Tag: daniel cormier

Remaining Heavyweights Ponder Uncertain Stakes in Strikeforce Grand Prix

Filed under: StrikeforceCINCINNATI — When Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker first announced plans for a heavyweight Grand Prix, it seemed almost recklessly ambitious. Eight well known — and, in some cases, mercurial — heavyweights all vying against one an…

Filed under:

CINCINNATI — When Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker first announced plans for a heavyweight Grand Prix, it seemed almost recklessly ambitious. Eight well known — and, in some cases, mercurial — heavyweights all vying against one another in a single-elimination tournament to crown one king.

Only now the Strikeforce heavyweight champion has left the building. Alistair Overeem got dropped from the tournament and signed to the UFC, so the four fighters who are left behind have to figure out for themselves exactly what’s at stake when the Grand Prix lurches onward this Saturday night.

As Josh Barnett pointed out, the winner now gets “a nice, shiny belt,” so there’s that. But aside from the hardware, what else is at stake? The answer to that depends on who you ask.

For Antonio Silva, who was slated to get a crack at the Strikeforce heavyweight champ in the semifinal round before Overeem declared himself unfit for the September 10 date, the change of opponent was a letdown. Or at least, that’s how he felt until he considered it from Overeem’s perspective, he said.

“I was very sad and disappointed in the beginning, but today I think he did the right thing going to the UFC,” Silva said via a translator. Even without Overeem in the tournament, Silva said, winning out over a field that included fighters like Fedor Emelianenko and Sergei Kharitonov would be “a big accomplishment.”

But for others, like Barnett, the tournament title doesn’t add all that much to an already high-stakes pursuit.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but for me it’s the same thing that’s always at stake, and that’s my own personal pride,” Barnett said. “I’m not walking out there to get my [expletive] beat by anybody. The way I see it, it always comes down to, so you think you can kick my [expletive], huh? Then let’s go. I don’t think you can, but I want you to try. I want to crush everything about you. I want you to come in there so full of life and thinking about all these things that are going to happen for you, all these doors that are going to open and your life is going to get better, then I’m going to step on it, crush it, destroy it, and leave you in a smoldering heap with all your dreams dead.”

You know, he deadpanned, the kind of thing that “me and the Dalai Lama have talked about a lot.”

For Daniel Cormier, the Grand Prix alternate who took Overeem’s spot, simply being in the tournament is still something of a surprise.

“I didn’t think I’d have the chance to fight in the tournament,” Cormier said. “I looked it as such a big thing, a big event, that I would never have imagined anybody being out of the tournament. I thought they’d do anything in their power to stay in the tournament.”

Of course, for Cormier the tournament still offers plenty of upside. He’s the least experienced fighter in the field, and a win over any of the big names left in the bracket would instantly elevate his status.

For more seasoned competitors like Barnett and Kharitonov, there might be more to lose than gain. These are uncertain times for all Strikeforce fighters in general, and that’s no less true for the Grand Prix participants. Of the four men to lose in the quarterfinal round, only one — Fabricio Werdum — is still employed by the organization.

Just as no one knows what the winner of the tournament will have actually won (aside from that shiny belt), it’s similarly unclear what will become of those who fall short. That’s why the best approach might be the one Kharitonov is taking.

“I’m here to win,” he said through a translator. “That’s what matters the most.”

Too bad that strategy can only work for one man.

%VIRTUAL-Gallery-133108%

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

‘Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov’ Press Conference Highlight Video

Man, it’s been a crazy week, huh? Between the UFC 137 lineup shuffle and the announcement of Alistair Overeem’s entry into the UFC, you may have forgotten that the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals are going down tomorrow night at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. We’ll be liveblogging the action starting at 10:30 p.m. ET, so don’t be a stranger.

MMAFighting was on the scene yesterday for the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” press conference, and released the above highlight video. Skip to the 1:33 mark to see Daniel Cormier give away his gameplan against Antonio Silva; lots of laughs there. Later, King Mo says what everybody’s thinking: “I was hoping more people [would be] out here, more media, and more questions, but really I guess y’all don’t care about us that much. I’m just keeping it real. Me and Roger [Gracie] gonna put on a good fight, it’s gonna be a good card. I think people are gonna miss out on it because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend. I’m just being real.”

