Tag: Strikeforce deathwatch

If You Thought Strikeforce Should Try Harder, This Video Will Change Your Mind


Come on, Strikeforce. A simple MOM MADE PIZZA ROLLS would have been far less embarrassing

You know what? I honestly try to be optimistic about the future of Strikeforce. Even when the promotion is hemorrhaging money, even when their website is reduced to an MS Word document, I want to believe that the promotion is run by competent individuals who will find a way to keep it alive.

And then I see the vignette made to promote the upcoming “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy” on July 14, and feel stupid for learning nothing from the death of WCW. Case in point:

Video after the jump


Come on, Strikeforce. A simple MOM MADE PIZZA ROLLS would have been far less embarrassing

You know what? I honestly try to be optimistic about the future of Strikeforce. Even when the promotion is hemorrhaging money, even when their website is reduced to an MS Word document, I want to believe that the promotion is run by competent individuals who will find a way to keep it alive.

And then I see the vignette made to promote the upcoming “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy” on July 14, and feel stupid for learning nothing from the death of WCW. Case in point:

Strikeforce is attempting to promote an upcoming Middleweight Title Fight between their champion, Luke Rockhold, and the incredibly badass Army Ranger Tim Kennedy. So naturally, the promotion decides that they absolutely cannot promote this fight without bringing in Frank Shamrock. ”But maybe Frank Shamrock will go somewhere with this,” you probably aren’t thinking. “Maybe it won’t be completely terrible.”

Well, if you actually were thinking that beforehand, you immediately felt stupid when Frank Shamrock essentially called both the organization’s champion and number one contender pussies who can’t promote a fight. Shamrock then tries to solve the whole “Neither of you is a villain” problem by making both men villains (or “villains”) with comical (“comical”) results.

Well, that settles it. Frank Shamrock says there’s no reason to watch, so I’m going to just take his word for it. What about the rest of you, though? Did this generate any interest for you in Rockhold vs. Kennedy, or are you just waiting for Strikeforce to go under?

Strikeforce Deathwatch: Strikeforce.com Is Basically Just a Screen-Shot of a Microsoft Word Document Now


(“It looks like you’re starting an MMA promotion. May I suggest throwing all your money into a pit and lighting it on fire instead?”)

We haven’t had a good Strikeforce Deathwatch in a while, but this one might be my favorite. A month out from their Barnett vs. Cormier event on May 19th — which also features the lightweight title fight/trilogy match between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson — several eagle-eyed fight fans have noticed that Strikeforce’s official website has been drastically scaled down.

Gone are all the sub-sections on Strikeforce.com, which directed readers to event calendars and fight rosters. Instead, it looks like some intern just screen-capped the latest press-release on MS Word — without running spelling-and-grammar-check first, mind you — posted it, and called it a day. The only link on the site is contained in the poster image at the top, which directs to a freakin’ GoDaddy page.


(“It looks like you’re starting an MMA promotion. May I suggest throwing all your money into a pit and lighting it on fire instead?”)

We haven’t had a good Strikeforce Deathwatch in a while, but this one might be my favorite. A month out from their Barnett vs. Cormier event on May 19th — which also features the lightweight title fight/trilogy match between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson — several eagle-eyed fight fans have noticed that Strikeforce’s official website has been drastically scaled down.

Gone are all the sub-sections on Strikeforce.com, which directed readers to event calendars and fight rosters. Instead, it looks like some intern just screen-capped the latest press-release on MS Word — without running spelling-and-grammar-check first, mind you — posted it, and called it a day. The only link on the site is contained in the poster image at the top, which directs to a freakin’ GoDaddy page.

Strikeforce’s twitter account confirms that the site has actually been down for four weeks — which is like 12 years in Internet time — but promises that the full site “should” be up by next week. And that’s how fast things get done when your parent company doesn’t give a rat’s ass anymore. Meanwhile, Scott Coker is in permanent “casual Friday” mode…


(“Waaaaaow, a postah thined by Thcott Cokah himthelf…”)

Roger Gracie Called up to the UFC

Strikforce’s paper-thin light-heavyweight division just lost another one.

As GRACIEMAG first reported yesterday, Strikeforce light-heavyweight Roger Gracie has been called up to the UFC. While a date and an opponent have yet to be named for his UFC debut, Roger Gracie has hinted that he may enlist Anderson Silva to help him train for the bout. Roger Gracie is currently 4-1 in his career, with his last fight being a first round knockout loss to King Mo at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov.

On paper, it’s pretty strange to call up a guy with five professional fights who just lost to the big leagues. But it makes a little more sense when you actually look over Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight division. With King Mo on the shelves for a while, there really isn’t much to offer Gracie in Strikeforce. As the age old saying goes: If Gracie fights Ovince St. Preux or Gegard Mousasi in Strikeforce and no one watches, does the fight even matter? At least I think that’s how that one went.

