Strikeforce's Heavyweight GP tournament FINAL: Josh Barnett vs. Daniel Cormier 19 mei

Over a year after its inception, the end is in sight for Strikeforce's heavyweight grand prix.

Tournament finalists Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier are scheduled to meet in main event of Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier on May 19. The long-awaited finale will air live on Showtime.

Strikeforce's eight-man tournament debuted to heavy fanfare last February, drawing record ratings with a field that included Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.

However, the competition ultimately lost steam after Emelianenko's stunning loss and the removal of Overeem. Mired by an underwhelming promotional push and wavering contract negotiations, the semifinals aired seven months later to Strikeforce's lowest ratings of the year.

Considered by many to be the tourney's premier dark horse, the 34-year-old Barnett (31-5) strolled in on a six-fight win streak and wasted little time making his presence felt. "The Warmaster" opened festivities by storming through Brett Rogers en route to a second-round submission victory, before one-upping the performance with a dominant first-round submission of Sergei Kharitonov.

A perennial top-ten heavyweight throughout his career, Barnett's last loss came over half-a-decade ago at PRIDE Shockwave 2006, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Across the cage, surprise challenger Cormier (9-0) traversed a far different road to reach the tournament finals. The 32-year-old former Olympian initially found himself on the outside looking in, before besting former UFC contender Jeff Monson in a tourney-reserve match.

Upon Overeem's controversial exit, Cormier jumped at his opportunity and shocked a heavily-favored Silva, catching the vertically-gifted Brazilian with an overhand shot to the jaw early in the opening round. A pair of hammer-fists later and "DC" had punched his ticket to the finals, but not before breaking his hand on Silva's skull.

Cormier's injury was originally expected to heal quickly, however several complications have risen to delay his match-up with Barnett.

In the meantime, Strikeforce dissolved the rest of their heavyweight division and announced that the grand-prix winner will fight one as-of-yet unnamed top opponent to determine the final Strikeforce heavyweight champion. Following the bout, Strikeforce plans to disband the division completely.

Showtime's official trailer for Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier can be viewed below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...;v=F_gJT8o3hZo

Dat was er ook nog ja, nu je het zegt...

Ik snap echt niet wat voor zin het dan nog heeft om nog een partij te doen voor een Strikeforce heavyweight champion. Als je de boel opdoekt, doe dat dan ook.

De strikeforce HW grand prix ging van veelbelovend naar een grote flop als je het mij vraagt

Ze kunnen dat gevecht beter op een kerkhof organiseren. Strikeforce HW Funeral

Toch wil ik het wel graag zien. Ik zie Josh Barnett graag vechten en DC gaat, als hij z'n koppie erbij houdt, een mooie toekomst in de UFC tegemoet.

Hoewel het toernooi misschien dood is, een mooie partij.
Natuurlijk had dit toernooi anders moeten lopen, maar helaas, het was een mooi initiatief.

Barnett is gewoon een wereldvechter, jammer dat hij de kans verder niet meer krijgt, Cormier krijgt nu een echte test, als hij hiermee 10-0 maakt, dan is dat ook echt wat waard en dan zit hij gewoon bij de HW top.

ik denk dat barnett hem pakt!!

Dit moet Warmaster Barnett toch gewoon klaren lijkt me. Met worstelen misschien iets een voordeel voor Cormier, op elk ander front is Barnett beter. Plus tig jaar meer ervaring.

Is het uitgesloten dat Josh nog ooit voor de UFC mag/kan vechten? Dana veranderd zijn standpunt toch telkens weer als hem dat marketing technisch beter uitkomt.

Dit is voor mij geen toernooi meer. Eerst Fedor eruit. Dan Alistair.
Cormier die lekker instapt en dan de man die Fedor vernederde gewoon met gemak KO slaan.
Na een jaar nog steeds geen finale gezien.
Ondertussen hebben we aan de andere kant in de octagon één zo'n beetje het allerbeste MMA jaar gezien, ever...

Om het compleet te maken gaat Cormier ook Barnett KO slaan.

Josh Barnett Granted California License, Clearing Way for Strikeforce Grand Prix Final

In a special meeting held by the California state athletic commission, Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett was granted a conditional fighters license, paving the way for his proposed May 19 Grand Prix final bout against Daniel Cormier.

