The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix has its final matchup set, and fans can thank former NCAA Division I wrestler Daniel Cormier for taking complete advantage of his position as a late replacement in knocking out Brazilian fighter Antonio Silva…
The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix has its final matchup set, and fans can thank former NCAA Division I wrestler Daniel Cormier for taking complete advantage of his position as a late replacement in knocking out Brazilian fighter Antonio Silva in the very first round of their semifinal matchup.
Cormier replaced an injured Alistair Overeem, who was the favorite to win. He went into the fight with Silva as a heavy underdog as Silva was coming off the biggest win of his career over Fedor Emelianenko, who he defeated earlier this year.
Cormier had early success knocking down Silva, and it was all downhill for Bigfoot from there. A visibly hurt Silva couldn’t regain his composure and was eventually knocked out with a brutal uppercut and hammer-fists by Cormier.
At 8-0, Cormier is undefeated and has a lot of momentum behind him as he goes into the final matchup in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix against Josh Barnett.
Barnett defeated Sergei Kharitonov on the same card by arm-triangle choke in the very first round. Barnett’s other tournament victory was over Brett Rogers.
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov features a former UFC champion (Barnett) against a powerful Russian striker. Before the fight Barnett said, “I look forward to ranking him among the dead,” in typical “War Master” fashion. Barnett made short w…
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov features a former UFC champion (Barnett) against a powerful Russian striker. Before the fight Barnett said, “I look forward to ranking him among the dead,” in typical “War Master” fashion.
Barnett made short work of Brett Rogers to get to the semi-finals, which was his seventh straight win since losing to Antonio Rodirigo Nogueira way back in 2006.
Kharitonov is a typical “Ivan Drago” style of Russian with heavy hands and a cold demeanor. He got here by pummeling MMA legend Andrei Arlovski in the first round of their fight last February.
Round 1- Barnett got a takedown about a minute into the round and immediately mounted the Russian. The “War Master” postured up and started to grind away at Kharitonov’s face with his elbows. Barnett spent enough time in full mount to impregnate Kharitonov, who eventually gave up his back and turned into a Russian turtle.
Barnett finished him with a sidechoke for his eighth win in a row and a trip to the tournament finals. That was as dominant a performance as Barnett could have hoped for.
This sets up a really interesting matchup against Cormier in the finals. DC proved tonight that he has heavy hands to go along with elite wrestling, when he sent Bigfoot off to play with the fairies in la la land.
Barnett was the favorite to win the tournament going in, so it is no surprise that he is in the finals. Cormier was a late replacement so is a bit of an underdog on paper, but after his impressive win over Silva that might change.
Official Result: Josh Barnett by obliteration and sidechoke in Round 1.
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Daniel Cormier following his knockout of Antonio Silva about the way the fight played out, his patience throughout the fight, his injured right, when he will be ready to fight again and meeting Josh Barnett in the finals.
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Daniel Cormier following his knockout of Antonio Silva about the way the fight played out, his patience throughout the fight, his injured right, when he will be ready to fight again and meeting Josh Barnett in the finals.
The semifinal round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament is in the books and the results are below:Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov: Barnett wins via submission (4:28 of Round One)Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier: Cormier wins v…
The semifinal round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament is in the books and the results are below:
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov: Barnett wins via submission (4:28 of Round One)
Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier: Cormier wins via KO (3:56 of Round One)
Ronaldo Souza vs. Luke Rockhold: Rockhold wins via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
Muhammed Lawal vs. Roger Gracie: Lawal wins via KO (4:33 of Round One)
Maximo Blanco vs. Pat Healy: Pat Healy wins via submission (4:24 of Round Two)
Mike Kyle vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima: Kyle wins via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero: Cavalcante wins via KO (4:51 of Round Two)
Jordan Mein vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos: Mein wins via TKO (3:18 of Round Three)
Alexis Davis vs. Amanda Nunes: Davis wins via TKO (4:53 of Round Two)
Chris Mierzwiak vs. Dominique Steele: Steele wins via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
What follows are eight questions facing the promotion heading into the final months of 2011.
