Strikeforce 40: Barnett vs. Cormier

Date: Saturday, May 19th
Preliminary Card (Showtime Extreme): 19:00 LP.net / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Main Card Time (Showtime): 21:00 LP.net / 7pm PST / 10pm EST
Live Streams: Main Card is Live on Showtime & the prelims are Live on Showtime Extreme - http://www.vipbox.tv (All MMA events are listed under the UFC button. Press the UFC button and you'll see the event in the list.)





Main Card (Showtime)

Josh Barnett (31-5) vs. Daniel Cormier (9-0) (Heavyweight Grand Prix Final)
Gilbert Melendez (20-2) vs. Josh Thomson (19-4) (Lightweight Championship)
Rafael Cavalcante (11-3) vs. Mike Kyle (19-8-1) (Light Heavyweight)
Nah-Shon Burrell (8-1) vs. Chris Spang (4-1) (Welterweight)

Preliminary Card (Showtime Extreme)

Gesias Cavalcante vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (Lightweight)
Virgil Zwicker vs. Guto Inocente (Light Heavyweight)
Gian Villante vs. Derrick Mehmen (Light Heavyweight)
Quinn Mulhern vs. Yuri Villefort (Welterweight)
James Terry vs. Bobby Green (Lightweight)

Other

- Nate Marquardt was expected to fight Tyron Woodley at this event, possibly for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Championship. It is now expected for this match to take place at Strikeforce 41.

Cormier > Barnett
Melendez > Thomson (It's so fucking sad to see Thomson fight so shitty, I blame it on his constant injuries. He doesn't bring the action and is timid/shy in the ring now.)
Cavalcante > Kyle (Kyle is a middle of the road fighter, too good for local shows, too shitty for big shows. Feijao has an overhand right with Kyle's name on it.)
Burrell > Spang (Always bet on black.)
JZ > Vallie-Flagg (JZ is good, has good training partners, but hasn't found his groove. He should still win here though.)
Inocente > Zwicker
Villante > Mehmen
Villefort > Mulhern
Green > Terry

this event is gonna be fun :D

have bets on cormier (even money) and melendez (-425).

just curious but at first glance i liked cormier, cuz he knocked the fuck out of antonio silva (not sure if thats his exact name) but hes not even a slight dog here which reminds me of the time roy nelson opened at pk vs frank mir and we saw how that one ended up. wouldnt the value be on barnett? im guessing everyone here likes cormier, but it might be for the wrong reasons. iirc, barnett's style is just takedowns and wrestling, and we didnt see any of that for cormier when he fought bigfoot. so, to me it would seem like even though cormier looked sick in his last knockout fight it's a misrepresentation of what he can do vs barnett who is a veteran.

oh yeah, cormier busted his hand in his last fight vs silva too so that should be accounted for when considering cormier here. would that stray him away from his normal style of fighting knowing that he doesn't want to bust his hand again, or do you feel there has been more than enough time for him to be fully healed and not worried about it?

i'm going to lean barnett for now and hoping that someone talks some good ole mma sense into me. also, i trust strikeforce a lot more than ufc because it is the only league where I have placed a bet on an underdog more than once and not been completely cheated out of a decision. but that last comment is irrelevant since the fight is basically pick'em, however i still hate dana white :D

On May 18 2012 03:10 RaiNKhAN wrote: just curious but at first glance i liked cormier, cuz he knocked the fuck out of antonio silva (not sure if thats his exact name) but hes not even a slight dog here which reminds me of the time roy nelson opened at pk vs frank mir and we saw how that one ended up. wouldnt the value be on barnett? im guessing everyone here likes cormier, but it might be for the wrong reasons. iirc, barnett's style is just takedowns and wrestling, and we didnt see any of that for cormier when he fought bigfoot. so, to me it would seem like even though cormier looked sick in his last knockout fight it's a misrepresentation of what he can do vs barnett who is a veteran. oh yeah, cormier busted his hand in his last fight vs silva too so that should be accounted for when considering cormier here. would that stray him away from his normal style of fighting knowing that he doesn't want to bust his hand again, or do you feel there has been more than enough time for him to be fully healed and not worried about it? i'm going to lean barnett for now and hoping that someone talks some good ole mma sense into me. also, i trust strikeforce a lot more than ufc because it is the only league where I have placed a bet on an underdog more than once and not been completely cheated out of a decision. but that last comment is irrelevant since the fight is basically pick'em, however i still hate dana white :D

