On Saturday, the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix will come to a conclusion and the lightweight belt will be tested. When the fights are over, we'll have answers to these questions:
1. Where do Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier stand in the heavyweight division? Both Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier are expected to be brought over to the UFC after this fight. While Strikeforce originally promised the grand prix winner a fight in Strikeforce after the win, every other heavyweight in their employ is now in the UFC. It's more likely that they will be in the UFC sooner than later, and how they perform in this Saturday's bout will decide what kind of challenge they will be given.
A strong performance can ensure the winner starts near the top of the ladder, fighting in an elimination bout. A weak, boring performance means the loser may end up having a long way to fight before getting anywhere near UFC gold.
2. Is Gilbert Melendez one of the world's best lightweights? Though fighting in one of the most packed weight classes, Melendez hasn't fought Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson or any of the other top lightweights of the UFC, so it's hard to know where to rank him. With Josh Thomson, Melendez will get a chance both to prove himself against a tough opponent and a shot at winning the rubber match.
3. Who deserves a shot at the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt? Since Dan Henderson left for the UFC, the Strikeforce light heavyweight strap has been sitting on a shelf, collecting dust. Saturday's bout between Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante and Mike Kyle will help Strikeforce decide who should get that shot at the vacant title.
What questions are missing? Speak your mind in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
After earning a $65,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night on May 5 after stopping Pat Barry in the first round at UFC on Fox 3 in East Rutherford, N.J., you couldn't blame Lavar Johnson had he chosen to go on vacation. It was his second KO win in the UFC in four months and both times, the knockout came on national television.
He chose to take only a few days off, however, before returning to the gym on Monday. It paid off for him big-time on Thursday when he was offered, and quickly accepted, a contract to fight Stefan Struve on May 26 on the main card of UFC 146 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Mark Hunt injured a knee in training and had to withdraw from the fight with Struve on the all-heavyweight card next week. The UFC offered the bout to Johnson, who came out of his first-round win over Barry unscathed.
He said he never hesitated in accepting the offer.
"This is what we do and it's my job to fight," Johnson told Cagewriter. "They called me up and I'm still in good shape. A fight is a fight, no matter who it is, or what. My job is to take the fight. I jumped right on it."
Johnson said he weighs 250, so he won't even have to worry about cutting weight to make the 265-pound limit for his fight against Struve.
At 6-11, Struve will have a seven-inch height advantage over the 6-4 Johnson, but Johnson insisted it won't matter.
"His reach is 83 and mine is 81 or 82," Johnson said. "I'm faster and I hit harder. I'm aggressive and I'll be right there in his face."
When friends brought it up to them, he acted surprised, saying he checked the kicks. But when he looked at the film, he realized he was hit full bore by Barry, one of the hardest kickers in the sport. But Johnson had prepared for Barry by training with kick boxer Carter Williams, himself a great kicker.
"That's what happens when you train with Carter," Johnson said, chuckling. "Eventually, you don't feel a thing."
He was a virtual unknown to UFC fans as 2012 began, known primarily as the fighter who was shot in the abdomen during a Fourth of July family reunion a few years ago. But if he beats Struve, he'll be 3-for-3 in 2012 with seven months still to go.
He hasn't heard much from UFC president Dana White, but said it didn't matter.
Thursday morning, UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck tweeted news on his next possible fight. "#UFC just offered me to fight BJ Penn...I said YES!!!!! Just waiting on him!!!!!! Let's scrap bra?"
Coming off a loss to Johny Hendricks, a bout with Penn, a former champion at lightweight and welterweight, would certainly pique Koscheck's interest. Not only would it draw considerable fan interest because of Penn's vast legions of fans, but it's the kind of win that could get Koscheck back on track.
Unfortunately for Koscheck, Penn is completely retired and appears to have no interest in returning to the fight life. He responded, " I know it costs a lot of money to live that lavish lifestyle, big house, fast cars & you need big fights but sorry I'm not coming back anytime soon!"
Perhaps now the MMA world will believe that Penn really retired after losing to Nick Diaz in November. He was also talked about as an opponent with Gilbert Melendez and had to shoot that down, too. Penn had a great MMA career and is now enjoying the retired life in Hawaii. Would you give that up?
Check out the latest photo gallery from Tracy Lee, with pictures from Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Poirier's memorable fight, Donald Cerrone's win and more.
Josh Thomson has been hard at work at his gym, AKA, to prepare for this weekend's title bout against Gilbert Melendez. He's been so busy, in fact, that he didn't notice when his teammates moved his car in a prank.
Geez. You can't mess with the man's car before he fights.
Both Thomson and Daniel Cormier, a player in the prank, will fight at Strikeforce this weekend. Will it be a good weekend for the AKA fighters? Tell us in the comments, on Twitter or on Facebook.
