strikeforce

There's been some rumors that Cris Cyborg might be considering a future in pro wrasslin', and Tatame - a regular mouthpeice for Brazilian fighters and camps - just gave the story a big push:

Strikeforce champion and best pound for pound MMA fighter of the world, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos is negotiating with world’s biggest pro-wrestling company, WWE, sources close to the fighter told TATAME minutes ago. Without fighting since June of 2010, Cyborg is getting tired of the lack of fights in the MMA organization, and this proposal would change her future in fighting – and get bigger paychecks. Two weeks ago, Cristiane and her husband, Strikeforce fighter Evangelista Santos, attended to a WWE event in California, and the managers of the event offered her a contract. Stay tuned on TATAME to know more about that in the future.

Not so fast, says fake fighting expert Dave Meltzer. Cyborg is locked in with Strikeforce due to one of those stupid champ clauses. According to the Meltz, "the story may be contract posturing, since Santos has not fought since a June 29 win over Jan Finney due to negotiations for a new deal."

So while a jump to the WWE ain't likely, it's interesting that the Cyborgs feel they gotta go this way to get some goddamn respect from Strikeforce. Then again, this could just be one of those totally bullshit stories that manifest themselves out of thin air sometimes (especially when there's a WWE angle, go figure). Everything could be perfectly fine! I dunno though. If I was Cris Cyborg and I'd only fought once in the past year, I'd be kinda pissed. I'd also be playing with my marble-sized clitoris and hockey puck boobs nonstop. Maybe crushing various melons with my thighs too.

During Scott Coker's most recent interview with Ariel Helwani after Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg, he claimed that Siyar Bahadurzada's recent tourrettes outburst was unwarranted because they just needed him to get his P1 Visa in order. Siyar then sat down with Ariel on the MMA Hour and responded that it was the responsibilities of the pig fuckers at Strikeforce to apply for that ... AFTER signing his contract.

I'm not an expert on immigration - I just tell the border guys wherever I go that I'm a sex tourist and they let me through, sometimes with a coupon booklet. But this seems like a relatively easy procedural fact for some intrepid journo to look up. Who's lying? Siyar or Strikeforce?

As for Siyar's crazy freakout:

Bahadurzada told Helwani that he wanted to apologize to his fans for the language choice, but said he felt disrespected by Strikeforce and that's when his "dark side" surfaced.

"My mentality has been like this since I was born in Afghanistan in the war and I've been raised in the war. I've been through a lot. ...I used to fight with older guys on the street who were not fair to me, and I would beat the sh-t out of them. I would not take anything from anybody. That's why [my grandfather] called me 'The Killer.' This is my dark side. I tell everybody I have a good and a dark side, and my dark side comes out every once in a while when I really feel I've been disrespected."

Damn, his grandpappy called him 'the Killer'? I'm pretty sure you don't get that nickname in Afghanistan unless you actually kill people. Oh, Siyar, he is so funny we call him the Killer. No. Not there, man. Over there it's 'Oh, someone crossed Siyar so he stabbed them through the neck with some steel rebar."

UPDATE: Jackal Pewnt to Scott Coker: "YOU LIE!"

Strikeforce handed out a bunch of 'Best of' 2010 awards over the weekend, which is what Cris Cyborg is holding here. But they still aren't handing out post-event awards, which I think we'll all agree are a bunch of fun. Here's a few I think deserved trophies of their own:

The 'Best Display of Can Crushing' award: Herschel Walker
Some say it's unfair to shit on Walker for fighting lower level guys because he himself is a lower level guy. When you're 1-0, a 4-1 opponent is perfectly fair! Well, yes and no. Yes as in their records are somewhat similar. No as in Herschel Walker is a genetic freak of an athlete getting personalized training from one of the best camps in America.

Once you factor that in it's like NASA vs the Mexican Space Agency, a Ferrari Enzo up against a Honda Civic Si. Or, I dunno. A Heisman winning Olympic athlete versus a guy who's one fight in 9 years was a first round TKO loss. I'm not against Herschel Walker testing his mettle in MMA. But I am against him getting handpicked opponents who are nothing more than warm bodies for him to pummel in the cage.

The 'Most Promising Gracie' award: Roger Gracie
It's been so long since there's been a Gracie worth getting excited over. I don't know if Roger is 'The One' but there's no reason not to enjoy watching him fight. He epitomizes the whole 'generally helpless on the feet / killer on the ground' vibe that makes watching jiu jitsu fighters so exciting. Every fight could end with him crushing or getting crushed. And in taking out a journeyman like Trevor Prangley, he's proved that he can survive outside of Strikeforce's kid gloved hands in the world of proper competition! Whether he's actually interested in that or if he just wants a fight a year to keep his name in the spotlight is something we'll find out soon enough.