cormier is a much more accomplished wrestler than barnett. barnett is like a heavyweight version of old school sakuraba, very slick on the floor with pretty good wrestling, but cormier is a former olympic wrestler with probably better striking than barnett. i think it will come down to the striking and conditioning. whoever gasses worse will be the underdog. but early on i think cormier has the clear advantage at least. he should be able to dictate where the fight takes place and i think his striking looked great his last few fights, whereas barnett has looked uncomfortable in just about every fight he has had

Khan not picking the black guy to win? Pigs must be flying.


I don't think Barnett will gas, and I don't remember the two fights that Cormier won in Strikeforce where he won by Unanimous Decision. (Devin Cole and Jeff Monsone).

The thing that will be a factor is the size. Barnett is bigger and probably stronger, and his style of wrestling is good for MMA. Cormier is more accomplished in wrestling, but I haven't seen his MMA wrestling yet. And the fact that he didn't finish Devin Cole and Jeff Monson, especially Monson, right before his win against a big and slow Giant Silva, puts doubts into my mind.

Barnett

Height: 6'3
Reach: 78 inch
Weight: 261 (weight in his last fight)
Style: Catch wrestling, black belt in BJJ, decent stand up and chin isn't weak
Record: 31-5 (9 KO/TKO, 17 Submission, 4 Decision, 1 DQ)
Notable Wins: Sergei Kharitonov, Brett Rogers, Gilbert Yvel, Pedro Rizzo, Jeff Monson (more wins vs. bigger names, but, those are much older fights)

Cormier

Height: 5'11
Reach: 71 inch
Weight: 247 (weight in his last fight)
Style: Freestyle Wrestling, kickboxing, decent stand up with good accuracy and chin isn't weak
Record: 9-0 (4 KO/TKO, 3 Submission, 2 Decision)
Notable Wins: Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson

I think Barnett will probably win via Submission, but I'm still rooting for Cormier.

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Cormier vs. Big Foot Silva - full fight
+ Show Spoiler +

Cormier vs. Devin Cole (only 10 seconds or less of the fight, it shows Cole not knowing how to fight a wrestler)
+ Show Spoiler +

Cormier vs. Jeff Monson - full fight
+ Show Spoiler +

cormier is the new breed --- a mix between black fedor and black velasquez

hes got this

Have a small $100 bet on Cormier at +120 other than that nothing really interesting here for me.

Weigh-in result

Josh Barnett (248) vs. Daniel Cormier (238) (both guys lost a lot of body fat since their last fight. Cormier literally had a beer belly last time.)
Champ Gilbert Melendez (153) vs. Josh Thomson (153)
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (206) vs. Mike Kyle (203)
Nah-Shon Burrell (170) vs. Chris Spang (169)
Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante (156) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (156)
Virgil Zwicker (204) vs. Guto Inocente (205)
Derrick Mehmen (205) vs. Gian Villante (205)
Quinn Mulhern (170) vs. Yuri Villefort (170)
Bobby Green (155) vs. James Terry (156)

Barnett vs. Cormier weigh-in photos: http://mmajunkie.com/news/28784/strik...os-an-mmajunkie-com-image-gallery.mma


Prelims start in 4 hours.

There's 4-5 pop ups that you need to close first. Click the Red X on the first 2-3. There will be 2 remaining pop ups that don't have a click-able X. You need to let those sit for almost 1 minute, then move your mouse over them and a tiny X will pop up, the big X is not the one you want to click.

http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/53050/1/st...reliminaries--live-stream-online.html

Josh Barnett <. Daniel Cormier Better wrestling to keep it standing, and better striking to win the decision.

Gilbert Melendez > Josh Thomson - Pretty obvious, especially since Josh Thomson is going into this fight hurt.

