Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsThe Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov fighter salaries are out and Josh Barnett received the biggest payday with $150,000 for his win over Sergei Kharitonov, $100,000, Saturday at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
The Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov fighter salaries are out and Josh Barnett received the biggest payday with $150,000 for his win over Sergei Kharitonov, $100,000, Saturday at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
All four of the Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinalists on the card earned at least six figures. On the other side of the bracket, Daniel Cormier was paid $50,000 to show and another $50,000 to win for a total of $100,000. Antonio Silva, who suffered a first-round TKO loss to Cormier, made $100,000.
Check out below the rest of the fighter purses, courtesy of the Ohio athletic commission.
Please note: The numbers below are the salaries Strikeforce reported to the commission and may not accurately reflect a fighter’s final earnings. Fighters earn additionally through sponsorships and possibly, other bonuses handed out by the promotion.
Showtime Bouts
Josh Barnett ($150,000) def. Sergei Kharitonov ($100,000)
Daniel Cormier ($50,000 + $50,000 win bonus = $100,000) def. Antonio Silva ($100,000) Luke Rockhold ($25,000 + $25,000 win bonus = $50,000) def. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza ($70,000)
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal ($85,000) def. Roger Gracie ($80,000) Pat Healy ($12,500 + $5,000 = $17,500) def. Maximo Blanco ($13,000)
Preliminary Bouts on HDNet Mike Kyle ($22,000 + $22,000 win bonus = $44,000) def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima ($5,000)
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante ($30,000 + $30,000 win bonus = $60,000) def. Yoel Romero ($10,000)
Jordan Mein ($8,000 + $8,000 win bonus = $16,000) def. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos ($20,000)
Alexis Davis ($3,000 + $3,000 win bonus = $6,000) def. Amanda Nunes ($7,500)
Dominique Steele ($3,000 + $2,000 win bonus = $5,000) def. Chris Mierzwiak ($3,000)
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)
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to “King” Muhammed Lawal following his knockout of Roger Gracie Saturday night about his first win in 17 months, the knockout, his beard, his new entrance and whether he wants to go straight to the UFC.
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to “King” Muhammed Lawal following his knockout of Roger Gracie Saturday night about his first win in 17 months, the knockout, his beard, his new entrance and whether he wants to go straight to the UFC.
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to “King” Muhammed Lawal following his knockout of Roger Gracie Saturday night about his first win in 17 months, the knockout, his beard, his new entrance and whether he wants to go straight to the UFC.
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to “King” Muhammed Lawal following his knockout of Roger Gracie Saturday night about his first win in 17 months, the knockout, his beard, his new entrance and whether he wants to go straight to the UFC.
Filed under: StrikeforceMuhammad “King Mo” Lawal returned to the Strikeforce cage with a spectacular victory on Saturday night, winning a first-round knockout of Roger Gracie.
King Mo is an excellent wrestler, and Gracie is arguably the best Brazilian…
King Mo is an excellent wrestler, and Gracie is arguably the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner in the world, but this fight wasn’t fought on the ground at all. Instead, it was just a stand-up battle between two guys who were a little out of their elements. But after four and a half minutes without a lot of damage being done by either man, Lawal did what he had to do, landing a hard overhand right to Gracie’s ear and knocking him to the canvas. With one more punch on the ground, Lawal knocked Gracie out.
“The fight felt good,” Lawal said afterward. “I’m a fighter, man, I come here to fight.”
The victory improved Lawal’s professional record to 8-1, and showed that he’s back from a knee injury that has kept him out of the cage for more than a year. It’s good to see King Mo back in action, and Lawal said he’d like another shot at Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, who beat him in his last fight.
For Gracie, who falls to 4-1, it’s hard to see what happens from here. Gracie is a great grappler, but his stand-up skills are still rudimentary, and after that vicious knockout, he may be better suited to staying in grappling, where you can’t get punched in the face.
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 …
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.”
The Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov fighter salaries are out and Josh Barnett received the biggest payday with $150,000 for his win over Sergei Kharitonov, $100,000, Saturday at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI — Now that they’re over, it’s easy for