Strikeforce Fight Journal: Daniel Cormier and Luke Rockhold

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MMA Fighting followed Strkeforce heavyweight GP semifinalist Daniel Cormier and middleweight title challenger Luke Rockhold days away from their
fights against Antonio Silva and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, respectively, on the Sept. 10 Strikeforce card in Cincinnati.

Watch the video below of a day in the life of Cormier and Rockhold, shot and edited by E. Casey Leydon.

 

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MMA Fighting followed Strkeforce heavyweight GP semifinalist Daniel Cormier and middleweight title challenger Luke Rockhold days away from their
fights against Antonio Silva and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, respectively, on the Sept. 10 Strikeforce card in Cincinnati.

Watch the video below of a day in the life of Cormier and Rockhold, shot and edited by E. Casey Leydon.

 

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With Media Focus on Nick Diaz and UFC, Strikeforce Fighters Battle for Attention

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Mo LawalCINCINNATI — He couldn’t have been the only one who was thinking it, but “King” Mo Lawal was the first to say it at the Strikeforce pre-fight press conference on Thursday afternoon.

“I was hoping there would be more people out here, more media, more questions, but really I guess ya’ll don’t care about us that much,” Lawal said. In his eyes, Saturday’s Strikeforce event on Showtime looks to be a strong card that many fans will likely miss “because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend — I’m just being real.”

Looking around at the sparsely attended presser — as well as at the frenzy of online attention being paid to the Nick Diaz fiasco in the UFC — you have to admit that he has a point.

At least on paper, this may be one of the best Strikeforce cards in recent memory. But is anybody paying attention? And if not, is Zuffa, the parent company of both Strikeforce and the UFC, planning to do anything to change that?

“It’s disappointing,” said Josh Barnett, one of the four Grand Prix semifinalists on the card. “I’d really like it if we could get a little bit of back-up from the UFC on this. Just a blurb. I’ve talked to some of the fighters and the conversation has come up, why can’t Dana [White] do one little video blog, one little piece saying, please come watch these fights because they’re good fights? I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t think they’re good fights.”

On some level, the drop-off is understandable. With Diaz bailing on this week’s UFC 137 press conference and being pulled from the title fight with Georges St. Pierre, UFC president Dana White has had his share of fires to put out.

Then again, the UFC did schedule several media events during the same week as the Strikeforce Grand Prix, but all of them were to promote a UFC fight card that’s still more than a month away. If you take that as an indicator of where Zuffa’s priorities lie, it’s not a good sign for Strikeforce.

As Lawal sees it, the lack of attention from both the media and Strikeforce’s parent company is an insult to the heavyweights in the Grand Prix, as well as to “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold, who will vie for the Strikeforce middleweight title at the U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night.

“[Rockhold]’s fighting for a title, you got two fights in the heavyweight tournament. …It’s not to me, but it’s a slap in the face to them,” Lawal said.

Of course, calling out the Zuffa brass right now seems like a risky proposition, since it’s still unclear what White and company plan to do with Strikeforce or its fighters. This is the same organization that just snatched a title shot away from Diaz for the kind of antics he used to regularly get away with in Strikeforce, after all.

Criticizing them could have its risks, though Lawal said he refuses to be swayed from calling it as he sees it, regardless of what happened to someone who simply failed to live up to his promotional responsibilities.

“I don’t give a [expletive],” he said. “I’m going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say ‘Respect the organization or you’re going to be out forever?’ Get the [expletive] out of here with that [expletive]. I’m just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there.”

Diaz no-showing a press conference, however, that’s a different story, Lawal said.

“I don’t know what happened, but it’s not like he was speaking his mind, saying ‘I think this press conference is dumb.’ He just didn’t show up. Now, speaking out and telling the truth is a different story than not doing something that helps the fight. That’s on Diaz. I think he’s a hell of a fighter, but like I said, here we are talking about Diaz instead of this event.”

As for Rockhold, he didn’t expect to get much press for his middleweight title fight to begin with, he said. As he put it, “People don’t know who I am. They’re going to find out, though.”

And sure, this weekend’s event was being buried in the headlines by Diaz and other UFC news, but he’s finding a way to stay optimistic.

“Yeah, it’s being overshadowed, but at least it’s overshadowed by Strikeforce guys,” Rockhold said. “Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem — at least we’re being overshadowed by our own people.”

But then, if this is all the attention even a stacked Strikeforce card can muster from fans and its own parent company, what does that say about the future for these fighters? If a former Strikeforce employee’s antics garner more attention than actual fights by the current employees, how much longer until there is no Strikeforce at all? And what then?

“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions here, but we might be looking at the end of something,” said Rockhold. “We’re going to have to perform and go out with a bang, and I think this is a good opportunity.”

As for Lawal, he just shrugged when asked what lay ahead for himself and the other fighters on the Strikeforce roster.