The 'Cutest Couple' award: The Cyborgs
Yep, this isn't just for this one event ... they're officially the cutest couple in the sport of MMA. It's like watching two pugs kissing: kinda weird looking but damn if it isn't adorable. Shout out to the Showtime producers who were smart enough to keep a camera on Cris through the entire fight so we could see her tears of sadness when her husband lost. Normally I have to watch shitty reality shows to see people's dreams being crushed.

I'm going to try and spend the day being nice to Strikeforce, since I really do shit on them more than they probably deserve. I feel like one of those dads who's "tryin' to sterp his boy from turnin' into a fagget" but all he's doing is giving the kid a complex and future psychiatrist bills. But goddamnit, Strikeforce. Er, I mean ... look at this, Strikeforce. Does this not seem like an unfortunately familiar type of statement?

Miller vs. Kennedy is targeted for the as-yet-unofficial "Strikeforce: Columbus," and many observers have speculated that it might carry title implications.

But upon hearing Miller's name, Souza's demeanor changed.

"You kidding me? I beat this guy two times, man," Souza, who won his belt this past August, said. "No more."

We should be so glad that Nick Diaz is willing to fight the two current contenders in his division, even if he thinks they're lame. At the same time, he also said that he doesn't want to fight anyone he's ever fought before, which I'm sure will come back to bite us in the ass down the road.

And remember that no brainer Jason Miller vs Tim Kennedy rubbermatch that might have led to that Mayhem / Jacare rematch everyone wants to see but Jacare refuses to do? It's now off. There's no word on if the deja-vu aspect of it led one of the fighters to turn it down, but for what it's worth there were rumors that Tim and Mayhem weren't particularly stoked about the matchup. Even though it makes sense ... like a penis in a vagina, boy! Y'all don't wanna put the peg in the hole and you wonder why I'm worried about you being a Lily Limpwrist!

Damnit, there I go again.

To think I actually felt a little bad for Nick Diaz when someone threw a beer at him in the cage after his submission win over Evangelista Cyborg. But upon rewatching the incident, it looks like another situation where Diaz couldn't help but start shit. I'm not saying the douchebags who threw shit into the cage aren't responsible as well. But Jesus, Nick. Are you fourteen years old?

(Charlene "Princess" Gellner, fuck yeah!)

If you've got absolutely nothing going on tonight at all, then may I interest you in some Strikeforce prelim action courtesy of Sherdog?

Sportfight welterweight champion Nathan Coy will lock horns with American Kickboxing Academy representative Nate Moore in a preliminary matchup at Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Cyborg” on Saturday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Sherdog.com will stream six undercard bouts live, beginning at 8:15 p.m. ET.

Sherdog.com Live Stream
Nathan Coy vs. Nate Moore
Bobby Stack vs. Isaiah Hill
Eric Lawson vs. Ron Keslar
Germaine de Randamie vs. Stephanie Webber
Lucas Gamaza vs. James Terry
Jenna Castillo vs. Charlene Gellner

Yeah, you could ask why you'd want to watch Strikeforce's prelims when they're often not even put together by Strikeforce. But let's suspend our general cynical natures for a second and try to look at things from a more lovey dovey PLUR viewpoint.

If we encourage Strikeforce by actually watching their prelims when they're on Sherdog or HDNet (as they are for Fedor vs Bigfoot), maybe they'll actually start ponying up some money to put future stars on there worth paying attention to. It may be a longshot considering Strikeforce does what it does based on how much Showtime pays it. But even Showtime may one day wake up from it's boxing delusion that prelims don't matter and see that they're where you groom your stars of tomorrow.

Well it turns out the "Strikeforce: Columbus" card on March 5th won't be quite as stacked as we'd hoped.  ESPN reports that April 9th is pegged as the date for the second set of quarterfinal matches in Strikeforce's ambitious heavyweight tournament, featuring Alistair Overeem vs Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett vs Brett Rogers, at a "to be determined" location.  Translation: wherever they can get Barnett licensed.  Scott Coker has confirmed the card will also feature the return of lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez, and Dream star Tatsuya Kawajiri is rumoured to be his opponent.

The lawless locale for this event could be Japan after all, as Coker is said to be meeting with reps from Real Entertainment, who are partners with FEG in DREAM:

Sotaro Shinoda, a representative for Real Entertainment, the Japanese company that co-produced Pride events before partnering with FEG to form Dream in 2008, is expected to meet with Coker Thursday evening to discuss details about bringing the Showtime-televised card to Tokyo.

