http://mmajunkie.com/news/25187/after-semifinal-win-strikeforces-josh-barnett-campaigns-for-shot-at-regular-title.mmaAlistair Overeem is gone from Strikeforce and part of the UFC, and his heavyweight title now sits vacant.
In the meantime, Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier will fight in early 2012 for a heavyweight-grand-prix championship belt.
But following his main-event victory over Sergei Kharitonov (18-5 MMA, 1-1 SF) at Saturday's "Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov" event, Barnett (31-5 MMA, 2-0 SF) publicly stated his case for the tourney winner getting the regular title.
The eight-man heavyweight tournament kicked off earlier this year. Strikerorce CEO Scott Coker maintains it's one of the most star-studded heavyweight-tourney fields in MMA history.
So with the first-round elimination of notable Fedor Emelianenko and Overeem's withdrawal from the semifinals due to injury, Barnett believes he and fellow finalist Cormier – who scored an impressive knockout victory over Antonio Silva in Saturday's Showtime-televised co-headliner – are worthy of Overeem's belt.
So in the night's post-fight press conference at Cincinnati's U.S. Bank Arena, he made his case to Coker.
"All right, Scott," he said. "I love you, but you're my man. Why don't we sweeten the pot? Why don't we put that title on the line between me and Cormier? Either one of us is a grand champion. Either one of us is the kind of guy who will hold it proud, hold our pants up with it, and people will look at us and say, 'Those guys are champs. That's the kind of people we want representing our company; that's the kind of guy I want to look up to and say, 'Hey, you want to see a fighter? You want to see a real bad ass? He's right there. You see the gold around his waist? That's not a joke; that's a reality. The people he had to step over to get it? He earned it.'
"I think (with) that tournament belt, (they did) a beautiful job. That's an amazing belt, but Strikeforce needs a real champ. They need a champ like me and Cormier. One of the two of us has to be it. Because besides us, who is it?"
Barnett has a point. In addition to Emelianenko, fellow heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers were eliminated in the first round of the tournament (and no longer fight for the company). Fabricio Werdum also was eliminated. And following Barnett's first-round submission victory over Kharitonov, the Russian also is out of the picture. The same goes for Silva.
A heavyweight division that once rivaled the UFC's has been whittled down to Barnett and Overeem's replacement, Cormier, who meet in an early-2012 tourney finale.
Coker, though, wasn't willing to grant Barnett his wish. Not yet, anyway. He said he and other company officials will need to discuss the future of the tournament, the heavyweight division, and its currently vacant title.
As for Barnett, who simply smirked at Coker's game plan, he said Saturday's fight went largely as planned.
"I wasn't really surprised, and that's not to say he wasn't skilled," Barnett said of Kharitonov. "It just means I prepared well."
Sure, Barnett ate some punches early, but it ultimately led to a takedown, dominant mount position, and an eventual tap-out from Kharitonov due to an arm-triangle choke.
"I showed up to fight," Barnett said. "Fighting involves boxing, kickboxing, whatever you can pull out of your ass to hit somebody. Grappling, submissions, wrestling. ... You have to go out there and fight this guy, and you better be ready to start from point A to all the way to point Z. Point is starting on the feet. I can fight anyone in the world. I've been there as sparring partners for guys. One of them won the K-1 [kickboxing grand prix].
"I know what it's like to fight on the feet, on the ground and grapple. It's not about doing any one thing. It's always about how to put your game on your opponent. ... That's what it means to be a fighter. Getting hit is part of the plan. I like getting hit. I like the violence. I like the pain. He puts something on me, and I'm going to put it back."
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