Also on the card, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza defends his middleweight belt against Luke Rockhold — who hasn’t competed since February 2010 due to injuries — and Maximo Blanco makes his promotional debut against Pat Healy. The complete lineup is after the jump.

Man, it’s been a crazy week, huh? Between the UFC 137 lineup shuffle and the announcement of Alistair Overeem’s entry into the UFC, you may have forgotten that the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals are going down tomorrow night at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. We’ll be liveblogging the action starting at 10:30 p.m. ET, so don’t be a stranger.

MMAFighting was on the scene yesterday for the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” press conference, and released the above highlight video. Skip to the 1:33 mark to see Daniel Cormier give away his gameplan against Antonio Silva; lots of laughs there. Later, King Mo says what everybody’s thinking: “I was hoping more people [would be] out here, more media, and more questions, but really I guess y’all don’t care about us that much. I’m just keeping it real. Me and Roger [Gracie] gonna put on a good fight, it’s gonna be a good card. I think people are gonna miss out on it because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend. I’m just being real.”

Also on the card, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza defends his middleweight belt against Luke Rockhold — who hasn’t competed since February 2010 due to injuries — and Maximo Blanco makes his promotional debut against Pat Healy. The complete lineup is after the jump.

Main Card (Showtime, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT)
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov
Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier
Ronaldo Souza vs. Luke Rockhold
Muhammed Lawal vs. Roger Gracie
Pat Healy vs. Maximo Blanco

Preliminary Card (HDNet, 8 p.m. ET/PT)
Mike Kyle vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
Rafael Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero Palacio
Evangelista Santos vs. Jordan Mein
Alexis Davis vs. Amanda Nunes
Dominique Steele vs. Chris Mierzwiak

On Opposite Sides of Strikeforce Grand Prix Bracket, a Feud Simmers

Filed under: StrikeforceCINCINNATI — Like any good fighter beef, they can’t agree on how it all got started. If you ask Josh Barnett, he’ll say he was complimenting Antonio Silva’s performance against Fedor Emelianenko, then woke up the next morning t…

Filed under:

Josh BarnettCINCINNATI — Like any good fighter beef, they can’t agree on how it all got started. If you ask Josh Barnett, he’ll say he was complimenting Antonio Silva‘s performance against Fedor Emelianenko, then woke up the next morning to read reports of Silva bashing him in the press. If you ask “Bigfoot” Silva, he’ll say he had only a mild dislike for Barnett until he crossed the line by commenting on Silva’s acromegaly.

“In the beginning I found him to be an anti-social guy,” Silva said through a translator. “I talk to everybody, shake everybody’s hand, and he wasn’t like that. After I commented on that, he moved into commenting on my condition, and that’s not something he should do.”

Barnett’s response?

“I didn’t know gigantism made you so sensitive.”

Of the four fighters left in the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix, Silva and Barnett are the only two who seem to have any personal animosity against one another. A little strange, considering they’re not even fighting each other. Not yet, anyway.

Barnett will take on Sergei Kharitonov in the semifinal round of the tournament on Saturday night, while Silva has a date with Alistair Overeem’s replacement, former U.S. Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier. So how did these two even end up in this minor feud, when they couldn’t possibly meet until the finals?

“What it came down to was, he didn’t know me enough to know whether I was friendly or unfriendly, and he just started going off,” Barnett said, tracing the beef’s genesis to a post-fight press conference after the opening round of the tournament in New Jersey.

“Ten minutes before he got to the podium I was talking about how much he’d improved as a fighter and how tough he was, so on and so forth,” Barnett said. “Then the next day I read the internet news and I’m going, what? He was saying I hate Brazilians, saying I’m a jerk, saying all sorts of stuff when he doesn’t know me. But hey, I’m one to mess with somebody, so I said, sorry I’m not trying to be your best friend.”