Strikeforce and Dream have partnered several times in fighter exchanges. The April card would mark Strikeforce's first event in Japan -- a goal of Coker's since he entered the mixed martial arts business in 2006.

Josh Gross also tweeted that even if April 9th in Japan can't be done (and let's be realistic, two months to organize it is a huge effing stretch), Scott Coker was 'gushing' over the possibility of bringing the semi-finals there. We've already stated why we think Japan is a terrible idea. At this point we'll just sit back and take the same attitude we'd have if someone told us they were going to jump the Grand Canyon on a motor scooter: Good luck! It will be an entertaining disaster!

The first set of quarterfinals goes down on February 12th under the way less sketchy control of the New Jersey athletic commission, with Fedor vs "Bigfoot" Silva, and Andrei "PeePee Taste" Arlovski vs Sergei "I Will Break You" Kharitonov.  Also on that card are the reserve matches, with Shane del Rosario facing Lavar Johnson, and Alistair's older and shittier brother Valentijn taking on K-1 kickboxer Ray Sefo in Sefo's third MMA fight ever.

A few days ago, Nick Diaz said he wanted to make a million bucks plus per fight. We all laughed it off as standard Nick Diaz pot talk, and while that might be true, we forgot to factor in the fact that Nick is very, very serious about his pot talk.

Diaz is itching to box, and although he recently re-signed with Strikeforce, according to his trainer, Cesar Gracie, the deal includes a clause that allows Diaz to compete in a boxing match this year.

Diaz is expected to exercise that clause. Facing a recognizable boxer could potentially land Diaz the largest paycheck of his career.

"In boxing, when you're a superstar, you get millions of dollars," Gracie told ESPN.com. "In MMA, you're not making that kind of money.

"We're in negotiations right now with [boxing promoter] Don Chargin. We would very much like to take a boxing match. It would probably be at super middleweight [168 pounds].

Two current options being mulled over are the retired Fernando Vargas and chain smoking Ricardo Mayorga, who's last brush with MMA involved an MMA fight with Din Thomas that never happened. But while a boxing match might pay more than what Strikeforce is currently ponying up, Diaz's dreams of millions still may not be the most realistic in the world. BloodyElbow does the math and comes to this conclusion:

I'm not sure that the money is out there for Diaz to make more than the $50k (purse only, not including sponsors) he made against KJ Noons or the reported $100k he made fighting Zaromskis simply because of the myth that all boxers take home absurd paychecks. The draw in a boxing match is going to be the boxer and no established boxer is taking a 50/50 split to fight someone who doesn't advance their career.

I don't know if I'd be so quick to say that. There's a whole bunch of opportunistic boxers out there who'd probably think an MMA vs Boxing PPV on boxing's turf would bring in enough to make it worth their while. Hell, Roy Jones Jr already challenged Nick Diaz to a fight ... in MMA!

Plus, even if Nick can't make a few million off his first boxing match, that ignores another important pot-fueled factor in his decision to dabble in the sweet science: he plans on winning, again and again and again.

Contrary to popular belief, I actually like Strikeforce. It's just hard to focus on the positive aspect of the promotion when stories like this seem to constantly come out. Well, not stories exactly like this. I don't think Scott Coker has been called a 'pig fucker' before. But this is another tale of a fighter - Siyar Bahadurzada this time - unhappy with how he's been treated by the promotion:

"It made no fucking sense, man!" Bahadurzada says as his voice becomes a tangle of confusion and anger. "They came to me and my management! They wanted me to fight for them. These assholes... [Strikeforce President]Scott Coker and [Strikeforce Matchmaker]Rich Chou couldn't even return a call after talking about how they're so excited to have me in Strikeforce."

Still, a contract is a contract and Bahadurzada knew he would get a fight eventually. An illusion shattered this morning when, according to Bahadurzada, he found out from Team Golden Glory management that Strikeforce has yet to sign the contract they offered him 10 months ago.

"They've been dicking me around for 10 months, man. 10 fucking months of my career they dicked me around ." Says Bahadurzada as his voice strains with emotion. "I turned down some big opportunities because of this shit. Bellator offered me a contract for good money and we told them no because of the Strikeforce contract. If these motherfuckers didn't want me, all they had to do was say so and fine. Instead, Scott 'Pig Fucker" Coker and Rich 'Fuck' Chou want to play games with me!"

I'd also be kinda upset at my management for waiting 10 months to mention Strikeforce didn't sign anything, but based on the above freak out I'm sure they got their share of bestiality themed profanity as well.