On May 19 (hopefully) the everlasting Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will finally come to a close when Josh Barnett meets Daniel Cormier.
It all started in February 2011 at a time when Zuffa was competition instead of in control, Fedor Emelianenko was a tournament favourite and Cormier wasn’t even in the bracket.
A lot has changed in a year, and the tournament’s conclusion will also mark the official shuttering of the heavyweight division in the promotion. It’s expected that there may be one more heavyweight fight, but for the most part the focus will be on the big men of the UFC.
Many Strikeforce heavies have already made the jump. Alistair Overeem retired Brock Lesnar and will meet Junior dos Santos in May, Fabricio Werdum has made his triumphant return to the UFC, Antonio Silva will make his debut soon enough and others have signed and fought or await the chance to.
Dana White has said the decision to close down the Strikeforce heavyweights had to do with a lack of depth in the promotion. Without much of a stretch, it might be easier to argue that shutting it down had more to do with the lack of depth among the UFC’s big men.
For that reason, it’s pretty clear that the influx of new faces is probably going to make a notable impact.
The guys that White has brought in are largely major players who are in or near the top 10 of the division. The only ones fitting that criteria and yet to be poached are the remaining Grand Prix participants, both of whom will probably sign UFC contracts by year’s end. There’s absolutely no way that much talent can come in and not impact the UFC.
The fact is that the UFC’s heavyweight division is thin, and it has a massive divide between the top and the bottom. Sure, it isn’t “Sylvia-Arlovski Trilogy” thin, but there’s a big difference between Cain Velasquez and Matt Mitrione. And Mitrione is one of the more promising up-and-comers.
At the bare minimum, the inclusion of Strikeforce heavyweights will help narrow that gap. While the likes of Overeem and Werdum have already proven they belong near the top, guys like Chad Griggs, Lavar Johnson and Shane Del Rosario are going to have the chance to muddy the waters between stars, prospects, also-rans, has-beens and never-weres.
Silva, Barnett and Cormier will muddy those waters further and provide an absolute plethora of guys who are legitimate and could earn title shots with a few wins.
Taking the strongest division in Strikeforce and absorbing it into the UFC simply cannot not impact the promotion. There was too much talent there, too many guys who only needed a chance to show how good they are or how good they might be.
This isn’t to say that it’s a guarantee the next few UFC heavyweight champions are all going to be guys with a Strikeforce pedigree, but there are enough tough customers making the jump to suggest that crazier ideas have been put forth.
The first one to take a crack will be Overeem, but from there it could be any number of guys who are following his lead to the UFC. Nothing is for sure, but there’s little arguing that these guys are coming to make a name for themselves and they have the skills to do just that.
It’s a foregone conclusion they’re going to change the face of the division and make it far more competitive. All that’s left now is to see which guys seize the day, and just how big an impact they manage to make.
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