CINCINNATI — Daniel Cormier may have entered the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix as an alternate, but after a dominant performance in a knockout victory over Antonio Silva, no one can question whether he deserves a place in the finals.
However, after Cormier showed up at the post-fight press conference early Sunday morning with the right hand he used to dispatch “Bigfoot” Silva wrapped up in a tight wad of bandages, some may question when he’ll be fit enough to fight again, and whether it will be soon enough for the powers that be.
“I kind of hurt my hand on the very first right hand,” Cormier said. “When he went down, he got up and I was like, man, how am I going to get through the next fifteen minutes of this with my hand hurting like it was. I just kept throwing it.”
It didn’t take long before Cormier connected again, putting Silva down with a short right uppercut near the end of the round and then finishing him off with dueling hammer fists. With the win, the former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain secured a spot opposite Josh Barnett in the Grand Prix finals, though whether he’ll truly get that chance could be contingent upon his injury and availability, said Strikeforce’s Scott Coker.
“If Daniel wasn’t available for an extended period of time we would consider another fight [for the Grand Prix final],” Coker said, explaining that the goal was to complete the tournament some time in the first quarter of 2012.
That would make for a bittersweet ending to Cormier’s improbable run in the tournament. After being named as an alternate in the tournament, he defeated Jeff Monson via decision in June, then got the call to join the Grand Prix after heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem was pulled from the tournament and dropped from Strikeforce.
He came into the fight with Silva as a slight underdog, but the undefeated Cormier demolished the much bigger Brazilian thanks to his powerful right hand. If the right hand is broken — and, judging from Cormier’s post-fight remarks, it may very well be — it could be months before he’s able to fight again.
If that’s the case, it could put Strikeforce and its parent company, Zuffa, in a tough spot. Both want to wrap up the Grand Prix before it stretches on too long, but after Saturday night it’s clear that Cormier vs. Barnett will be the only legitimate final.
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For Cormier, however, an injury withdrawal at this stage is a worst-case scenario that he hasn’t even begun to consider too heavily. Getting a win over Silva, who defeated Fedor Emelianenko in the quarterfinal of the tournament, is a huge accomplishment at this stage of his MMA career, and he admitted that it hadn’t “completely sunk in yet.”
Still, on a night when all three of his AKA teammates on the card recorded victories, Cormier had the confidence and the backing of his coach and manager Bob Cook to carry with him into the cage. And that, he said, made all the difference.
“Bob Cook is my guy. Right before my fight he came up to me and said, ‘Look man, he has nothing for you. You’re a winner. That’s what you do, and I have all the faith in the world that you’re going to win tonight.’ That statement was enough. I was in the back kind of putting some pressure on myself, with all the [AKA] guys winning. But then I was like, you know what, I’ve won before. I just need to do what I know and what I’ve trained to do and the result will take care of itself.”
Now he just has to hope that his injuries aren’t too serious and that Strikeforce isn’t too impatient for a Grand Prix final. Either one could mean disappointment for Cormier, and neither is within his control at this point.
CINCINNATI — Daniel Cormier may have entered the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix as an alternate, but after a dominant performance in a knockout victory over Antonio Silva, no one can question whether he deserves a place in the finals.
However, after Cormier showed up at the post-fight press conference early Sunday morning with the right hand he used to dispatch “Bigfoot” Silva wrapped up in a tight wad of bandages, some may question when he’ll be fit enough to fight again, and whether it will be soon enough for the powers that be.
“I kind of hurt my hand on the very first right hand,” Cormier said. “When he went down, he got up and I was like, man, how am I going to get through the next fifteen minutes of this with my hand hurting like it was. I just kept throwing it.”