The long awaited finale for the Heavyweight Grand Prix is upon us, as Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier takes place this Saturday night from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. Catch-wrestling connoisseur Josh Barnett meets Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier in the headliner of the 4-piece main card and the 5 preliminary matches listed below will air on Showtime Extreme.
Once expected to become an undisputed force in the stateside lightweight class, "JZ" Cavalcante (16-4) has hit a rough stretch of road after setting the overseas market afire. The Brazilian drew attention right out of the gate with a commendable 8 wins throughout a 9-fight stretch. The sequence included a submission (1st-round guillotine choke) of Bart Palaszewski and becoming only 1 of 2 fighters to stop the venerable Michihiro Omigawa with strikes (1st-round TKO). The sole defeat was in his 3rd pro-fight; a competitive decision to Joachim Hansen, who had just lost the Shooto welterweight (154-pounds) title to Vitor Ribeiro by submission.
The surge earned Cavalcante a spot on the K-1 Hero's roster and his dominance continued, only with more intensity and against higher-caliber opposition. JZ devoured a who's-who of the Japanese lightweight scene, finishing 6 of his next 7 foes in the 1st round -- and did so with supreme violence. Hiroyuki Takaya, Nam Phan and the aforementioned Ribeiro were all vanquished by TKO while Rani Yahya -- the WEC/UFC fighter and former ADCC World Champion -- and Chute Boxe rep Andre Amado were dealt submission losses. Savvy veteran Caol Uno was the only to survive to a decision.
Cavalcante is a dually (2006 and 2007) crowned champion of the K-1 Hero's Middleweight (154-pounds) Grand Prix and amplified his hype even more with a game decision loss to Masato in a straight kickboxing match. He transferred to the Dream organization in 2008 and things went downhill from there.
In his last 7 turns, Cavalcante has won a measly 2 (split-decisions over Katsunori Kikuno and Bobby Green) with 3 defeats (Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Josh Thomson; all by decision) and 2 No Contests (vs. Aoki for illegal elbows and Justin Wilcox for an inadvertent eye poke). Many things are worth noting from this stretch: JZ was plagued with a number of injuries that hindered him from 2008-2010, the lightweights he lost to undoubtedly represent the most elite competition outside of the UFC and many thought he deserved the nod against Thomson -- which was one of the most controversial decisions of 2010.
Isaac Vallie-Flagg (12-3) is a Greg Jackson welterweight now dropping to lightweight for the first time. Starting his MMA career in pedestrian fashion in 2003, Vallie-Flagg split results in his first 6 turns (all losses were via submission) but has gone undefeated in his last 10 with 9 wins and a draw. He's earned 5 wins via TKO and 3 by submission, holds a purple belt in BJJ and could be a handful at 155.
Despite his momentum and size advantage, this will be an astronomical leap in competition for Vallie-Flagg. He crept by brawler Brian Melancon by split decision in his last outing and was nearly choked out in the opening moments. Cavalcante has a stiff set of hands, wicked knees (especially of the flying variety), a strong clinch with good wrestling and an elaborate, black-belt-level ground game. He might not be the terror he once was, but he's still competitive with top-tier lightweights and should have his way with Vallie-Flagg, standing or on the mat.
James Terry is a student of Cung Le who started wrestling at age five and went on to wrestle for Arizona State University. However, he can chain a variety of kickboxing techniques together so fluently that you'd never guess his background is in wrestling. Terry started as welterweight and won 7 of his first 8 matches to get a shot at Tarec Saffiediene in Strikeforce. In the 6 outings since, Terry has dropped to lightweight and won 4, though he's dropped 2 of his last 3 to stiff competition in Caros Fodor and main-card participant Nah-Shon Burrell.
You might recognize the name Bobby Green from a few different places: he's the reigning King of the Cage lightweight champion, he appeared on MTV's Bully Beatdown and petrified his inexperienced "opponent" into quitting in between rounds and he unleashed a confusing but vicious animosity toward Dan Lauzon's groin on the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card. (Green had two-points deducted and lost by 1st-round submission.) Green is a quick and athletic fighter with 8 wins by sub and 7 TKOs. Since the Lauzon fight, Green has won 9 of 12 with losses to legit, A-level competition in "JZ" Cavalcante and the UFC's Tim Means and David Mitchell.
This match up is extremely close on paper and a virtual toss-up. Terry has displayed huge potential with his effective combination of footwork, kickboxing and wrestling, and Green has a similar arsenal and physical stature. Both fighters typically draw from their agility, strength, striking and/or wrestling to pinpoint their opponent's weakness and have been difficult to put away. I can see this one going in either direction but will take the polished kickboxing and pedigreed wrestling of Terry in what could be a great scrap.
