When the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament started, we were told that it would come to an end sometime before January 2012. At that time, the oddsmakers gave Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett the best chance to win.
Daniel Cormier, well, he was part of that group known as “the field,” a possible alternate, and as such, odds on him were 35 to 1.
If you placed money on Cormier, congratulations, you earned a better than Madoff return on investment. As a plus, you have the advantage of actually collecting your money.
The Cormier victory ended the Grand Prix long after it was originally supposed to conclude, but it was worth the wait, as we were lucky enough to witness a true heavyweight contender develop before our eyes.
Cormier’s performance on Saturday night was just one of several memorable moments from the Strikeforce fight card. What follows are some of the memorable images from San Jose.