Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix Final
Daniel Cormier (10-0) UD Josh Barnett (31-6)
Scores: 49-46, 50-45, 50-45
Conventional wisdom would have foretold a dominant submission victory for Josh Barnett over Daniel Cormier to win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finals. After all, Barnett has been in the fight game for over a decade whereas Cormier has just nine fights into his fledgling MMA career. Of course, conventional wisdom rarely is applicable in the sport of MMA, where anything can, and often does, happen.
With a career founded on his ability to get the fight to the ground where his catch wrestling leaves man an opponent tapping out, Barnett found himself being out-gunned throughout the fight by the crisp striking of the unheralded Cormier. Not that Cormier was ill-equipped for the biggest fight of this career. The former Olympic wrestler has honed his striking under the tutelage of the beasts at San Jose’s AKA fight team. Against Barnett, Cormier’s ever-improving striking was on full display as Cormier landed a plethora of crisp, straight punches that seemed to fluster Barnett, keeping the catch wrestler at bay. Barnett, who apparently had been training in the French form of kickboxing known as savat, was able to utilize some hard knees that caused some damage. But Barnett’s moments of success were few and far between as this fight was all Cormier.
As the fight entered the final rounds it was clear that Barnett was not going to be able to weather the tide that Cormier was bringing. It was a virtuoso performance for a fighter who has just begun his MMA career and now Cormier has leapfrogged up the rankings from highly touted prospect to a legitimate contender in the sport. Not only did he beat Barnett, he controlled him and for a fighter who wasn’t even in the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament at it’s inception, to know the winner of the whole tournament. With Strikeforce’s heavyweight division no longer in existence it will be interesting to see if the UFC come in and swoops up this exciting fighter. It was truly an outstanding performance by Cormier.
“It means everything for me to beat a guy like Josh Barnett,” said a clearly emotional Cormier after the fight. “This means the world to me.”
Original Story:
http://www.insidethecagemma.com/2012-...
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May 20, 2012