Virgil "Rezdog" Zwicker is a Team Quest fighter of Native American descent and a former heavyweight making the drop to 205-pounds for the first time. He was undefeated throughout his first 8 fights, which ended with an impressive TKO over Ovince St. Preux, but has dropped 2 of his last 4, the most recent being a 1st-round knockout loss to Lavar Johnson. Zwicker was always a smaller heavyweight (222-pounds) who relied on quickness and heavy-handed boxing (7 TKO wins, 2 subs), so it will be interesting to see how his size and speed translates to 205.
Carlos Augusto Filho, aka "Guto Inocente," is an undefeated member of the newly formed Blackzilians team with a nice medley of striking and BJJ. Though only 5-fights deep and lacking big-name wins, Inocente is a solid prospect who's long overdue for his stateside debut: he signed with Strikeforce many moons ago (July of 2011) and also turned down a 4-fight deal from the UFC.
Zwicker is a tough cat and will be Inocente's biggest test, but I don't think the drop in weight will help much against the Brazilian, who is a good-sized light-heavy himself (6'3") and a young (25-years-old) up and comer.
Villante was a standout wrestler and football player at Hofstra University with hopes for a career in the NFL. He's the current Ring of Combat heavyweight champion and even after 4 appearances in Strikeforce, though both losses were to reputable opposition in Chad Griggs (in the Heavyweight Grand Prix reserve bout) and Lorenz Larkin (back at his intended weight of 205-pounds). Villante is a physical specimen and a banger with 6 TKOs and 2 subs.
"Caveman" Mehmen has also fallen to respectable names in former UFCers Rodney Wallace (decision), David Branch (rear-naked choke) and Mike Ciesnolevic (guillotine choke). Mehmen trains at ATT and is a heavy-handed clubber as well, lacking big-name wins but finishing 9 of 12 by TKO with 2 catches.
Anything could happen with these sluggers. 2 of Villante's 3 losses are by TKO and Mehmen is a beefy 6'4" who will come out swinging. His hands are pretty quick for being such a hulking 205er, but Villante is a little more polished with his boxing and should be able to out-finesse the "Caveman" if he keeps his chin protected.
2010 Bloody Elbow Scouting Report nominees collide here, as former King of the Cage welterweight champ Quinn Mulhern, the #8 prospect, meets the #1 prospect in Yuri Villefort.
Mulhern is a gangly (6'3") BJJ specialist with submissions accounting for 11 of his 17 wins with 3 TKOs. His only defeats are to UFC-level fighters in Mike Guymon (submission via strikes) and Jason High (decision). Yuri trains with the Blackzilians and is one-time UFCer Danillo Villefort's brother. He's an intriguing concoction of Judo, BJJ and Muay Thai, and just a mean S.O.B. overall. He's finished 5 of his 6 wins with 3 TKOs and 2 submissions.
Mulhern will have an edge in experience -- both in volume and value of competition -- and is fluid on the mat. I see him struggling to match the physical strength and aggressive Thai onslaught of Villefort, who should have the grappling savvy to avoid entanglements on the mat.
Join us at Bloody Elbow to discuss tonight's episode of MMA Uncensored Live, which airs on Spike at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT. Hosts Nate Quarry, Craig Carton and Mike Straka will discuss a wide range of MMA topics. MMA Fighting's Luke Thomas has been a regular on the show so far, and he might be a guest on tonight's episode once again.
This week's show features an interview with UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar, and a segment on Gary Goodridge and his CTE diagnosis. You can check out the description and video preview below.
"Big Daddy" Gary Goodridge has 38 professional kickboxing matches and almost 50 pro MMA fights on his record. But years of competition have added up and left him with CTE. Learn all about it on MMA Uncensored Live, Thursday at 11/10c on Spike and Spike.com.
UFC 146 is all sorts of messed up. The original card looks nothing like the current card, but it's still a must-buy event. Mark Hunt bowing out today hurt my soul, but it's hard to argue with Lavar Johnson as a replacement. And Miocic vs. Del Rosario? That's a battle between (arguably) the two top prospects at heavyweight.
The UFC put out the broadcast schedule for the card today, and three fights have been relegated to Facebook. Here's a rundown of how things look right now for the May 26th card in Vegas:
Next weekend, K-1 returns with their first card since a huge change of ownership last year, and it's a big one, with the start of the K-1 MAX 2012 Grand Prix, and Heavyweight fights featuring Badr Hari and Mirko Cro Cop. Check out the full line-up here. With this big event approaching, K-1 has been in the news quite a bit recently - sometimes for good reasons, sometimes bad. Here's a quick look at everything happening in the world of K-1, including the true story behind their alleged bankruptcy, and how you can watch their May 27 return show.