In a Monday hearing held at the Ronald Reagan state building in Los Angeles, six commission members voted 4-2 in his favor, but Barnett will still have to pass a random urine test prior to the event.

After deflecting responsibility for his previous failed test on the unregulated supplement industry, Barnett faced scrutiny from a pair of commissioners -- vice chairman Eugene Hernandez and Mike Munoz -- but ultimately won a ruling in his favor after chairman John Frierson noted that Barnett had already passed a drug screening done on February 29 and had passed several tests since his July 2009 failure. "I want to make believers out of you more than anything else," Barnett said, addressing the group after his license was granted. "So I hope to see you at the fight and I hope to change your opinions and to satisfy any of your doubts in time."

Barnett, who spoke to the commission under oath, opened with a statement in which he noted his history as a fighter and trainer, and said that he has always strived to present a positive image of the sport.

Making reference to his previous drug test failures, Barnett voiced their long-lasting impact on his career.

"The fact of the matter is no matter happens today, what happens further on in my career, license or not, that will never leave," he said. "I’ll always have to contend with that as far as my legacy as an athlete."

Yet Barnett stopped short of accepting personal accountability for the failures, saying he was in "utter shock" after his most recent positive result. He recounted that he had taken the step of having his manager contact the commission to set up the test in the first place.

"I didn't knowingly or intentionally ingest steroids," he said in his most forceful statement. "I did not take steroids."

That set up a back-and-forth between him and commissioner Hernandez, who said he was expecting Barnett to accept responsibility before trying to move ahead. Barnett said that in both instances, he believed he had taken supplements that were tainted, pointing out that the supplement market was completely unregulated at the time of his 2002 test and still facing similar issues at the time of his second failed screening.

After Barnett again pointing out that he had proactively sought out the test as a means of showing his innocence, Hernandez wasn't buying it.

"The problem for me with that is in the field I come from, I've had many people say go ahead and search my car, and sure enough, there was dope in it," said Hernandez, a former police chief in the city of Chino, California. "I'd say, 'Boy, that was stupid.' But they somehow thought, 'Well, if I say no, then I'm really in trouble.' So the mere fact that you volunteered for the test really doesn't mean a whole lot to me."

Deputy attorney Karen Chappelle saw Barnett's statements as a challenge of his positive test and noted that he had not attended his scheduled appeal of that test, saying that by 2009, drug testing had advanced to the point that false positives were much more likely to be weeded out.

"My position is, the positive result that he got from that lab, having not been challenged, should be deemed admitted and true," she said. "I don't think it's fair for him to come before you today and challenge that or else I think we should schedule another hearing where I'm allowed to present evidence to you."

Barnett's attorney Jeffrey Spitz maintained that Barnett's answer was not a challenge of the result, only a questioning of the way the drugs entered his body.

"He does not contest or question the result, nor can he explain it," he said.

Barnett later said that he if were to test positive again, his career would likely be over.

But when the time came for a vote, Frierson noted that California Gov. Jerry Brown often asks why there aren't more fights in California. Frierson said that while the state wouldn't "cave in" to these kind of matters, a special meeting was granted in an attempt to decide if Barnett was license-worthy, and the motion to license him passed.

"Please don't let us down," Frierson said. "The reason, we need fights here in California. We need good fights and we need good people."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LJ Silver

Dit moet Warmaster Barnett toch gewoon klaren lijkt me. Met worstelen misschien iets een voordeel voor Cormier, op elk ander front is Barnett beter.

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Staand vind ik Cormier toch echt wel beter.
Ik hoop dat Cormier m pakt. Zal een mooie aanvulling zijn in de UFC.

In het begin nog een beetje skeptisch maar na de pot van Cormier - Silva ben ik in een klap fan geworden van die man. Wat een goeie vechter en vertrouwd in z'n eigen takedown(defense) waardoor die juist meer los gaat in de stand up, wat ook niet niks is.

Ik ben voor Cormier in deze partij...

