Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine (Jan. 12th)

Gold Chain · Post #1 » by **Gold Chain** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:09 pm

Champ Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine - for welterweight title
Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring
Gegard Mousasi vs. Mike Kyle
Josh Barnett vs. Nandor Guelmino*
Ryan Couture vs. K.J. Noons
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal*

NZB2323 · Post #2 » by **NZB2323** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:15 pm

Really? They couldn't get anyone better for Cormier to face than Dion Staring?

It's cool that they have all the champions on a card though.

REDDzone · Post #3 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:10 pm

By champions they mean one champion.

SDM · Post #4 » by **SDM** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:09 pm

At least we get to see Karl James put a hole in Randy's little boy's face.

Bernman · Post #5 » by **Bernman** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:33 am

They added Jacare vs. Larkin. That's actually better than Rockhold vs. Larkin, at least ability-wise. IMO, Jacare beat Rockhold, and his striking looks discernibly improved since. That doesn't mean he should try standing with Larkin, as he has a clear path to victory on the ground.

In addition, they're including Roger Gracie vs. Anthony Smith. That's a decent fight. You gotta expect Gracie to get TD's and avoid being triangled. Bad match-up for Smith.

REDDzone · Post #6 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:57 am

Risky fight for Larkin, who knows if he gets a shot at the ufc after he gets submitted easily if Jacare is smart. I'm not really a fan of Jacare either though, and Larkin probably annoys Dana, so maybe he won't get there anyway.

Don't know anything about his opponent, but War Roger.

skflives · Post #7 » by **skflives** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:05 pm

REDDzone wrote:Risky fight for Larkin, who knows if he gets a shot at the ufc after he gets submitted easily if Jacare is smart. I'm not really a fan of Jacare either though, and Larkin probably annoys Dana, so maybe he won't get there anyway.

Don't know anything about his opponent, but War Roger.

Anthony Smith is a big but journeyman middleweight. He recently pulled off a mild upset when he beat Lumba Sayers (I don't know if I spelled that correctly) but I don't think Sayers was much of a prospect anyway. In any case, I think a fight with Smith is a smart for Gracie. He's a big and tough guy that would help Gracie get more needed experience if they are going to bring him up to the big show.

And I think Larkin does get brought up to the UFC even if he loses. He's a fresh face, has a unique look and style while always making for exciting fights. I don't know how high a ceiling he has because of his obvious grappling deficiencies but I think the UFC would give him a shot.

skflives · Post #8 » by **skflives** » Sun Dec 2, 2012 7:00 pm

Card currently looks like this:

Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring
Gegard Mousasi vs. Mike Kyle
Ryan Couture vs. KJ Noons
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal
Josh Barnett vs. Nandor Guelmino*
Roger Gracie vs. Anthony Smith
Lorenz Larkin vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Smith
Michael Bravo vs. Estevan Payan
Jorge Gurgel vs. Adriano Martins

I'm more than a little underwhelmed with how this card has turned out. I think losing Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold really took a lot of the steam out of the event. While they added Tim Kennedy and Josh Barnett they put them up against underwhelming opposition and as it is Daniel Cormier was already up against underwhelming opposition.

I think the card would be more interesting if they switched the middleweight fights to be Tim Kennedy vs. Jacare 2 and then had Larkin fight Smith. That way the main event card gets a bigger fight and Larkin fights someone more along the lines of the guys he should be fighting in Strikeforce's middleweight division. I also think it would have been nice to bring in a guy like Tim Sylvia or Andrei Arlovski to throw in their against Josh Barnett. Doesn't this new card look better:

Main Card:
Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Tim Kennedy vs. Jacare Souza 2
Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring
Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski or Tiny Tim Sylvia
Gegard Mousasi vs. Mike Kyle

Undercard:
Ryan Couture vs. KJ Noons
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal
Lorenz Larkin vs. Trevor Smith
Roger Gracie vs. Anthony Smith
Michael Bravo vs. Estevan Payan
Jorge Gurgel vs. Adriano Martins

SDM · Post #9 » by **SDM** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:56 pm

Masvidal is injured, Healy fight probably won't happen.

Bernman · Post #10 » by **Bernman** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:31 pm

SDM wrote:Masvidal is injured, Healy fight probably won't happen.

I'm sure most of these guys are dropping out because if they lose they won't get the same opportunity in the UFC, or one period.

By getting "injured", Masvidal pretty much guarantees himself 2 fights in the UFC, with an extension to that contract if he wins one of those. If he would have lost to Healy, who knows what UFC would have done with him. He could have been released, and he's not getting into a Bellator tourney without a loss either. He'd have potentially been in the MMA wilderness again. And that's not even near as vibrant as it was when he was there in '06-'08. Most competitors have went extinct. I'm sure he discussed these scenarios w/ his manager.

As for Melendez, he bowed out of his fight nearly 2 months before it was scheduled to take place. That meant he either had a serious injury, or didn't want to fight. I'm going to go with didn't want to fight considering he's lobbying for the next title shot against a champ who fought Dec. 8 and dominated, over a month earlier than the fight he canceled.

REDDzone · Post #11 » by **REDDzone** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 12:06 am

Yea Tim Kennedy came out yesterday and called all of the guys dropping out vaginas. lol

Gold Chain · Post #12 » by **Gold Chain** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 4:25 pm

^

I still have a hard time picturing Tim in a war scenario.

He has to be the most un-soliery soldier there ever was.

I think he's funny, but he also is a member of the "holier-than-thou" military sect.

But I do know he's a tough guy, but not really going to be doing much in the UFC.

And that makes me start to wonder about how good the old Mayhem was.
Beat Kennedy and almost finished Shields.

Bernman · Post #13 » by **Bernman** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:55 pm

REDDzone wrote:Yea Tim Kennedy came out yesterday and called all of the guys dropping out vaginas. lol

Easy for Kennedy to say when he's coming off a loss and on the boring side. He has something to gain by fighting again in SF.

cowboyronnie · Post #14 » by **cowboyronnie** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:34 am

As it stands, hes abso worthy of a ufc shot. A second loss in a row? Maybe not. But he nonetheless is looking to make it to the ufc under his own power rather than opting to tread water and be drawn in by the current.

SDM · Post #15 » by **SDM** » Wed Jan 9, 2013 6:32 pm

Cormier is a 20:1 fave over Starling. That's a record, no?

REDDzone · Post #16 » by **REDDzone** » Wed Jan 9, 2013 7:29 pm

Wouldn't it be something if Staring came out and out-wrestled and out-boxed Cormier?

SDM · Post #17 » by **SDM** » Wed Jan 9, 2013 7:37 pm

I don't know much about Starling, but he has nearly 40 fights and fought some decent competition. I'd never have the cajones to book it that Cormier beats him 20 times out of 20.

He probably does, but that's a stupid, stupid risk to take. At HW, it only takes one punch.

Gold Chain · Post #18 » by **Gold Chain** » Wed Jan 9, 2013 7:54 pm

REDDzone wrote:Wouldn't it be something if Staring came out and out-wrestled and out-boxed Cormier?

Cormier's future earning potential takes a huge hit.

I hope Daniel ends this in the first 2 mins.

REDDzone · Post #19 » by **REDDzone** » Wed Jan 9, 2013 9:14 pm

The only thing that beats Cormier is the cut to 205 I tell you!!!!!!1111

Gold Chain · Post #20 » by **Gold Chain** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 2:52 pm

Zing.

But, yes, I agree.

Cormier in the UFC HW picture has got to put the fear of God into those guys.

Easily good enough to take the belt.