Rafael Cavalcante < Mike Kyle I know Rafael is deservedly the favorite, but im going to pick Kyle because he has a hell of a right hand and Cavacante seems susceptible to it.

Also, lol at jon jones.

I want Kyle to win, but I think he'll get caught by leaving his chin straight up like I remember him doing, and Cavalcante will pounce on him.

I want Thomson to win, but, multiple injuries fucked up his career. Melendez is good, but I think Thomson would have been better if he was able to continue his career without back to back injuries over the years. He's like Cub Swanson.

Results page: http://www.sherdog.com/events/Strikeforce-Barnett-vs-Cormier-20765

Guto is fucking awesome.

ended up taking barnett small. no idea about either fighter just speculation as usual, but because this is strikeforce i am more confident it will win than ufc b/c that shit is so rigged LOL

Inocente will be good when he learns how to go more than 1 round. Nice striking technique.

Virgil "The Native American Zombie" Zwicker

Virgil had a mark hunt like chin. Shit was crazy.

^ That's cuz he's Native American. Give those mofo's some fire water, and they'll be able to take on Gozilla.

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Isaac Vallie-Flagg hasn't fought since June 2011, and that was at a 175 catchweight. This is his first fight at 155.
I was taking JZ to win anyway, but, I think Isaac Vallie-Flagg might gas before the 3rd round.

Nice comeback by Vallie-Flagg. JZ gassed.. >.<

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Main card stream is up now. The original link should work, just refresh.

Or, click here: http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/45823/1/st...tt-vs-cormier-live-stream-online.html

Barnett will win this one, mark my words ladies.

Nice win for Feijao.

Not to take anything away from the win I think he gets the finish anyways, but that was a shit load of shots to the back of the head. The most I've ever seen.

On May 14 2012 20:03 PuertoRican wrote: Cormier > Barnett Melendez > Thomson (It's so fucking sad to see Thomson fight so shitty, I blame it on his constant injuries. He doesn't bring the action and is timid/shy in the ring now.) Cavalcante > Kyle (Kyle is a middle of the road fighter, too good for local shows, too shitty for big shows. Feijao has an overhand right with Kyle's name on it.) Burrell > Spang (Always bet on black.) JZ > Vallie-Flagg (JZ is good, has good training partners, but hasn't found his groove. He should still win here though.) Inocente > Zwicker Villante > Mehmen Villefort > Mulhern Green > Terry

Damn, once again, Mike Kyle looked so stiff in the 10 seconds I saw him fight.

On May 19 2012 21:29 Stim_Abuser wrote: but that was a shit load of shots to the back of the head. The most I've ever seen.

Until the last ~30 seconds of Gil vs Thompson?

I voted it a split decision as well. I thought that Gilbert won that 1st round barely, just by that take down.

Round 1 = all came down to that 1 take down, where Gilbert didn't do much with it.
Gilbert = round 2 and 3
Josh = 4 and 5

Great performance by Cormier. Woud love to see him matched against some of the top fighters in the UFC.

Black Fedor doing big thangs.

rofl at Khan not betting on black, sucha newb~

On May 19 2012 23:15 PuertoRican wrote: rofl at Khan not betting on black, sucha newb~

they didnt offer red or green

Post-fight Press Conference
+ Show Spoiler +

Barnett vs. Cormier
+ Show Spoiler +

Kyle vs. Feijao
+ Show Spoiler +

Melendez vs. Thomson
http://www.mma-core.com/videos/fights...h_Thomson_Strikeforce_Part_1/10029706 (Press play and let it sit for a couple minutes, it takes awhile for it to load, then press Pause to load the rest.)
http://www.mma-core.com/videos/fights...h_Thomson_Strikeforce_Part_2/10029707

Barnett's hand got fucked up



http://bjpenn.com/mmanews/2012/05/21/ufc-photo-josh-barnett-shows-off-nasty-hand-break-suffered-saturday-mma-news-25631.html

^ They both broke/fractured their hand in round 1. Sucks more for Cormier since this fight was pushed back 4 months or so because he broke his hand on Big Foot Silvas face. People said he's like Fedor, small hands and has power in them, so breakage makes sense.