WAR BARNETT!!!
Met zijn ervaring en skills zou hij dit moeten pakken!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rdKUrZjn7xc

Dit gevecht zal niet naar de grond gaan, beide vechters hebben een sterke tdd, dus wordt de pot staand uitgevochten..

En staand is Cormier sneller en sterker dan Barnett.. Ik ben zeker voor Cormier, maar.... never count Barnett out..

A Wrestler's Pride: Why Daniel Cormier Can't Allow Josh Barnett to Score Even One Takedown

It started as a harmless joke in an unusually friendly post-fight press conference. Josh Barnett, having punched his ticket to the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finals with a submission win over Sergei Kharitonov just moments earlier, casually mentioned his plan to score at least one takedown when he finally met fellow finalist Daniel Cormier to decide the whole thing.

Not that he had any illusions of completely out-wrestling the former U.S. Olympic team captain, Barnett explained later. But if he could nab just one takedown, that would be enough to earn Cormier a lifetime’s worth of mockery from fellow wrestlers like "King" Mo Lawal, which would in turn bring a smile to the "Baby-Faced Assassin’s" face.

Cormier, however, wasn’t laughing. That’s because Cormier doesn’t joke like that. Not about wrestling. Not about the prospect of getting taken down by a guy who didn’t even wrestle in college. As the undefeated heavyweight told MMA Fighting recently, there’s more at stake here than just his reputation among his training partners -- something he found out for himself when he was giving wrestling pointers to a college team recently, and the guys there giggled at the mere thought of Barnett taking him down.

"Right now I can still go into any wrestling room in the country and people will listen to what I say," Cormier said. "If Barnett takes me down, I won’t be able to do that. They won't look at me the same way. This is serious, man."
Maybe you have to be a wrestler to understand it. Maybe you have to know what it feels like to be able to stroll into some college team's wrestling practice and be instantly respected and revered. Not only was Cormier a two-time Olympian in the sport, he's the man responsible for revamping the American Kickboxing Academy's wrestling program. He's the one telling some of MMA's best wrestlers what to do. How would it look if he got put on his back by a catch wrestler? How could he ever live it down if he surrendered a double-leg to some guy who splits his time between MMA and Japanese pro wrestling? You better believe it's serious.
Of course, you could argue that it’s serious for more reasons than just wrestling room credibility. It is, after all, the Grand Prix final. Cormier began as an inexperienced reserve in Strikeforce’s ambitious heavyweight tournament, but after knocking out Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva he now finds himself one victory away from winning it all.

Then again, if the fate of the tournament’s other fighters is any indication, losing might not be such a bad career move. One by one, almost all the Grand Prix heavyweights have made the move over to the UFC, and found great success there. The winner of the fight between Cormier and Barnett will stick around in Strikeforce for at least one more post-Grand Prix bout, according to Zuffa officials, though the idea of delaying his move to the Octagon doesn’t bother Cormier, he said.

"To me, it’s not a negative thing to be in Strikeforce. You have to remember, this is where I started. This is all I know. To be the best heavyweight in this organization, that would be a privilege to me. I just want to fight good guys, and obviously the guys in Strikeforce must be good guys because the ones who have gone over to the UFC are winning their fights. Obviously we’ve been fighting high-level competition."

At the same time, you’d have a hard time finding a fighter on the Strikeforce roster who wouldn’t like a chance to test his skills in the UFC, and Cormier is no different. At 33 years old, he came to MMA relatively late in life. He’s got to make his years in the sport count, and there’s no denying that the UFC is the biggest stage in MMA.

"I do think that at some point in your career, it’s important to experience the show. And the UFC is the show," Cormier said. "It’s the biggest event, the brightest lights, the best there is. But right now I’ve got time. I’ve got to get through this fight with Josh, and then the one afterwards. This is a big fight, regardless of whether it’s in Strikeforce or anywhere else."

For Cormier, the months since his win over Silva in the semifinals have been all about recovery. He broke his right hand early on in that fight and was only recently cleared to start using it in sparring again. That meant he got plenty of chances to work on using his left, which in turn translated to a lot of beatings in the practice room, he said. Now he’s back to full strength, and spending most of his days going head-to-head against former UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez, who has a fight of his own to prepare for at UFC 146, just one week after Cormier takes on Barnett.

