Jan SF: Gil-Healy, Nate-Sponge, Rockhold-Larkin, Cormier....

vs. Dion Staring

http://mmajunkie.com/news/31510/strikeforce-on-jan-12-melendez-healy-rockhold-larkin-marquardt-saffiedine-title-fights.mma

Strikeforce's next event will feature three title fights and the return of its heavyweight grand prix winner.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with company officials the bouts include lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez (21-2 MMA, 11-1 SF) vs. Pat Healy (28-16 MMA, 6-1 SF), middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (10-1 MMA, 9-0 SF) vs. Lorenz Larkin (13-0 MMA, 4-0 SF), and welterweight champion Nate Marquardt (32-10-2 MMA, 1-0 SF) vs. Tarec Saffiedine (13-3 MMA, 3-1 SF).

Additionally, Daniel Cormier (10-0 MMA, 7-0 SF) will fight fellow heavyweight Dion Staring (28-7 MMA, 0-0 SF) at the Jan. 12 event.

The event takes place at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, which also was scheduled to host a Nov. 3 event. However, the show was canceled following a series of injuries to some of the key fighters. It was Strikeforce's second straight cancellation.

However, officials promised a stacked card upon its return to Showtime and Showtime Extreme in January, and on paper, they've delivered with this latest offering.

Melendez in May beat rival Josh Thomson in a hard-fought split-decision for his seventh consecutive win and fourth straight title defense. He was booked for a September bout against Healy before suffering a training injury that knocked him off the card, then put the card down for the count altogether, the first of the two consecutive Strikeforce event cancellations. Healy earned his shot at the title thanks to five straight Strikeforce wins and eight victories in his past nine overall fights. In July he beat Mizuto Hirota.

MMAjunkie.com late Wednesday was first to report that Rockhold would defend his middleweight title against Larkin on the card. Rockhold and Larkin were scheduled to meet in the Nov. 3 event in Oklahoma City before a Rockhold wrist injury forced him out of the fight. Soon after, the card was scrapped altogether.

Rockhold twice has defended his title twice since winning it against Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in September 2011. In January, he stopped Keith Jardine in the first round. And in July, in a long-awaited fight, he took a unanimous decision against Tim Kennedy. Larkin comes off a unanimous decision sweep of Robbie Lawler in July in his first fight after dropping from light heavyweight to 185 pounds.

Marquardt will defend his title for the first time after stopping Tyron Woodley with a fourth-round knockout in July. That was his return to the Zuffa banner after being cut by the UFC in June 2011 after failing to get medical clearance for his main event against Rick Story at UFC on Versus 4. The failed clearance stemmed from a spike in doctor-approved testosterone replacement therapy, he later revealed. He signed with BAMMA, but was released from his deal with the British promotion before ever fighting for it. Saffiedine in August took a unanimous decision against Roger Bowling in San Diego. After the fight, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he was unsure if Saffiedine would get the first shot at Marquardt, but now that will indeed be the case.

Cormier remains on the Oklahoma City card after being its original headliner for the canceled Nov. 3 show, but things certainly have changed. Cormier, who wrestled collegiately at nearby Oklahoma State, was set to fight former UFC champion Frank Mir in the main event. Now he has three title fights ahead of him at the event, at least according to traditional MMA main-card pecking order, and he's facing a journeyman making his Strikeforce debut – though that journeyman is the main training partner of Alistair Overeem.

Cormier is likely headed for the UFC following this fight, which will be the final heavyweight bout for Strikeforce after the promotion decided nearly a year ago to dissolve the division and focus on the other weight classes. Cormier dominated Josh Barnett to win the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament earlier this year. Staring has won nine of his past 10 fights with seven by stoppage.

For more on "Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy," stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site

Decent card so far

Dion staring. Whatever, just get this fight over with so Cormier can be done with Strikeforce.

This will be the last Strikeforce card. It's why all the titles are on the line, Cormier is fighting and why Ronda has joined the UFC.

As we already told you, celebrity gossip site TMZ dropped to big announcements on the MMA world Thursday night. Obviously, the first was that WMMA superstar Ronda Rousey will become the first female fighter to compete under the UFC banner. Secondly they reported that the Strikeforce event scheduled for January will be the final card for the promotion.

Ariel Helwani from MMA Fighting has since confirmed both reports. With their final event looming, Strikeforce has pulled out all the stops to go out with a bang. In a press release sent out tonight, the California-based promotion announced that the main card will have 3 championship fights and open with a bout featuring Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier.

Here's how the card looks so far:

Gilbert Melendez vs. Pat Healy
Luke Rockhold vs. Lorenz Larkin
Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring

Strikeforce's last breath will fall on January 12, 2013. The event will take place Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, OK. Helwani also reported that more information will be released early next week. Bloody Elbow will keep you posted as we learn more about the situation.

Huge news no doubt, and one that deserves it's own thread.

Does Showtime stay in the business? I say no. Too tough for a pay channel to build an org from scratch with so much free MMA out there.

Nah, don't see why they would.

Boxing is really heating up for Showtime again, so they'll probably invest even more into that now.

I think if Showtime wants MMA on their channel, they will look to an organization not owned by Zuffa. I could see them trying to work with the likes of M-1, MFC, XFC, TFC, etcFC.,. Even doing some financial and branding their own collaboration promotion. IF they want to keep on with MMA. But I think they want to be rid of Zuffa.

Well I guess since I bought tickets for the last event that didn't happen and they are coming to OKC I'll go ahead and get tickets to SF final event. Sad ending to an EPIC promotion.

Would be cool if Showtime could get another promotion like MFC or maybe Tachi. HDNet(AXS) needs to pickup OneFC.

Ryan Couture vs KJ Noons added to the card.

Great card, but can't Strikeforce just fold already?

Ninja wrote:

Great card, but can't Strikeforce just fold already?

It's a farewell card.

Right on, I have been out of the loop a bit.

MMA H.E.A.T.

According to our friends at TATAME, Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez will not be able to fight Pat Healy in January. Trainer Cesar Gracie says the Strikeforce Lightweight Champ's shoulder has not healed enough for him to train, an the Dr. says he can't fight yet. So, they will focus on recovery and hopefully debut in the UFC soon.

I've got a feeling Gil is delaying so he can move straight into the UFC.

Ali wrote:

I've got a feeling Gil is delaying so he can move straight into the UFC.

That's what I thought also.

freakzilla wrote:

Ali wrote:

I've got a feeling Gil is delaying so he can move straight into the UFC.

That's what I thought also.

I can see it as well. Healy is tough and makes fights ugly. Difficult fight for a high ranked guy to boost his stock.