Tag: Josh Barnett

Fedor vs. Silva, Arlovski vs. Barnett to Kick Off Strikeforce Heavyweight Tourney Feb. 12 in NJ

(Dress it up however you like, this tournament will likely end in disaster for Strikeforce.)
Well it looks like Strikeforce is going ahead with its ill-fated heavyweight tournament after all.
The San Jose, California-based promotion revealed to Sher…


(Dress it up however you like, this tournament will likely end in disaster for Strikeforce.)

Well it looks like Strikeforce is going ahead with its ill-fated heavyweight tournament after all.

The San Jose, California-based promotion revealed to Sherdog over the weekend three of its planned quarter final bouts. 

According to the report, Fedor Emelianenko will look to rebound from the only legitimate loss of his career when he takes on Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Andrei Arlovski will attempt to disprove all of his detractors who feel the Belarusian fighter would be better suited to play a henchman in b-movies when he locks horns with Josh Barnett at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 12.

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Strikeforce Looking to Stretch Out Anticipated Heavyweight Match-Ups in a Grand Prix That Could Blow Up in Its Face

(Surprise, Strikeforce may be making a mistake with matchmaking.)
I never thought I’d ever speak out against a grand prix tournament, but because the proposed Strikeforce heavyweight tournament has so many question marks surrounding it, I’m almost hopi…


(Surprise, Strikeforce may be making a mistake with matchmaking.)

I never thought I’d ever speak out against a grand prix tournament, but because the proposed Strikeforce heavyweight tournament has so many question marks surrounding it, I’m almost hoping it doesn’t happen.

When Scott Coker mentioned earlier this year that Strikeforce was either going to piss or get off the pot when teasing its fans with heavyweight fights that never seem to come to fruition because of those crazy Russians for whatever reason, I thought he meant it.

What Sco-Co should have said was, "We’ll likely milk the current roster for whatever we can and if we can make the fights fans want to see, then we will, but we likely won’t."

According to Tatame, the California-based promotion is planning on stretching the tournament over three events and will likely anchor Strikeforce’s foray into pay-per-view TV — a move necessitated by the fact that it’s unlikely that CBS will be having them back on network TV in 2011 and the costs of greasing the pockets of M-1 Global for each Fedor-featured event are likely more than most Russians make in their lives.

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Josh Barnett’s Licensing Hearing Delayed Again After Confusion at CSAC

Former UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett told the California State Athletic Commission on Thursday that he was there not to appeal his positive steroid test from June of 2009, but rather to speak with the commission and apply for a new license.

Sound…

Former UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett told the California State Athletic Commission on Thursday that he was there not to appeal his positive steroid test from June of 2009, but rather to speak with the commission and apply for a new license.

Sounds simple enough in theory. In practice, however, it turned out to be anything but, with the end result being yet another continuance in Barnett’s lengthy licensing saga in the Golden State.

After allowing Barnett to launch into a nearly four-minute explanation of the chain of events that led to him to test positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone while applying for a license renewal in the summer of 2009, the commission began to realize that Barnett was still intent on maintaining his innocence on that charge – and here’s where things got tricky.

Chael Sonnen Gets Off Easy With California Commission

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceFor most of a bumbling, badly run meeting before the California State Athletic Commission, Chael Sonnen looked like he was toast. Yes, he had brought a couple of highly regarded lawyers with him, and yes, he had a doctor wh…

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Chael Sonnen's suspension is reduced to six months by the CSAC.For most of a bumbling, badly run meeting before the California State Athletic Commission, Chael Sonnen looked like he was toast. Yes, he had brought a couple of highly regarded lawyers with him, and yes, he had a doctor who testified that he had prescribed Sonnen with testosterone to deal with hypogonadism. But rules are rules, and the members of the Commission, despite seeming at times like they didn’t know what their own rules were, appeared to be in general agreement that Sonnen had violated their rules by failing to properly disclose he was taking testosterone.

And then, in a surprising vote at the end of the Commission hearing, Sonnen got off easy: After the Commission members first deadlocked 2-2 when voting on whether to uphold Sonnen’s one-year suspension, they voted again on a measure to cut his suspension in half, to six months, and that measure passed, 3-1.

Call it a split decision victory for Sonnen, a Fight of the Night-quality performance by his lawyers, and a big loss for the California State Athletic Commission — and for everyone who wants the rules on performance-enhancing drugs to be upheld fairly and uniformly.

Scott Coker Excited for Strikeforce’s Heavyweights in 2011

Filed under: StrikeforceWith Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett among the names on the promotion’s roster, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has singled out his heavyweight division as the one he’s most excited for in 2011….

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With Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett among the names on the promotion’s roster, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has singled out his heavyweight division as the one he’s most excited for in 2011.

“I think we’re going to finish [2010] off strong and I look forward to 2011 cause I think the thing we’re getting real excited about is our heavyweight division,” Coker said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “And I think you’re going to see some great heavyweight matchups that people have been dying to see in the past.”

Although Coker would not reveal any exact details, announcements could be made as soon as Dec. 4 during the promotion’s year-end “Henderson vs. Babalu” event.

State of the Strikeforce Heavyweights

Filed under: StrikeforceThe list of names in Strikeforce’s heavyweight division is undeniably impressive: Former No. 1 fighter in the world Fedor Emelianenko. The man who beat him, Fabricio Werdum. Former UFC heavyweight champions Andrei Arlovski and J…

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The list of names in Strikeforce’s heavyweight division is undeniably impressive: Former No. 1 fighter in the world Fedor Emelianenko. The man who beat him, Fabricio Werdum. Former UFC heavyweight champions Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett. Hot prospects Daniel Cormier and Shane del Rosario. And the champion, K-1 wrecking machine Alistair Overeem.

The biggest question facing Strikeforce is whether it can actually get all of those fighters — and Antonio Silva and Brett Rogers and Lavar Johnson and so on — into the cage, fighting each other. The heavyweight talent is there. The heavyweight fights came all too infrequently in 2010, and as we take a look below at the state of Strikeforce’s heavyweight division, we offer some suggestions on what should happen in 2011.