Strikeforce Heavy Weight Division - That Good?

Everyone keeps saying that the Strikeforce HW division is becoming a real powerhouse and is the best in the world and specificly better then the UFC but is this really true?

Well, lets start with Fedor. Fedor, Fedor and Fedor has not fought much since he got triangle choked out in 69 seconds to Fabricio Werdum, a guy that went 2-2 in UFC and got fired. Well, it looks like he won't be fighting any time soon and certainly not before Q1 2011 when the negotiations are going to begin between Strikeforce and the weird guys from M1.

Next up is Barnett. He has talked and talked about how he could beat anyone at the UFC and now has signed with Strikeforce. The truth is and I agree with Dana White on this is that Josh does not really care about anyone but himself and the money. He will walk away from Strikeforce or the UFC if it suits him. The guy just doesn't care about anybody or anything and he feels absolutely no guilt about Affliction MMA going down in flames. Why would someone want to trust him it is unclear, a guy with a bunch of failed performance enhancing drug scandals.

After that you've got Werdum who I actually respect and Antonio Silva who has a real future in MMA as well. Both guys are great in my opinion but just won't make it to the big UFC stage because they don't speak english. Well, they've already fought but these guys are real, they will fight anyone any time.

Overeem or OBEREEM, the champion, the vicious striker with a guillotine choke that has sent even Vitor Belfot tapping out in Pride is the real deal. I'm really impressed with him and I think he will soon be moving over to the UFC once he accomplishes his dream in becoming the K1 champion this year. Dana White will sign this guy and I think Overeem will agree when he finds out that Fedor is too scared to fight him and Werdum is probably the last bout he will have left at Strikeforce.

Well, thats it guys. Lets not mention Kharitonov and Aleks Emelianenko. Both of these guys are really out of shape and should not be fighting in their condition. I hope they do join some good MMA team soon though.

Strikeforce signs Kharitonov and Overeem

Big news for Strikeforce that has come to my attention. I think I managed to miss this one last week. According to MMA Junkie, on the 17 June, Scott Coker announced that Valentijn Overeem and Sergei Kharitonov, two great Pride heavyweights have signed with Strikeforce.

I am thrilled about this of course, to see more competition in the Strikeforce Heavyweight division and more Russian representation at the top.

Sergei especially has been long considered one of the top heavyweights until recently and actually I have been surprised that it took so long. Now all they need is convince Ricardo Arona to return and this organization would be doing great.

Of course the key would be to focus on raising new talent of course but now they at least have a chance to test themselves against the top guys in the sport. With Fedor retiring, a new generation of fighters needs to come to Strikeforce in the heavyweight division.

Personally I would love to see several fights in this category now including Kharitonov vs Brett Rogers or Valentijn Overeem vs Bobby Lashley. It would be a great show if we got to see some of these big guys face each other.

As a jiu jitsu fan however for me it is always exciting to see some jiu jitsu talent in action and that is why I would love to see Jeff Monson and especially Ricardo Arona in the mix at Strikeforce. This is the place where they should be competing right now. For Arona, there are a few interesting matches at LHW including guys like Gegard Mousasi.

Kharitonov has a strong Sambo background though and his punching power is on par with Aleks Emelianenko, so I think its going to be interesting how he does in his first fight.

Strikeforce HW division I feel now has a lot of technical and powerful strikers and it would be great if apart from Fabricio Werdum there could be some more wrestlers/jiu jitsu players. I don't really count Bobby Lashley as I think he needs a few big career fights to prove he has what it takes to transition to MMA.