Barnett has predicted a win for Cormier on Saturday night, citing the smaller man’s wrestling skills as a difference-maker. Even Silva admits he had to change everything about his preparation when his opponent changed from Overeem, a bulky kickboxer, to Cormier, a smaller, more agile wrestler.

“Things changed completely. My plan [for Overeem] was to take him down and get on top of him. Now my game plan is to stay standing or impose my jiu-jitsu. It really changed things.”

On the other side of the bracket, Silva said Barnett is in for a tough night, though he gives him the slight edge over Kharitonov.

“They’re two great fighters and it’s going to be a great fight, but I’m rooting for [Barnett]. I want to fight him. I bet he’s not thinking like that. I bet he’s hoping that he doesn’t have to face me in the finals.”

In a way, Barnett admitted, he’s almost right.

“I could go on about this,” Barnett said. “I don’t care about fighting him or anybody. Already I’ve given him too much press.”

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Strikeforce Grand Prix Breakdowns: Barnett vs. Kharitonov, Cormier vs. Silva

Filed under: Strikeforce, MMA Fighting ExclusiveGiven the original starting field for the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix, the final four comes as a curious combination. Three of the top five fighters most likely to win according to the original tou…

Filed under: ,

Given the original starting field for the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix, the final four comes as a curious combination. Three of the top five fighters most likely to win according to the original tournament odds are no longer employed by Strikeforce, the promotion’s heavyweight championship its now vacant, and an alternate has a chance to win it all.

Leading the field is the longtime veteran Josh Barnett, the current favorite to emerge as the GP winner. His opponent Sergei Kharitonov is a rugged fighter with a tendency towards big punches and a propensity to push opponents against the cage, where he does some of his best work.

The battle for positioning is a crucial element for this fight. Barnett is often content to test his striking skills, even against fighters with more fearsome reputations as closers, but in some instances, he’s taken the more conservative route. Two recent examples of that came in his fights with Gilbert Yvel and Brett Rogers. Against both of those fighters, his ground advantage was so distinct that he determined early on that risking any problems on his feet was unnecessary.

Against Kharitonov, he might take the same approach. On one hand, Kharitonov is no pushover on the ground, with only one tapout loss in his career (he’s notably gone the distance with submission specialists Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fabricio Werdum). On the other, Kharitonov is a mauler on his feet (three of his last four wins have come by KO, the other is a submission due to strikes). So the lesser-of-two-evils decision might make itself.

The question then becomes whether Barnett can take the fight down. He’s not a traditional takedown artist, but according to FightMetric, he’s still successful on 59 percent of his takedown tries. The tricky thing is that he may need more than one to finish Kharitonov. And it’s hard to know if Barnett will have more than one in him. For his part, Kharitonov has fairly strong takedown defense, stopping 72 percent of tries against him by FightMetric’s count.

That may leave us with a fight that is mostly contested standing up. Despite Kharitonov’s pedigree, he has never been particularly hard to hit, and due to the trust in his chin, he’s willing to take two to give one. That’s the wrong type of fight against Barnett, who has only been KO’d once in his career, and not since 2001.

That’s not to say Kharitonov can’t do it, just that Barnett will be no easy pickings. Barnett notably absorbs just 1.42 strikes per minute, a low number for a heavyweight. By comparison, Kharitonov takes 2.94 strikes per minute, more than double.

The numbers suggest Barnett’s accuracy and defense favor him on the feet, and the facts suggest he’s a massive favorite on the ground. Kharitonov’s power is always a wild card, but if it doesn’t come in the first round, it might not come at all. Given that, I’ll take Barnett by decision.

Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier
Cormier wasn’t originally part of the GP field, but an alternate ready to step into any opening. His chance came when Overeem was cut despite winning his tourney opener.

Cormier is an internationally decorated wrestler with rapidly improving striking skills. His downside is that at 5-foot-11 and 240 pounds, he is small for the division. Contrast him with Silva, who is 6-foot-4 and cuts at least 10 to 15 pounds in order to make the 265-pound heavyweight limit, and you’ll see he’s got some size differential to navigate.