“I have no idea,” he said. “No one does. Do you?”

 

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Mo LawalCINCINNATI — He couldn’t have been the only one who was thinking it, but “King” Mo Lawal was the first to say it at the Strikeforce pre-fight press conference on Thursday afternoon.

“I was hoping there would be more people out here, more media, more questions, but really I guess ya’ll don’t care about us that much,” Lawal said. In his eyes, Saturday’s Strikeforce event on Showtime looks to be a strong card that many fans will likely miss “because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend — I’m just being real.”

Looking around at the sparsely attended presser — as well as at the frenzy of online attention being paid to the Nick Diaz fiasco in the UFC — you have to admit that he has a point.

At least on paper, this may be one of the best Strikeforce cards in recent memory. But is anybody paying attention? And if not, is Zuffa, the parent company of both Strikeforce and the UFC, planning to do anything to change that?

“It’s disappointing,” said Josh Barnett, one of the four Grand Prix semifinalists on the card. “I’d really like it if we could get a little bit of back-up from the UFC on this. Just a blurb. I’ve talked to some of the fighters and the conversation has come up, why can’t Dana [White] do one little video blog, one little piece saying, please come watch these fights because they’re good fights? I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t think they’re good fights.”


On some level, the drop-off is understandable. With Diaz bailing on this week’s UFC 137 press conference and being pulled from the title fight with Georges St. Pierre, UFC president Dana White has had his share of fires to put out.

Then again, the UFC did schedule several media events during the same week as the Strikeforce Grand Prix, but all of them were to promote a UFC fight card that’s still more than a month away. If you take that as an indicator of where Zuffa’s priorities lie, it’s not a good sign for Strikeforce.

As Lawal sees it, the lack of attention from both the media and Strikeforce’s parent company is an insult to the heavyweights in the Grand Prix, as well as to “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold, who will vie for the Strikeforce middleweight title at the U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night.

“[Rockhold]’s fighting for a title, you got two fights in the heavyweight tournament. …It’s not to me, but it’s a slap in the face to them,” Lawal said.

Of course, calling out the Zuffa brass right now seems like a risky proposition, since it’s still unclear what White and company plan to do with Strikeforce or its fighters. This is the same organization that just snatched a title shot away from Diaz for the kind of antics he used to regularly get away with in Strikeforce, after all.

Criticizing them could have its risks, though Lawal said he refuses to be swayed from calling it as he sees it, regardless of what happened to someone who simply failed to live up to his promotional responsibilities.

“I don’t give a [expletive],” he said. “I’m going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say ‘Respect the organization or you’re going to be out forever?’ Get the [expletive] out of here with that [expletive]. I’m just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there.”

Diaz no-showing a press conference, however, that’s a different story, Lawal said.

“I don’t know what happened, but it’s not like he was speaking his mind, saying ‘I think this press conference is dumb.’ He just didn’t show up. Now, speaking out and telling the truth is a different story than not doing something that helps the fight. That’s on Diaz. I think he’s a hell of a fighter, but like I said, here we are talking about Diaz instead of this event.”

As for Rockhold, he didn’t expect to get much press for his middleweight title fight to begin with, he said. As he put it, “People don’t know who I am. They’re going to find out, though.”

And sure, this weekend’s event was being buried in the headlines by Diaz and other UFC news, but he’s finding a way to stay optimistic.

“Yeah, it’s being overshadowed, but at least it’s overshadowed by Strikeforce guys,” Rockhold said. “Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem — at least we’re being overshadowed by our own people.”

But then, if this is all the attention even a stacked Strikeforce card can muster from fans and its own parent company, what does that say about the future for these fighters? If a former Strikeforce employee’s antics garner more attention than actual fights by the current employees, how much longer until there is no Strikeforce at all? And what then?

“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions here, but we might be looking at the end of something,” said Rockhold. “We’re going to have to perform and go out with a bang, and I think this is a good opportunity.”

As for Lawal, he just shrugged when asked what lay ahead for himself and the other fighters on the Strikeforce roster.

“I have no idea,” he said. “No one does. Do you?”

 

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Barnett vs. Kharitonov Pre-Fight Press Conference Highlights

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CINCINNATI — Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov, King Mo Lawal, Roger Gracie, Antonio Silva, Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockford and Ronaldo Jacare Souza gathered in front of the media Thursday to discuss their fights on Saturday’s Strikeforce event at the U.S. Bank Arena.

For highlights of what each of the fighters had to say, check out the video below.

 

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CINCINNATI — Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov, King Mo Lawal, Roger Gracie, Antonio Silva, Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockford and Ronaldo Jacare Souza gathered in front of the media Thursday to discuss their fights on Saturday’s Strikeforce event at the U.S. Bank Arena.

For highlights of what each of the fighters had to say, check out the video below.

