Late last year, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced plans for a Heavyweight "Grand Prix" Tournament, something on par with the old PRIDE Grand Prix tournaments from yesteryear. In the first round, we saw a monumental upset (Bigfoot Silva TKO'ing Fedor) as well as a puzzling stalemate (Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum) and a monumental dismantling (Josh Barnett exposing what little MMA skills Brett Rogers brought to the table).
On Saturday from Cincinnati, We'll see the semi-final rounds from the tournament, featuring 4 men who will inevitably be trimmed down to 2, in hopes of a final at the end of the year.
Onto my picks :
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov - The first semi-final features former UFC champion Josh Barnett vs. Former PRIDE and DREAM vet Sergei Kharitonov. Barnett advanced due to the aformentioned ground dominance he provided in June against Rogers, while Kharitonov punched his ticket into the semis through his TKO over former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski.
Barnett may have been dominant against Rogers, but the same won't be true against the former Soviet special forces officer, Kharitonov, who has an extensive background in Sambo and can work off the ground, his 8 victories by way of submission prove that. I fully expect Barnett to come out swinging for the fences to floor the Russian, but I also expect the product of Team Golden Glory to push the pace in the early going, standing toe to toe with the American. I also expect his Sambo background to take over late in the fight, possibly grinding out a split decision victory. Yes, I'm going with another upset here.
The Pick : Kharitonov by decision.
Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier - The other semi features the man who knocked off Fedor, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva take on American Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier. Cormier was hand picked by Strikeforce brass to take the spot of Overeem, who was subsequently released by Strikeforce (and wound up in the UFC just weeks later. More on that in a minute).
This is a David vs. Goliath battle. Expect Cormier to do what he's best at doing, working positions and angles in hopes of a takedown and inevitably finishing on top. However, the height and weight difference (Silva is 6'4" and will come in at about 285, where as Cormier is 5'10" with a lump on his head and will possibly come in around the 240-245 mark) will be a burden on Cormier, who I doubt can hold the big Brazilian down for longer than a round. Expect Silva to make the first move, and once he gets on top of the American, it might be lights out.
The Pick : Silva by TKO.
-In other news, It appears that Alistair Overeem has done what everybody thought he would end up doing, that is going to the UFC. Reports on Tuesday surfaced that he will face none other than former Heavyweight kingpin Brock Lesnar in his debut, slated for a card on December 30th. Why they chose a Friday instead of New Year's Eve is anybody's guess, but I figure it would have something to do with less drunks being on the road then.
-The UFC 137 main event has been changed. Fresh off the no-show at both press conferences by one Nick Diaz (who was supposed to challenge incumbent welterweight king Georges St. Pierre on October 30th in Las Vegas) in both Toronto and Las Vegas, comes the news that Diaz has been replaced -- by GSP's teammate at Greg Jackson's, Carlos Condit. At the news conference, St. Pierre told reporters that Condit presents a more "dangerous" threat to his championship (and possible superfight with Middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva). A youtube video by Diaz himself (while he was driving no less) surfaced immediately after, with the last Strikeforce Welterweight champion apologizing for missing the "beauty pageant" and saying he'll fight with anybody, anywhere. Let's just hope he remembers to show up, if he wants to "get paid".
-Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira and Frank Mir will meet again at UFC 140 in Toronto, slated for December 10th at the Air Canada Centre. Numerous MMA outlets reported the news, though it isn't sure whether or not this is a main event. Noguiera is coming off the resurrection of his career by stopping prospect Brandan Schaub at UFC 134 in Rio, while Mir just decisioned Roy Nelson at UFC 130 in May. UFC head of Canadian Operations Tom Wright said that he'd hope there be a title fight on the card, but with GSP defending his title in October and Anderson Silva just defending his belt in August, plus title fights involving featherweights (Aldo vs. Florian), Heavyweights (Velasquez vs. Dos Santos), Lightweights (Edgar vs. Maynard), plus Bones Jones defending his newly minted Light heavyweight title at the end of September, that seems unlikely.
Questions? Comments? leave one on the bottom of the page or email me at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com you can also follow me on twitter, at twitter.com/mmarmaggedon
Until next time, fight fans!
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