FEG Declared Bankrupt by Japanese Courts
FEG, the former parent company to K-1, is officially dead. Last week, the Tokyo DIstrict Court declared the company bankrupt and insolvent. This should come as no shock to anyone who has been following the K-1 saga over the past two years, as many fighters including Alistair Overeem, Ray Sefo, and Giorgio Petrosyan have been very public about being owed huge amounts of money for previous K-1 appearances. Recently, the most vocal has been Golden Glory head Bas Boon, who claims he is owed $2 million by FEG to pay fighters and trainers. It was Boon who pushed FEG into bankruptcy court in an attempt to force the company to pay off their creditors.
This story is getting a lot of press, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure why. Some articles are reporting that "K-1" is bankrupt, which is simply not true. The K-1 brand was sold last year to a company called EMCOM which has since branded itself K-1 Global. There remains some confusion over the details of this sale and exactly who makes up K-1 Global, but It's Showtime head Simon Rutz has very publicly stated that former FEG executives, including former K-1 head Sadaharu Tanikawa, are no longer involved. Once the sale was made, FEG was essentially dead - this ruling simply makes it official.
Unfortunately, the confusion surrounding this sale is causing a lot of misinformation about this bankruptcy ruling. Sherdog ran an article titled "K-1 Parent Company FEG Declares Bankruptcy in Tokyo Court" and speculated that this may cause the May 27 event to be cancelled. Dave Meltzer also reported on it and described FEG as the parent company to K-1, going on to say "K-1... is virtually dead."
To be clear, FEG is not the parent company to K-1. They are the former parent company to K-1, which is a major distinction. There are no longer any ties between K-1 and FEG, and this bankruptcy should have no impact on the upcoming K-1 show or the company's future. Surely Boon will continue to push the courts for more information on the sale to EMCOM, but it should be noted that Boon has ties to Glory, K-1's top competitor, so while he has every right to be paid what he is owed, he also has a further interest in K-1 not being able to succeed moving forward.
I've been very skeptical of K-1's announced plans in the past, but this is different. On May 27, I fully expect to be watching the arrival of the new K-1, and the legal issues surrounding their former partners should not change that.
K-1 May 27 Show Live Stream Online
On to more positive news. The May 27 show in Madrid will indeed be available for viewers throughout the world. The show will be streamed on K-1's new UStream channel and will cost US $19.99. As of a few weeks ago, K-1 was still hoping to secure a deal with their former home at HDNet, though that deal doesn't look like it will come through in time for next weekend's show. Cross your fingers that they will work something out for the future.
K-1 2012 Schedule Finalized
The schedule for 2012 has been set, and for fans in the US, you couldn't ask for much more. Check it out:
Early September - Qualifying World GP 2012/World MAX 2012 in Los Angeles October - K-1 World GP 2012 Final 16 in Miami November - K-1 World MAX 2012 Final in Taipei December - K-1 World GP 2012 Final in New York
So both a MAX and a Heavyweight Grand Prix, with the HW finals and the MAX Final 16 taking place in the US, plus an additional qualifying show in LA and the MAX finals in Asia. It will be a hard wait until September, but if this schedule pans out, the end of the year will be huge for kickboxing fans.
Masato Named New Executive Producer
In what may amount to mostly a PR angle or could be something more, retired K-1 MAX champion Masato has been named the new Executive Producer of K-1 Global. His first public statement in his new role is interesting, as he is very vocal about K-1 having fallen from its former heights, but stating his intention to bring it back to glory. It's unclear just how hands-on a role Masato will have, but he's definitely a good name to have involved, both for his position in the Japanese media, and his ties to K-1's past.
May 27 Promo Video
And finally, I leave you with this fan promo video for the May 27 show in Madrid. Watch it and get excited people.
The StrikeforceHeavyweight Grand Prix Finals card is set to go down in just two days, and linemakers don't even have anything out for the undercard yet. I guess that's to be expected but it's still kind of sad. Either way the main card lines are out, so we can talk about those. The main event is tough - the line is right, so there's no real value. I think Barnett wins, but many disagree. Either way, it's probably not a good bet. Nor is the co-main - let's face it, Thomson isn't going to beat Melendez. The one good bet on the card to me is Mike Kyle at +165. Feijao is probably the more diverse fighter, but he could be in trouble on the feet. I'm betting on Kyle.
I still don't understand why Burrell vs. Spang is on the main card though.
Anyway, here are the current lines for the main card.
On Saturday, the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix will come to a conclusion and the lightweight belt will be tested. When the fights are over, we'll have answers to these questions:
After earning a $65,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night on May 5 
Thursday morning, UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck 