In his bouts so far, Cormier has acquitted himself quite nicely, with a perfect 8-0 record, and just two fights going to decisions. As expected, his most effective weapon has been his takedowns. In FightMetric’s analysis of five of his fights, he’s never had an opponent stop him from taking the fight to the ground.

Given the massive 11-inch reach advantage Silva holds, the ability to take the fight to the ground will be a crucial tool in his arsenal. Silva won’t just give up the takedown though; he successfully defends 71 percent of attempts against him.

Cormier’s improving striking game will be the key to getting inside and earning a more advantageous position. Matching shots with Silva will be tricky, not only because of the reach issue, but because Silva has real power. While he may not be a one-shot KO artist, he has good hand speed and footwork, and has some pop on his shots.

In his recent fights, Silva has shown more of a willingness to try to take the fight to the mat, where he can use his size to either pound away at his opponent or threaten with submissions. He’s unlikely to try to attempt that kind of game plan against such a decorated wrestler in Cormier though.

If Silva takes that threat away, Cormier will have one less thing to think about, freeing him up to take control of the fight. Working with American Kickboxing Academy, Cormier has come a long way in a short time. He’ll show the ability to hang with a good striker on his feet, and sprinkle in a takedown or two to score points along the way.

It’s no gimme, but Cormier wins by decision and becomes the surprise entry into the Grand Prix finals.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

A Friendship Born on the Mats and Forged in the Poverty of the Past

Filed under: StrikeforceCINCINNATI — Now that they’re over, it’s easy for Daniel Cormier and Mo Lawal to laugh about their lean years in the world of amateur wrestling. When they were walking around broke most of the time, however, it wasn’t quite so …

Filed under:

CINCINNATI — Now that they’re over, it’s easy for Daniel Cormier and Mo Lawal to laugh about their lean years in the world of amateur wrestling. When they were walking around broke most of the time, however, it wasn’t quite so funny.

“Wrestling — even wrestling at the highest level — we weren’t getting paid nothing,” Lawal said at Thursday’s Strikeforce press conference.

In fact, Cormier added, they were making so little on their USA Wrestling stipend that once they both went to the bank and cashed their paychecks all in dollar bills, just to make it seem like more. And now?

“Let’s just say we can’t cash our checks from this weekend all in ones,” Cormier grinned.

Cormier and Lawal go back a long way, to when both were college wrestlers in Oklahoma and neither thought he’d ever make much of a living at it. Back then, Cormier was almost like a big brother and mentor to Lawal.

As Cormier remembers it: “[Lawal] wanted to learn so much that he was just hanging on you. He was like, teach me this, teach me that. Then he just got so much better. He was at Central Oklahoma. He had no connection to Oklahoma State. But he would come up in the summer to wrestling camps. He was like a sponge. It was like, well, Mo’s here. Guess we got to wrestle with him. Then he got so good we wanted him around.”

But when it came to making the move into MMA, it was Lawal who led the way, spurred on by another mentor who had learned all he cared to about getting by on what little money is available for amateur wrestlers in the United States.

“Matt Lindland told me, ‘Look, you’re wasting your time wrestling,'” Lawal said. “I was like, what do you mean? He told me, ‘You’re going to be broke.'”

Once Lindland started telling him what he made from fighting, as well as from seminars and sponsorships, Lawal knew it was time to make the leap. As a wrestler, he said, he was lucky to make $25,000 in a good year.

“At one point I was making $500 a month and I thought I was balling,” Lawal said.

When he took up MMA, that all changed. Soon Cormier couldn’t help but notice.

“It’s hard to miss his chain. It’s hard to miss him buying a Cadillac with ostrich skin seats. He has ostrich seats, ‘King Mo’ in the headrest. I was like, I have to get some of this.”

Making the switch from wrestling to MMA required some obvious adjustments, like getting used to being punched in the face, but it wasn’t as if neither of them knew what that was like before putting on the four-ounce gloves. As Cormier explained, when they went to wrestle in Russia they’d frequently end up in fist fights on the mat.