Sparring with Velasquez might improve his conditioning, Cormier admitted, but there are days when it "just plain sucks," he said. Maybe it’s also good for him to get used to punching a friend in the head with his newly repaired right hand. That’s what he’ll have to do on May 19, when he takes on an opponent who he likes as a person, but who he knows is intent on ruining his rep in wrestling rooms all across the country.

"I’ve got a job," said Cormier. "For Josh, I don’t think us being friendly is going the change the way he fights in the cage. It sure won’t change the way I fight in the cage. I’ve got a job to do and a family to support, so I’m going to go out there and give it everything and let the chips fall where they may."

lijkt toch een vette pot

War Barnett! Wordt tijd dat die GP eindelijk wordt afgemaakt.

Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson Rubber Match Confirmed for May 19

Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is set to defend his belt against top contender Josh Thomson at Strikeforce: Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament Final, slated for May 19, 2012 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. Strikeforce officials confirmed the booking on Monday.
Heavyweight grand prix finalists Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier headline the night's main card, which airs live on Showtime. All undercard bouts are expected to broadcast live on Showtime Extreme.

UFC mainstays B.J. Penn and Anthony Pettis were at one time linked to Melendez for his next title defense, and Melendez himself recently revealed he was expecting a name other than Thomson to be given the shot. However both sentiments eventually failed to come to fruition.

Melendez and Thomson have met twice before, with each man taking home a win. Thomson struck first blood back in 2008, stealing the lightweight strap away via a five-round unanimous decision. How ever 17 months later "El Nino" exacted his revenge, taking the judges' scorecards in another 25-minute decision.

Melendez (20-2) has yet to stumble since his initial loss to Thomson, ripping through six straight victories, capped by a hard-fought win over Jorge Masvidal.

Thomson (19-4, 1 NC), on the other hand, struggled with injuries for much of the last two years, before returning from a 15-month layoff to defeat K.J. Noons in a lethargic unanimous decision at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey. Following his win, "The Punk" was heavily critical of his own performance, boldly stating, "It was s***."

In addition, a light heavyweight rematch between former Strikeforce champion Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (11-3) and Mike Kyle (19-8-1), and a welterweight bout between Nah-Shon Burrell (8-1) and Bobby Voelker (24-8) have been confirmed for the night's fight card.

winnaar naar de UFC of gewoon alletwee?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XSF3ZsfhKIc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TgDO4XlHOg&feature=player_detailpage

Josh Barnett Unconcerned With What Strikeforce Grand Prix Could Have Been

Former UFC heavyweight champion and Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finalist Josh Barnett spoke to MMA Fighting before UFC 145 about his impending bout with Daniel Cormier in May. Barnett discussed the need for fighters and fans to know more about MMA history, his brotherly dynamic with Cormier, the state of his relationship with UFC President Dana White and why he isn't concerned with 'what could have been' in the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament.

http://assets.mmafighting.vid.io/39c...770f9a296d.mp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaCWfCDxz_k&feature=player_embedded

die gasten hebben tenminste wat te vertellen.

http://www.5thround.com/wp-content/u...FeijaoKyle.jpg

Mooi, ik hoop dat die Barnett eens even goed los gaat op die Cormier.

Van mij mogen ze iig allebei naar de UFC...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qUuXKbevB_o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TkKIyTSzp5A

Cool interview, Josh noemt zelfs Dick vrij en volk Han. Hij zegt dat de jonkies hun geschiedenis niet kennen en bijvoorbeeld niet weten wie Dick en volk waren in rings. Relaxte heren met hersens, ik wens beiden het beste.

Barnett heeft tenminste wel altijd wat te vertellen staat in mijn top 5 van HW's. Denk dat voor alle HW's in de UFC een hele taaie zal zijn..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A0RRI7HgiZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQDqOysywNI&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PqtHxdw1aCA

Hoe zit het nou eigenlijk met het wedkantoor? Ik had nog een paar honderd miljoen, dat wordt op deze manier natuurlijk nooit meer wat.

Ja, precies, dat moet echt terugkomen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEJ80zW7-v4&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WO8kmZO40&feature=player_detailpage