Image via UFC.com
Last week, Strikeforce and SHOWTIME announced a new broadcast deal that will see mixed martial arts stay on the subscriber based network.
This past weekend saw Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez defend his title in San Diego against Jorge Masvidal, basically cleaning out the current Strikeforce lightweight division. During his post fight speech, ‘El Nino’ challenged the UFC to start sending over fighters capable of challenging him for the title.
It wouldn’t surprise me that this is all posturing by Melendez, and UFC president Dana White who worked out some deal to keep ‘El Nino’ where he is, to build up excitement around the lightweight division as well as the Strikeforce promotion itself.
So that begs the question, “Which lightweights do you bring to Strikeforce from the UFC?”
Here’s my top five picks.
Number Five
Takanori Gomi (32-8, 1NC) ‘The Fireball Kid’ enters my list as “Number Five” for fighters who should transition over from the UFC to Strikeforce. The Japanese fighter’s career appears to be in a decline since his days as the PRIDE lightweight champ. Currently in the UFC he’s just 1-3 in the Octagon and faces a tough submission fighter in George Sotiropoulos next at UFC 144.
If Gomi were to move, there are still a lot of fans who follow ‘The Fireball Kid’ and meeting a few “tomato cans” wouldn’t hurt his career before being given a title shot versus Melendez.
Number Four
Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida (29-12) is an exciting fighter to watch and would bring a lot of fans with him to Showtime. Guida is a former Strikeforce lightweight champion, having lost the title to Melendez back in June 2006. This bout could easily be sold to fans and critics alike, as a “no brainer” title match that could pack the arena as well as upping Showtime subscriptions.
Yes, ‘The Carpenter’ is still capable of competing with the best in the UFC, but I just don’t see him getting to the point of fighting for a title. He’s near the top of the division, he’s just not quite good enough to compete against the best there. Moving him to Strikeforce would give him a shot at recapturing a world title.
Number Three
‘The Muscle Shark’ Sean Sherk (36-4-1) is 2-2 since losing the UFC title to BJ Penn back in May 2008. The number of injuries he’s faced over the past few years has plagued his attempts to recapture that title. Moving him to Strikeforce would give him that shot to capture another title, as well as allowing promoters to sell the fight as a “Champion vs. Champion” match.
I like the move but I feel this would be a hard sell to Sherk who would probably not want to fight anywhere but inside the Octagon. The amount of fan generated interest could hurt the fight too as ‘The Muscle Shark’s’ lack of UFC appearances has kept him in the back of many fans minds.
Number Two
My number two guy, who I strong considered as my number one choice, is ‘The Prodigy’ BJ Penn (16-8-2). And here you thought Penn would be number one since I posted his picture.
Penn has opted to take some time off since his loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137 last October. If the Hawaiian had beat Diaz, he’s still be a long ways off from the welterweight title having already lost to current champ Georges St-Pierre twice. He’s also a long ways off from the UFC lightweight title, losing back-to-back matches to Frankie Edgar last year.
A move to Strikeforce could really invigorate Penn, who always puts on a great show when he’s motivated, and a new title against a new challenge could really motivate him.
The only problem I see, is with Penn only having a few fights left in his career, is the loss of revenue the UFC would suffer for sticking him on television rather than pay-per-view, and the damage to Penn himself who would be crushed on the inside should he lose again. This is the main reason I made him my number two, I’d hate to see Penn go out like this.
and Number One
And finally my number one, numero uno pick to move from the UFC to Strikeforce is former UFC lightweight and featherweight contender Kenny Florian (14-6).
Fans who have watched his career have seen ‘Ken-Flo’ transition down from middleweight to featherweight in the last six plus years which includes three title fights, two at 155 lbs and one at 145 lbs. He has yet to capture a title and by moving over to Strikeforce would offer him a chance to achieve that goal by facing Melendez or possibly for a Strikeforce featherweight title should the promotion decide to add that division.
Florian could easily be sold as the next lightweight title contender and would certainly bring a lot of fans who don’t watch Strikeforce to Showtime. This bout could be the one that could kick off the entire movement of fighters from the UFC to Strikeforce, allowing fighters who are lesser known or have failed to move into the upper tiers of their divion, a chance to see their names in lights headlining shows.
Well those were my picks, hope you enjoyed the read.
Who would you choose?