 

Strikforce’s paper-thin light-heavyweight division just lost another one.

As GRACIEMAG first reported yesterday, Strikeforce light-heavyweight Roger Gracie has been called up to the UFC. While a date and an opponent have yet to be named for his UFC debut, Roger Gracie has hinted that he may enlist Anderson Silva to help him train for the bout. Roger Gracie is currently 4-1 in his career, with his last fight being a first round knockout loss to King Mo at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov.

On paper, it’s pretty strange to call up a guy with five professional fights who just lost to the big leagues. But it makes a little more sense when you actually look over Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight division. With King Mo on the shelves for a while, there really isn’t much to offer Gracie in Strikeforce. As the age old saying goes: If Gracie fights Ovince St. Preux or Gegard Mousasi in Strikeforce and no one watches, does the fight even matter? At least I think that’s how that one went.

So what say you, Potato Nation? Given Gracie’s past performances, who does the UFC match him up against? And who wins it?

Slated for Strikeforce’s Jan. 7 Event, ‘King Mo’ Not UFC-Bound Yet


(“How much will you gimme fo this crown? What about if I throw in the gloves?.” PicProps: Sherdog)

TATAME recently caught up with Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal while he was in Belem, Brazil helping former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida prepare for his upcoming UFC 140 championship bout with Jon Jones and according to the former Strikeforce 205-pound champ, he still has at least one fight scheduled under the SF banner.

If he could choose his opponent for the card, he says it would be the man who handed him his sole loss.

“I wanna fight [Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante] again because now I’m healthier. Before, when I fought him I had no meniscus, I had no stability on my knees. I fought him, I was winning, he caught me with a knee, and then that’s it, and elbows. But now, I’m ready,” Mo says. “[I’d fight him] he same. Because now I’m not injured, I can use both legs. Last time, only one leg. This time, two legs.Hopefully [I’m fighting him in January]. I heard he’s hurt, but we’ll see.”

As far as his future with Strikeforce goes, Lawal says he isn’t wasting time thinking about all of the “what ifs,” because as he puts it, whatever happens is going to happen and worrying won’t do anything to change it.


(“How much will you gimme fo this crown? What about if I throw in the gloves?.” PicProps: Sherdog)

TATAME recently caught up with Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal while he was in Belem, Brazil helping former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida prepare for his upcoming UFC 140 championship bout with Jon Jones and according to the former Strikeforce 205-pound champ, he still has at least one fight scheduled under the SF banner.

If he could choose his opponent for the card, he says it would be the man who handed him his sole loss.

“I wanna fight [Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante] again because now I’m healthier. Before, when I fought him I had no meniscus, I had no stability on my knees. I fought him, I was winning, he caught me with a knee, and then that’s it, and elbows. But now, I’m ready,” Mo says. “[I’d fight him] he same. Because now I’m not injured, I can use both legs. Last time, only one leg. This time, two legs.Hopefully [I’m fighting him in January]. I heard he’s hurt, but we’ll see.”

As far as his future with Strikeforce goes, Lawal says he isn’t wasting time thinking about all of the “what ifs,” because as he puts it, whatever happens is going to happen and worrying won’t do anything to change it.

“I don’t know [whats going to happen]. It’s confusing because no one knows what’s going on. I don’t know what is going on, so I’m just gonna say I just wanna fight,” he explains. “Give me fights and I don’t worry about this.”

There are rumors that Strikeforce is very close to coming to terms with Showtime, but they haven’t been confirmed. Judging by the fact that Forza — the Fertitta-owned parent company of Strikeforce — has signed new contracts as recently as this week, it looks like the promotion is planning to stick around for at least a few more months. The organization’s moratorium could come soon after the heavyweight grand prix wraps up whenever finalist Daniel Cormier’s broken hand heals up enough for him to face Josh Barnett to close out the tournament.

Strikeforce Deathwatch: Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez Called up to the Big Leagues


This is the face one makes when he realizes that Cyborg Santos is now his most marketable champion.

Some of you may have been surprised when you read that the UFC has apparently called Bigfoot Silva up to the majors. Not only was he coming off of a loss, but there were better fighters out there for the UFC to call up. Well, don’t worry. The UFC has called up arguably Strikeforce’s best fighter, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, according to a report on MMAJunkie.com. Melendez was scheduled to defend his title against Jorge Masvidal on December 17, but it is yet to be seen how this announcement will affect that. So yeah, don’t worry about the UFC not calling up Strikeforce’s best, most deserving fighters. Unless you love Strikeforce and don’t want to see it go under. Then by all means keep panicking.

