arlovski.
When the next two quarterfinal bouts took place in June, only 7,639 fans showed up at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. The scant crowd saw Alistair Overeem defeat Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett submit Brett Rogers.
With Emelianenko out of the tournament, the Grand Prix took another hit in the name recognition department when Overeem was released from Strikeforce a short while after his win over Werdum.
When they took place in September, the two semifinal bouts drew a crowd estimated at less than 2,000 to the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
That dismal number of fans saw replacement fighter Daniel Cormier, who took Overeem’s spot, knock out Silva to punch his ticket to the final, while Barnett submitted Kharitonov to earn his way to the finals.
Strikeforce suffered more bad luck when Cormier broke his hand during his win. Cormier’s injury caused the long delay between the semifinals and the finals.
Compounding the issues was the announcement that Strikeforce would be dissolving their heavyweight division, leaving the Grand Prix winner as champion over an empty weight division.
While some fighters may be discouraged by the situation, Cormier can’t be counted among them. Cormier told Bloody Elbow:
I’ve really got to take care of business. I’m training like a mad man, because I know what’s at stake. I know that this is a chance for me to fight on the biggest stage and really put a stamp on what I’m doing. With a great performance, that might just throw you in some real, live, championship type of conversation. This is a great opportunity and these are great times for me.
The winner of the Grand Prix will fight once more in Strikeforce against an unnamed opponent. The possibility exists that they will then move to the UFC.
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