The fighters competing on Saturdays Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix finale all step on the scales today from the concourse inside the HP Pavillion in San Jose, California. All but one fighter made weight and lightweight James Terry only missed weight by a quarter pound as the athletic commission attempted to figure out the scale.
With just over a week before the heavyweight takeover the UFC 146 main card, the Strikeforce heavyweights take center stage on Saturday as Strikeforce finally complete their heavyweight grand prix. Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier will square off in the night’s main event to crown a Strikeforce grand prix champion in what is likely the promotions the second to last heavyweight bout.
All eyes in the MMA community will be on Strikeforce this Saturday night as they crown their Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion, when Daniel Cormier squares off with Josh Barnett. What people will be seeing in three of the four main card bouts, are American Kickboxing Academy fighters trying to win a Grand Prix, a Lightweight Championship and a Number One contender-ship. It’s a big night in the south bay.
The semifinal round of the Strikeforce Grand Prix is in the books and it time to move onto December’s Strikeforce event and the Grand Prix final in early 2012. Before we officially close the book on Saturday’s exciting card, the Ohio Athletic Commission and handed out it medical suspensions along with the reported fighters pay.
There is something in the water at American Kickboxing Academy. The San Jose based training facility is showing more and more every time their fighters enter into the cage why they are among the elite schools in the country for professional and amateur fighters wanting to make a name for themselves in the sport today. Four fighters delivered solid performances and increased their individual stocks in major ways at Saturdays Strikeforce event in Cincinnati and were all grateful for their team and trainers at AKA.
Strikeforce’s world heavyweight grand prix has come to the final match and what began as a chance to generate buzz and viewers has delivered in every aspect, watching a legend crumble, a champion be removed, another former champion get a chance at redemption and a young wrestler prove to everyone why he is not to be counted short.
The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Semi-finals last night wasn’t just about the big boys, but about the disproportionately large amount of prospects making promotional debuts. Some of these fighters brought nothing more than a record, while others came in with extraordinary expectations upon them. The beauty of the fight game though, is that a hype train can be knocked off the tracks and burst into flames at any time, and we certainly saw plenty of that.
The semifinals are in the books and the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix now has the two men that will battle in the finals early next year. The main card one-upped the undercard with four of the five bouts ending with a finish, one more than the undercard. Along with the two grand prix bouts, there was also a middleweight title fight that would end up being the only fight on the card to go the distance.