It didn’t take long before Cormier connected again, putting Silva down with a short right uppercut near the end of the round and then finishing him off with dueling hammer fists. With the win, the former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain secured a spot opposite Josh Barnett in the Grand Prix finals, though whether he’ll truly get that chance could be contingent upon his injury and availability, said Strikeforce’s Scott Coker.
“If Daniel wasn’t available for an extended period of time we would consider another fight [for the Grand Prix final],” Coker said, explaining that the goal was to complete the tournament some time in the first quarter of 2012.
That would make for a bittersweet ending to Cormier’s improbable run in the tournament. After being named as an alternate in the tournament, he defeated Jeff Monson via decision in June, then got the call to join the Grand Prix after heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem was pulled from the tournament and dropped from Strikeforce.
He came into the fight with Silva as a slight underdog, but the undefeated Cormier demolished the much bigger Brazilian thanks to his powerful right hand. If the right hand is broken — and, judging from Cormier’s post-fight remarks, it may very well be — it could be months before he’s able to fight again.
If that’s the case, it could put Strikeforce and its parent company, Zuffa, in a tough spot. Both want to wrap up the Grand Prix before it stretches on too long, but after Saturday night it’s clear that Cormier vs. Barnett will be the only legitimate final.
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For Cormier, however, an injury withdrawal at this stage is a worst-case scenario that he hasn’t even begun to consider too heavily. Getting a win over Silva, who defeated Fedor Emelianenko in the quarterfinal of the tournament, is a huge accomplishment at this stage of his MMA career, and he admitted that it hadn’t “completely sunk in yet.”
Still, on a night when all three of his AKA teammates on the card recorded victories, Cormier had the confidence and the backing of his coach and manager Bob Cook to carry with him into the cage. And that, he said, made all the difference.
“Bob Cook is my guy. Right before my fight he came up to me and said, ‘Look man, he has nothing for you. You’re a winner. That’s what you do, and I have all the faith in the world that you’re going to win tonight.’ That statement was enough. I was in the back kind of putting some pressure on myself, with all the [AKA] guys winning. But then I was like, you know what, I’ve won before. I just need to do what I know and what I’ve trained to do and the result will take care of itself.”
Now he just has to hope that his injuries aren’t too serious and that Strikeforce isn’t too impatient for a Grand Prix final. Either one could mean disappointment for Cormier, and neither is within his control at this point.
Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned from over a year away from action due to injury to take on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Roger Gracie. Lawal recently joined the American Kickboxing Academy, looking to …
Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned from over a year away from action due to injury to take on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Roger Gracie. Lawal recently joined the American Kickboxing Academy, looking to add to his already strong wrestling base. Gracie entered the fight with an undefeated record, as his has recently switched his focus from grappling only.
Crowd firmly behind King Mo as the fight opened. Tentative start to the bout as both fighters looked to find their range. Gracie repeatedly looked for his jab, but ate a left hook from Lawal. A flying knee from Gracie connected, but Lawal seemed unfazed by the strike. The crowd showed their disapproval as the fighters failed to engage. Huge right hand from Lawal put Gracie out on the feet as he crashed to the mat. Lawal pounced, delivering one more shot, but the referee stepped in to prevent any futher assault.
The defeat is the first for Gracie in MMA. Lawal bounces back from his only career loss. The finishing blow connected behind the ear of the grappling legend. Lawal paid respect to the victims of Sept. 11 in his post fight interview. The victor credited his new team at AKA for his performance. Asked who’s next, Lawal said he’d love to face Feijao again, the man who handed him his only career loss.
Official result: Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal def. Roger Gracie via KO at 4:33 of Round 1.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, you can follow Rob on Twitter @RobTatumMMA.
The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix has its final matchup set, and fans can thank former NCAA Division I wrestler Daniel Cormier for taking complete advantage of his position as a late replacement in knocking out Brazilian fighter Antonio Silva in the very first round of their semifinal matchup.
CINCINNATI —