At last, Strikeforce tourney in final round
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The winner of tonight's Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix championship match between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier will have one more bout, largely ceremonial, before the organization's heavyweight division fades into history.
That's not the way this tournament was supposed to conclude when it was announced early last year by then-owner Scott Coker. It was designed to showcase possibly the best heavyweight division in mixed martial arts and set up all sorts of intrigue in a stacked weight class.
Legendary fighter Fedor Emelianenko was the star attraction, but former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski was still popular, then-Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem was ranked among the best in the world and Barnett also was considered an elite heavyweight, an opinion supported by his two performances.
Add names such as Fabricio Werdum, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Sergei Kharitonov to the mix, and the tournament looked like a stroke of marketing genius that would truly make Strikeforce a legitimate competitor to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Then, Emelianenko lost on the first night in February 2011, and before the second half of the tournament's opening round was completed, Coker and his partners agreed to sell the organization to the UFC.
The plan was to operate the organizations as separate entities, but after Overeem's semifinal bout was delayed by a mysterious toe injury, he was released from his Strikeforce deal and placed into a UFC mega-fight in December. Also that month, the decision was announced to disband the Strikeforce heavyweight division and incorporate that talent into the UFC. Semifinal winners Barnett and Cormier, who had stepped in to replace Overeem in the field, would remain to bring closure to the tournament.
The event's conclusion was further delayed when Cormier, who broke his hand while knocking out Silva in September's semifinals, suffered a setback in his recovery.
Tonight, the event that was supposed to be wrapped up by the end of 2011 will finally crown a champion.
"I'm really happy we're able to do the finals. When I look back at the tournament, I think it's a historical moment in MMA," said Coker, who still serves as Strikeforce's CEO. "All of those guys were either former champions of Pride, the UFC or Strikeforce. To put eight guys together like that was very tough to do, and I'm glad we did it.
"The beauty of this and the legacy is that now we get to see all the top fighters fight under one umbrella. The guys going over there (to the UFC), I think, will do very well. I think they'll validate all the things we were doing."
Coker said the emotion of the tournament finally ending hit him when he saw the belt at Thursday's news conference. He will put it around the waist of Barnett or Cormier tonight in the cage at HP Pavilion. The winner then will have one more fight as a favor to Showtime, as Coker said the network deserves it for all it has invested in the event.
Cormier, an undefeated former Olympic wrestler, then will almost certainly move on to the UFC. Barnett's future is more of a mystery. He is a former UFC champion, but is not on the best terms with UFC executives. It's entirely possible that situation can be resolved, but Barnett isn't worried right now.
"Thinking about all that stuff is enough to give you a headache. That's all maybes, you-knows and what-ifs - totally unimportant for a fighter's mind," he said. "Fans, journalists, by all means. You know, throw it off from each other as much as you want, get in arguments, start near-riots, burn stuff, all good. Me? I do not care. It does not matter. I've got to beat Daniel Cormier, and then after that I'm sure there will be somebody else, and whatever they're doing someplace else, more power to them."
The card, which also features Gilbert Melendez defending the lightweight belt against Josh Thomson, airs tape-delayed on Showtime (Cable 240) at 10 p.m.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
