Overeem Out, Cormier In SF HWGP

[CPT]

I agree with your above post, and I had been saying a lot of the same things about the seedings, and I was told that Overeem's title would be on the line in his fights, and therefore the brackets made sense. To be fair to the people who actually thought that would be the case, it would have made sense, in that Overeem would have defended first against Werdum, then the champ vs. Fedor/Silva, then vs winner of the other side of the bracket. But once Strikeforce botched that (and I heard right from Coker's mouth that that's what they wanted to do), there was no more talk of how the brackets were ridiculous.

As for Cormier and Griggs, I certainly think Cormier is a more legitimate threat to the fighters in the tournament and therefore should be in there, I just think it's another little thing that hurts the legitimacy of this tournament. They called Del Rosario vs. Johnson, Villante vs. Griggs, and Overeem vs. Sefo HW Tournament reserve bouts. Then Griggs fought Overeem, presumably to cut the reserves down from 3 to 2 (and with Del Rosario out, 1). They could have slapped a HW Tournament reserve bout tag on Cormier vs. Monson, but they didn't. If I'm Griggs, I'm pretty pissed off about this, and I'd probably have my agent/lawyers take a look at the situation.

[REDDzone]

As for Cormier and Griggs, I certainly think Cormier is a more legitimate threat to the fighters in the tournament and therefore should be in there, I just think it's another little thing that hurts the legitimacy of this tournament. They called Del Rosario vs. Johnson, Villante vs. Griggs, and Overeem vs. Sefo HW Tournament reserve bouts. Then Griggs fought Overeem, presumably to cut the reserves down from 3 to 2 (and with Del Rosario out, 1). They could have slapped a HW Tournament reserve bout tag on Cormier vs. Monson, but they didn't. If I'm Griggs, I'm pretty pissed off about this, and I'd probably have my agent/lawyers take a look at the situation.

I forgot about Monson/Cormier not being an alternate bout. Good call.

To be fair though, as you said Cormier is the more legitimate threat. At least he is elite at something, Griggs is a brawler. It would have put Cormier in an equally **** situation if he was out of the tournament due to Del Rosario's injury, because that was CLEARLY the number one alternate fight imo.

[Cammo101]

Cammo trolling, looking for attention.

I don't agree with the above but I AM curious why he speaks of it as if it is actually some huge stain on the reputation of mma that needs to be abolished asap before it ruins the sport.

"Cannot end quick enough"? Really? Kharitonov/Barnett is a great fight imo. Now I do not think that Cormier is ready for Silva, but the prospect of Silva vs Barnett or to a lesser extent Kharitonov is exciting as well.

Bigfoot may be

This tourney was supposed to be a huge event, but it has been a mess from the start. No title on the line, lopsided brackets, Fedor dismantled, delays so Overeem and Barnett could pass a piss test, mostly garbage fights, and now the only draw left in the tourney is gone and they added a guy at random instead of one of the alternates. This is exactly what I said would happen before the Grand Prix started. Strikeforce has messed this up at every stop.

Obviously there are still some passable fights, but what was sold to us as the best tourney in MMA history is now damn near a year in and we more alternates than top 5 heavyweights left.

It is frustrating how poorly Strikeforce is run.

[cowboyronnie]

Cammo trolling, looking for attention.

I don't agree with the above but I AM curious why he speaks of it as if it is actually some huge stain on the reputation of mma that needs to be abolished asap before it ruins the sport.

"Cannot end quick enough"? Really? Kharitonov/Barnett is a great fight imo. Now I do not think that Cormier is ready for Silva, but the prospect of Silva vs Barnett or to a lesser extent Kharitonov is exciting as well.

Bigfoot may be

This tourney was supposed to be a huge event, but it has been a mess from the start. No title on the line, lopsided brackets, Fedor dismantled, delays so Overeem and Barnett could pass a piss test, mostly garbage fights, and now the only draw left in the tourney is gone and they added a guy at random instead of one of the alternates. This is exactly what I said would happen before the Grand Prix started. Strikeforce has messed this up at every stop.

Obviously there are still some passable fights, but what was sold to us as the best tourney in MMA history is now damn near a year in and we more alternates than top 5 heavyweights left.

It is frustrating how poorly Strikeforce is run.

Really not a huge deal and/or simply where things fell.

None of the Pride GPs were perfect. There was often only a GP title. Friggin' Hansen won the last GP despite losing in the second round. He then got put back into the tourney with a gimmie reserve bout against Gill, allowing him to be fresh as a daisy when he replaced Alvarez directly into the final.

Gomi winning the 160 title had a way more trying bracket than anyone else.

Henderson got an easy route and a gift decision in the 185 tourney.

Etc.

Cormier is not random.

I do remember when Coker promised Jesus Christ would return upon completion of the tournament, yes. Strange that a promoter would be positive.

[cowboyronnie]

Hansen got into the Pride GP final by beating only Boku and Gill.

You can't control variables in tournaments ever.

[Cammo101]

Hansen got into the Pride GP final by beating only Boku and Gill.

You can't control variables in tournaments ever.

At least he fought his way in. Strikeforce has had alternate fights the entire tourney and then when someone went down, they added whoever they wanted and not the alternates who actually won.

Weak.

[cowboyronnie]

He lost his way in, specifically. You're defending that because it was a loss in the tourney? LOL. Go away.

Cormier is undefeated, has been active and fighting alongside the tournament and still has to fight a legit tourney participant with two wins in order to get into the final. Hansen had to fight a non-participant in Kartur Gill, both of them coming off losses. He then was able to fight a compromised Aoki, who had had to fight a legit opponent who'd won himself to the semi's. Cormier's entrance is really not a big deal. It's much less of a big deal than the Hansen situation, that's for sure.

I really wish you would leave this board.

[REDDzone]

At least he fought his way in. Strikeforce has had alternate fights the entire tourney and then when someone went down, they added whoever they wanted and not the alternates who actually won.

Weak.

Yea, I'm really surprised how poorly zuffa is handling this situation.

[j4remi]

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I honestly thought the winner of Barnett vs Kharitinov was going to upset Overeem anyway. I wonder if Overeem winds up in UFC sooner than later with one tough match-up and an immediate shot at the winner of Cain/Dos Santos.

[malcrk]

Just going to ignore the UFC shills and say that Cormier is going to win this whole thing.