It’s been fifteen months since Strikeforce held the first round of the Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament. And in that time, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva have been drafted to the UFC and substitute Daniel Cormier (9-0) punched his way to the finals and will be facing Josh Barnett (31-5) in the main event on Saturday, May 19th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
As most thought Fedor Emilianenko and Alistair Overeem would be the two left in the final, fate had other plans as Fedor was picked off by Silva and Overeem was brought over to the UFC to face Brock Lesnar at the end of 2011.
Now, Josh Barnett will try to continue his winning streak in the tournament and put a stop to Cormier’s Cinderella story. In the co-main event of the night, a rubber match between Josh “The Punk” Thomson (19-4, 1NC) and Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (20-2) will also take place. As the UFC appears to be handpicking Strikeforce fighters lately, it seems that they have left Melendez to carry the weight of the company on his shoulders.
With Melendez being ranked number one or two, depending on who you talk to, in the world lightweight rankings, it will only be a matter of time until he will be under the UFC banner. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (11-3) will also face Mike Pyle (19-8-1) on the main card.
Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Final: Barnett vs. Cormier is Saturday, May 19th at 10pm ET at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA.
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