“We had plenty of fights,” Cormier said. “We fought Russians. You can find mine on YouTube. Mo was fighting the guy right before.”

But once they got into MMA, their wrestling base allowed them to dictate where the fight took place, which is helpful when your stand-up skills haven’t yet caught up with your ground game.

Now Cormier’s on the verge of taking on Antonio Silva in the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix and Lawal, a former Strikeforce champion, is getting set to take on Roger Gracie in his first fight since losing his title.

They’ve both come a long way, but neither has forgotten where he came from. They never get the chance. Not with the other around as a constant reminder.

“I’ve known Mo for a long time,” Cormier said. “I’m not talking about ‘King’ Mo. I’m talking about Muhammad Lawal with the afro. I’m talking about ashy Muhammad Lawal.”

“I wasn’t ashy,” Lawal interrupted.

Cormier shot him a look.

“Okay, the one thing he wasn’t was ashy, but he did have the afro.”

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Jeff Monson Says It’s Bittersweet to Get Fedor Emelianenko Fight Now

Though Fedor Emelianenko’s M-1 Global management team has yet to confirm it, Jeff Monson told MMA Fighting he’s absolutely fighting the Russian heavyweight in St. Petersburg on November 12, and will head to Russia for a pre-fight press conference on S…

Though Fedor Emelianenko‘s M-1 Global management team has yet to confirm it, Jeff Monson told MMA Fighting he’s absolutely fighting the Russian heavyweight in St. Petersburg on November 12, and will head to Russia for a pre-fight press conference on September 16.

And no, he’s not kidding himself. He knows exactly why, after unsuccessfully angling for a fight with Emelianenko for years, he’s finally getting it now.

“I think basically it’s that he lost a couple and [M-1 Global] want[s] him to fight a guy with a name, but obviously they feel confident in the fight,” Monson said. “…Obviously, they think if he fought someone without a name that would look bad, and if he lost again that would also look bad.”

For the 40 year-old Monson, it’s a little bittersweet to get this fight only now, and only after Emelianenko was cut from Strikeforce following a three-fight losing streak, he admitted.

“I wish it was a year ago,” Monson said. “But I’ve said this before, he’s the best heavyweight of all time. Granted, he’s lost a couple in a row here, all against good guys, but other than that [TKO via cut] that wasn’t really a loss, what’d he go, ten years without losing? Nobody’s ever done that, ever. And he beat the best of the best. That was back when Pride definitely had the best heavyweights, and he beat everybody in Pride, and he finished people.”

And the fact that Emelianenko’s management called up Monson when they needed a beatable opponent with some name value? Monson’s not exactly taking it as a compliment, but he’ll still take it, he said.

“The thing is, he’s the only guy allowed in the ring with me. I feel confident. I would never take a fight I didn’t think I could win. It’s a fight I’ve wanted for a long time, and no one’s going to determine what happens in the fight except me and him. Regardless of why they gave it to me or whether my management thinks I can win it, when the bell rings that’s not going to mean anything.”

Though he lost his last fight to Strikeforce heavyweight Daniel Cormier in June, Monson said he is still under contract to the organization and is taking this fight with Strikeforce’s permission. Still, Monson’s plan to eventually cut to light heavyweight remains unchanged, even though he’ll fight Emelianenko at heavyweight.

“I will never fight another heavyweight fight for Strikeforce,” he said. “It will all be at 205 [pounds]. But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s just one of those things where you can’t turn it down.”

Weight isn’t likely to be a major factor in this fight anyhow, Monson said. Emelianenko is just a shade taller than Monson, but both men will likely come into the fight hovering somewhere in the 230-pound range.

This one is less about establishing a future at any particular weight class, according to Monson, and more about fulfilling a career goal and taking a swipe at one of the sport’s greats.

“I’ve never been in the ring with someone where I was like, it’s an honor to be in there with this guy, but it is,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and beat him, but it is an honor to fight him.”

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments