King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports
Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.
Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.
King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports
Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov” had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.
Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.
Oh, about that: Looks like the answer to overcoming Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s sheer size and strength lies in exploiting that glass chin. Much like he did in his fight with Jeff Monson, Cormier kept the one dimensional grappler standing as often as possible. Although he showed off his wrestling credentials with an occasional takedown, Cormier refused to fight Silva in his comfort zone by forcing the fight to be stood up every time Silva was on his back. That strategy will work against Antonio Silva, but is his striking good enough to do that against Josh Barnett? For that matter, is Josh Barnett’s grappling going to prove too much for Cormier at this point in his career? We’ll have to wait until Cormier recovers from the hand injury he suffered, which will more than likely be early 2012. Assuming that Strikeforce is around at this time, of course.
If there’s one fighter who didn’t seem to realize that last night was an audition, it was “Jacare” Souza. Souza seemed to buy into the nonsense that some people were spewing about how Jacare vs. Anderson Silva would be a fight worth watching, and seemed to believe that as long as he could go the distance against Luke Rockhold, the judges would give him the fight. Yes, it was far closer than the 50-45 fight that some people seemed to believe it was. Yes, Jacare probably should have lost by split decision instead of unanimous decision. But does it really matter? A losing effort, no matter how close, is still a losing effort. Still, give Luke Rockhold the credit that he deserves for his performance last night. After shaking off the cobwebs that come with over a year and a half away from competition during the first round, Luke Rockhold fought like someone who saw the fight for the audition that it was. It’ll be interesting to see who he gets to defend the title against (again, assuming Strikeforce is around long enough for him to do so).
Other than that, King Mo showed that having “good striking for a Gracie” is like being “a good fighter for a professional reporter”, shutting out Roger Gracie’s lights early. Do we even bother angling for a fight against Dan Henderson, or do we just assume that both guys will be in the UFC before the next Strikeforce card? That isn’t rhetorical, comments section. Also, Pat Healy managed to survive Maximo Blanco’s wild strikes- some of which illegal- long enough to spoil Blanco’s hype. Healy sure has a habit of killing the hype for Strikeforce prospects. Let’s see if that translates into a step up in competition for him.
Josh Barnett def. Sergei Kharitonov via submission (head-arm triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:28
Daniel Cormier def. Antonio Silva via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 3:56
Luke Rockhold def. Ronaldo Souza via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal def. Roger Gracie via KO (punch) – Round 1, 4:33
Pat Healy def. Maximo Blanco via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:24
OFFICIAL PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
Mike Kyle def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante def. Yoel Romero via KO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:51
Jordan Mein def. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 3:18
Alexis Davis def. Amanda Nunes via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:53
Dominique Steele def. Chris Mierzwiak via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Filed under: StrikeforceCINCINNATI — Heading into Saturday night’s Strikeforce event, American Kickboxing Academy middleweight Luke Rockhold predicted a perfect 4-0 night for himself and his teammates. It was an ambitious prediction that ended up bein…
CINCINNATI — Heading into Saturday night’s Strikeforce event, American Kickboxing Academy middleweight Luke Rockhold predicted a perfect 4-0 night for himself and his teammates. It was an ambitious prediction that ended up being accurate, but it also seemed at least somewhat like the kind of thing you say to boost everyone’s confidence rather you really believe it or not.
But Rockhold, who took a close decision over Ronaldo Souza to claim the Strikeforce middleweight title, insisted he knew all along that his squad would end the night undefeated.
“I don’t speak nonsense,” he told reporters at the post-fight press conference. “I was just really confident in my team.”
One of Rockhold’s coaches — AKA’s Javier Mendez — wasn’t quite so sure, however.
“I was confident, honestly, with 3-1,” Mendez told MMA Fighting. “I was hoping for four, but my concern was Mike Kyle.”
As Mendez explained, it wasn’t that he thought Kyle was outmatched against Marcos Rogerio de Lima on the prelim portion of the card. Instead, he was worried about whether Kyle had been healthy enough to adequately prepare for the fight.
“He just got through going through a broken hand. He didn’t get to spar [in training],” Mendez said. “We didn’t want him sparring because we were afraid he would re-break his hand. So I was concerned with him. I wasn’t concerned with Mo [Lawal], wasn’t concerned with Daniel [Cormier], but I was most confident in Luke.”
As it turned out, Rockhold’s fight was the biggest nail-biter of the night for the AKA crew. He and Souza went back and forth for five rounds, the outcome was difficult to call as they stood in the center of the cage awaiting the judges’ decision.
“I felt good about it,” Rockhold said afterward. “I might have got a little rocked, but I came back strong and I think I won some rounds.”
Mendez was similarly confident, but even he couldn’t justify giving all five rounds to Rockhold, as judge Bruce Snell did.
“I thought we had it for sure, based on the fifth round, how he came out and what he did. It was pretty close there, but when he came out and did the most damage, being the aggressor, I knew he had it,” Mendez said. “But the score of 50-45 for Luke? Whoever that was, no. That was wrong. I thought it was 48-47 for Luke.”
However you score it, the AKA squad went home unbeaten thanks to the decision wins for Rockhold and Kyle, and knockout victories by Lawal and Cormier. With that, the whole team returned to San Jose, Calif. with smiles on their faces and a renewed swagger in their step. Just ask the new Strikeforce middleweight champ.
“AKA,” Rockhold grinned. “Watch out. Don’t step on our turf.”
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Josh Barnett following his submission over Sergei Kharitonov on Saturday night about the victory, his mental state, fighting Daniel Cormier in the finals, fashion and whether he thinks he is one step closer to returning to the UFC.
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Josh Barnett following his submission over Sergei Kharitonov on Saturday night about the victory, his mental state, fighting Daniel Cormier in the finals, fashion and whether he thinks he is one step closer to returning to the UFC.
CINCINNATI — The post-fight press conference had almost wrapped up, but Josh Barnett couldn’t resist. When the topic of conversation turned to what Strikeforce was planning to do about its vacant heavyweight title, Barnett just had to put Scott Coker on the spot.
“Why don’t we sweeten the pot?” Barnett asked. “Why don’t we put that title on the line between me and [Daniel] Cormier?”
As he went on to explain, “Strikeforce needs a real champ. It needs a real champ like me or Cormier. Besides us, who is it?”
Coker, who seemed visibly uncomfortable with the question, gave a meandering answer in the form of a history lesson that eventually boiled down to one main point: “Let’s just take it one step at a time, Josh.”
In other words, Strikeforce isn’t committing to anything just yet. Not until it absolutely has to.
And yet, it seems only logical to use the heavyweight Grand Prix to crown a champion now that Alistair Overeem has fled to the UFC and the title is vacant. As Barnett pointed out while slipping into his pro wrestling schtick at the presser, either he or Cormier could be legitimately dubbed the Strikeforce title-holder after winning this tournament.
“Either one of us is a grand champion,” said Barnett. “Either one of us is the kind of guy who can take that belt, hold our hands up with it, and people look at us and say, hey, those guys are champs. That’s the people we want representing our company. That’s the kind of guy I want to look up to and say hey, you want to see a fighter? You want to see a real bad-ass in the world? There he is, right there. See that gold around his waist? That’s not a joke. That’s reality. The people he had to step over to get that, he earned it.”
As Barnett said later, this was a speech he meant to give in the cage for all to see, but forgot it in the post-fight confusion.
“But I really believe that, once it gets to the finals, there really are no two better fighters to represent Strikeforce as a heavyweight champion,” he said. “This is not where we intended to be at this point with the tournament, but the fact of the matter is, this is where we are. We have no champ. It’s vacant. We can’t walk around like that. We can’t hold our heads as high if we don’t have a heavyweight champion.”
The fact that Strikeforce officials won’t go ahead and put the title on the line makes you wonder, what are they saving it for? Or perhaps, is it a decision that’s out of their hands, now that Zuffa owns the organization and seems to be picking it apart one piece at a time?
“I don’t even want to go there,” Barnett said. “I could speculate. I’ve been in this longer than almost anybody you can find at any of these events. But I just don’t want to do it.”
At the moment, he said, his more immediate goal is not just beating Cormier in the finals, but getting at least one takedown to prove that he’s capable of putting a former Olympic wrestler on his back.
“I’ve got to get that takedown on DC,” he said during the press conference, adding that he knew if he managed to do it, “Mo [Lawal] will never let him live it down, ever.”
From the other side of the podium Cormier just grinned and leaned forward into his microphone.
CINCINNATI — The post-fight press conference had almost wrapped up, but Josh Barnett couldn’t resist. When the topic of conversation turned to what Strikeforce was planning to do about its vacant heavyweight title, Barnett just had to put Scott Coker on the spot.
“Why don’t we sweeten the pot?” Barnett asked. “Why don’t we put that title on the line between me and [Daniel] Cormier?”
As he went on to explain, “Strikeforce needs a real champ. It needs a real champ like me or Cormier. Besides us, who is it?”
Coker, who seemed visibly uncomfortable with the question, gave a meandering answer in the form of a history lesson that eventually boiled down to one main point: “Let’s just take it one step at a time, Josh.”
In other words, Strikeforce isn’t committing to anything just yet. Not until it absolutely has to.
And yet, it seems only logical to use the heavyweight Grand Prix to crown a champion now that Alistair Overeem has fled to the UFC and the title is vacant. As Barnett pointed out while slipping into his pro wrestling schtick at the presser, either he or Cormier could be legitimately dubbed the Strikeforce title-holder after winning this tournament.
“Either one of us is a grand champion,” said Barnett. “Either one of us is the kind of guy who can take that belt, hold our hands up with it, and people look at us and say, hey, those guys are champs. That’s the people we want representing our company. That’s the kind of guy I want to look up to and say hey, you want to see a fighter? You want to see a real bad-ass in the world? There he is, right there. See that gold around his waist? That’s not a joke. That’s reality. The people he had to step over to get that, he earned it.”
As Barnett said later, this was a speech he meant to give in the cage for all to see, but forgot it in the post-fight confusion.
“But I really believe that, once it gets to the finals, there really are no two better fighters to represent Strikeforce as a heavyweight champion,” he said. “This is not where we intended to be at this point with the tournament, but the fact of the matter is, this is where we are. We have no champ. It’s vacant. We can’t walk around like that. We can’t hold our heads as high if we don’t have a heavyweight champion.”
The fact that Strikeforce officials won’t go ahead and put the title on the line makes you wonder, what are they saving it for? Or perhaps, is it a decision that’s out of their hands, now that Zuffa owns the organization and seems to be picking it apart one piece at a time?
“I don’t even want to go there,” Barnett said. “I could speculate. I’ve been in this longer than almost anybody you can find at any of these events. But I just don’t want to do it.”
At the moment, he said, his more immediate goal is not just beating Cormier in the finals, but getting at least one takedown to prove that he’s capable of putting a former Olympic wrestler on his back.
“I’ve got to get that takedown on DC,” he said during the press conference, adding that he knew if he managed to do it, “Mo [Lawal] will never let him live it down, ever.”
From the other side of the podium Cormier just grinned and leaned forward into his microphone.
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.
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.
CINCINNATI — Heading into Saturday night’s 
CINCINNATI — The post-fight press conference had almost wrapped up, but 
CINCINNATI —