The date of his UFC debut, as well as his opponent, has yet to be determined. However, according to the aforementioned report there is the possibility that Gilbert Melendez will get an immediate title shot. If that’s the case, I can’t really make sense out of that. Nick Diaz getting an immediate title shot made sense, given that Georges St. Pierre essentially cleaned out the welterweight division. However, the lightweight division is arguably the UFC’s strongest, deepest weight class. There are already plenty of contenders for the winner of the upcoming rubber match between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Then again, there’s also the possibility that the Donovan McNabb will lead the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl, so let’s not read too much into what’s possible.


This is the face one makes when he realizes that Cyborg Santos is now his most marketable champion.

Some of you may have been surprised when you read that the UFC has apparently called Bigfoot Silva up to the majors. Not only was he coming off of a loss, but there were better fighters out there for the UFC to call up. Well, don’t worry. The UFC has called up arguably Strikeforce’s best fighter, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, according to a report on MMAJunkie.com. Melendez was scheduled to defend his title against Jorge Masvidal on December 17, but it is yet to be seen how this announcement will affect that. So yeah, don’t worry about the UFC not calling up Strikeforce’s best, most deserving fighters. Unless you love Strikeforce and don’t want to see it go under. Then by all means keep panicking.

The date of his UFC debut, as well as his opponent, has yet to be determined. However, according to the aforementioned report there is the possibility that Gilbert Melendez will get an immediate title shot. If that’s the case, I can’t really make sense out of that. Nick Diaz getting an immediate title shot made sense, given that Georges St. Pierre essentially cleaned out the welterweight division. However, the lightweight division is arguably the UFC’s strongest, deepest weight class. There are already plenty of contenders for the winner of the upcoming rubber match between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Then again, there’s also the possibility that the Donovan McNabb will lead the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl, so let’s not read too much into what’s possible.

This move shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. We’ve said it before, and it deserves to be said again: Being a Strikeforce champion is essentially being in the on-deck circle for the UFC. Gilbert Melendez, currently riding a five fight win streak with notable victories over Josh Thomson and Shinya Aoki, has essentially cleaned out Strikeforce’s lightweight division. If there’s nothing left for him in Strikeforce, and we’re officially finished pretending that Strikeforce has plans to grow as an organization, then why keep him in the minor leagues?

As for the scheduled bout with Jorge Masvidal, I say let Jorge fight Pat Healy on December 17th. Let it be for all the Rockstar energy drinks that the winner desires. And don’t declare the winner your “new lightweight champion”. It can only end with the winner on the prelims of an upcoming UFC card and you frantically trying to find a new champion.

Strikeforce Deathwatch: ‘Bigfoot’ Silva’s Manager ‘Sure’ His Client Will Be in UFC Soon


(Exhibit ‘G’ in the murder case against Dana White and the Fertittas)

In spite of the fact that Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva’s stock in the heavyweight division dropped a few points following his knockout loss to Daniel Cormier in the semi-finals of Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix, his manager, Alex Davis is confident that his client’s next fight will be in the UFC’s Octagon.

“He has a contract with Strikeforce, but Strikeforce is now controlled by the UFC and we’re watching Strikeforce fighters going to the UFC all the time,” Davis told TATAME in a recent interview. “UFC’s heavyweight division is big, but they could have even more [top talent] and I’m sure Bigfoot will be in the UFC real soon. There’s a lot of great fights for him inside the Octagon, and he’ll shine there.”


(Exhibit ‘G’ in the murder case against Dana White and the Fertittas)

In spite of the fact that Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva’s stock in the heavyweight division dropped a few points following his knockout loss to Daniel Cormier in the semi-finals of Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix, his manager, Alex Davis is confident that his client’s next fight will be in the UFC’s Octagon.

“He has a contract with Strikeforce, but Strikeforce is now controlled by the UFC and we’re watching Strikeforce fighters going to the UFC all the time,” Davis told TATAME in a recent interview. “UFC’s heavyweight division is big, but they could have even more [top talent] and I’m sure Bigfoot will be in the UFC real soon. There’s a lot of great fights for him inside the Octagon, and he’ll shine there.”

Although the report went on to state that “nothing is official” yet in regards to Silva’s migration to the UFC, there must be a reason why Davis feels so strongly that it’s going to happen, whether it be a conversation he had with the UFC brass or rumors that are swirling amongst industry insiders. If Silva does jump over from Strikeforce, the move will be further proof that Zuffa has no plans to keep it’s “B” league afloat. Considering that Strikeforce’s biggest asset is arguably its heavyweight roster, if the UFC picks it clean like it did the promotion’s champions like Dan Henderson, Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem, the writing on the wall couldn’t be any clearer.