 

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Strikeforce Barnett vs. Kharitonov Predictions

Filed under: StrikeforceWho will advance to the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix? Can Luke Rockhold shock everyone and take the middleweight belt from Jacare? Will King Mo Lawal come back after more than a year off and defeat Roger Grac…

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Who will advance to the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix? Can Luke Rockhold shock everyone and take the middleweight belt from Jacare? Will King Mo Lawal come back after more than a year off and defeat Roger Gracie? We’ll attempt to answer those questions as we predict the winners of Saturday’s fights.

What: Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals: Barnett vs. Kharitonov

Where: U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati

When: Saturday, the HDNet undercard begins at 8 p.m. ET and the Showtime main card begins at 10.

Predictions on the five Showtime fights below.

Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov
This is Barnett’s biggest fight since losing to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Shockwave 2006, and maybe his last chance to return to relevance and get back some of the respect in the MMA world that he lost when his positive drug test caused his fight with Fedor Emelianenko to be canceled two years ago. It’s huge for Barnett.

It’s a big fight for Kharitonov, too: Although he’s had a long and impressive fighting career, he’s an unknown outside hard-core MMA fans in the United States. And given that Kharitonov’s management in Golden Glory is butting heads with Strikeforce parent company Zuffa right now, Kharitonov needs to impress if he wants to stay in Zuffa going forward. Beating Barnett in the main event could set Kharitonov up for a lucrative fight in the Grand Prix finals, and potentially some very lucrative fights in the UFC after that.

Kharitonov is a better striker than Barnett, and Barnett has struggled at times with good strikers. But I don’t think Kharitonov has good enough defensive wrestling to stay off his back in this fight, and on the ground I see Barnett as having a significant advantage. I like Barnett to win this fight from the top.
Pick: Barnett

Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier
Those Zuffa-Golden Glory problems cost us what should have been a great fight between Silva and Alistair Overeem. Instead we get Bigfoot against Cormier, who’s a world-class wrestler and undefeated fighter but hasn’t faced anything close to Top 10 competition until now.

So is Cormier ready for it? I don’t think so. Cormier is such a good wrestler that he has a chance of getting Silva down and getting on top of him, but I think it’s much more likely that the bigger, stronger Silva will batter Cormier with punches and end up finishing him with ground and pound.
Pick: Silva

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Luke Rockhold
As the Strikeforce middleweight champion, Jacare is in a tough position: He wants big fights that give him a chance to prove he’s among the best in the world, but Strikeforce really doesn’t have a middleweight division that can offer him that kind of competition. Rockhold is a 26-year-old who has shown some promise on his way to building up a 7-1 record, but he’s never fought anyone whose skill even approaches that of Jacare. It’ll be a big shock if Jacare doesn’t win this fight by submission.
Pick: Souza

Muhammed Lawal vs. Roger Gracie
This is a fascinating stylistic matchup because King Mo’s favorite tactic is to use his wrestling to take his opponents down and beat them from the top, while Gracie’s world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills make him a threat to anyone off his back. King Mo has been out the last year with a knee injury he suffered when losing the Strikeforce light heavyweight title to Rafael Cavalcante, so we don’t know what kind of shape he’ll be in. But if Mo is healthy, I like him to show off good enough submission defense to handle Gracie on the ground and win by decision.
Pick: Lawal

Pat Healy vs. Maximo Blanco
Healy took this fight on short notice after Josh Thomson dropped out with an injury, and that should make things easier on Blanco, a Venezuelan who has had a lot of success fighting in Japan and is now making his U.S. debut. Blanco is a very good wrestler and devastating striker, and he should put Healy away quickly.
Pick: Blanco

 

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Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza Focused on Winning Fights and Making Babies

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MMA Fighting recently caught up with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at X-Gym in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss his upcoming middleweight title fight against Luke Rockhold at Strikeforce in Cincinnati, the holes he sees in Rockhold’s game, the UFC‘s return to Brazil and whether he would like to fight in Brazil.

 

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MMA Fighting recently caught up with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at X-Gym in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss his upcoming middleweight title fight against Luke Rockhold at Strikeforce in Cincinnati, the holes he sees in Rockhold’s game, the UFC‘s return to Brazil and whether he would like to fight in Brazil.

 

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Strikeforce Adds Tate-Coenen, Kennedy-Rockhold to March 5 Event

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsStrikeforce has officially announced its long-rumored March 5 event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, adding a pair of intriguing bouts with championship implications.

As MMA Fighting first reported, that show will …

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Strikeforce has officially announced its long-rumored March 5 event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, adding a pair of intriguing bouts with championship implications.

As MMA Fighting first reported, that show will be headlined by a light-heavyweight championship main event pitting recently crowned Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante against challenger Dan Henderson.

That, however, will not be the only title match of the evening, as No. 1 contender Miesha Tate will finally get her shot at the belt when she faces champion Marloes Coenen in a women’s lightweight title fight.