Strikeforce: Light Heavyweight Division Should Be Dissolved

One year ago, Strikeforce had a strong division of light-heavyweight fighters on their roster, led off by a legitimate world champion in Dan Henderson.

The organization had a few budding contenders who could be inserted into title fights in Gegard Mousasi, Roger Gracie and Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.

They had older stars with former glory who could still sell events like Ronato “Babalu” Sobral, Keith Jardine and Kevin Randleman.  

Additionally, rising stars Ovince St. Preux, Lorenz Larkin and more were working their way up the ladder.

Things couldn’t have looked brighter for the Strikeforce light-heavyweight division.

Fast forward to today and the division is in desperate need of life support.

Champion Dan Henderson signed on to the UFC last year, taking the belt with him. 

Following a positive test for steroids, Lawal has been suspended for one year.

Roger Gracie has just announced that he is leaving Strikeforce after being called up to the UFC for his next fight.

St. Preux and Larkin were both soundly defeated in their last bouts when finally put against top-tier competition.

Jardine has left the division to try his luck at middleweight.

Randleman has been non-committal to Strikeforce, fighting for other organizations recently and has won only 3 of his last 11 bouts.

Sobral has just signed on with ONE Fighting Championships in Singapore, which is reportedly a globally exclusive contract.

Mousasi can’t fight himself, and even if he could, he can't do it all year long.

It’s ironic that one year ago, the division couldn’t look any brighter, because today, I’m not sure that the lights are on at all.