Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals: 6 Bold Predictions

On September 10th, the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix continues!

This has the potential to be one of the biggest cards of the year, as it features the semi-finals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix, pitting Josh Barnett against Sergei Kharitonov, and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva against Daniel Cormier.

Additionally, Ronaldo Souza will defend his Middleweight championship against up-and-comer, Luke Rockhold.

When is the last time you saw a title fight as the third fight down on the main card?

Also, you've got Roger Gracie taking a big step up in competition, as he takes on former light heavyweight champion, Muhammed Lawal.

So here, without further ado, are six bold (and some not so bold) predictions about the upcoming card.

Luke Rockhold Will Make It to the Second Round for the First Time...

...and then lose by submission.

Rockhold (7-1) is not ready for a fighter of Souza's (14-2 [1 NC]) caliber.

All of Rockhold's fights have been finished in the first round, and he has 6 submissions, 1 TKO, and a knockout loss.

Unfortunately, Rockhold is also only a brown belt in BJJ.

On the other hand, Souza is a black belt in BJJ, and is one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in the world today.

Souza will get Rockhold to the ground and show his grappling superiority. Not to mention, Rockhold has been out for more than 18 months, and ring rust will be a factor. Not everyone can be Rashad Evans.

Roger Gracie Will Submit Muhammed Lawal

Roger Gracie (4-0) will be taking on Muhammed Lawal (7-1) on the main card of the night.

Gracie has been able to submit all 4 of his opponents, three of them in the first round. The only person to make it into the second was Kevin Randleman.

Gracie has been fighting pretty decent competition since his debut, with wins over Ron Waterman, Yuki Kondo, Randleman, and Trevor Prangley.

Gracie has shown the ability to take down his opponents, and Lawal will be no different, but it will be his hardest test yet.

Lawal had a college record of 184-96 during his career, and he won three DII championships during his tenure at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Look for another first round finish by Gracie in this one.

Daniel Cormier Will Upset Antonio Silva

Daniel Cormier (8-0) became an alternate for the Heavyweight Grand Prix when he defeated Jeff Monson by unanimous decision at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum.

Then he got the opportunity of a lifetime.

Alistair Overeem was forced to pull out of the scheduled fight against Antonio Silva, citing a broken toe, among other injuries, and not enough time to rehab them for the fight.

Cormier now comes in, presumably as a huge underdog, to Silva.

This fight will be very interesting.

Silva (14-2) has a black belt in Judo, BJJ, and Karate, and has recently started training at Team Black House, with Anderson Silva, the Nogueira brothers, and others. Not a bad resume.

What Cormier brings in is knockout power, and oh yeah, Olympic caliber wrestling.

Cormier placed fourth in the 2004 Olympics, and in 2008, he was named team captain, but was unfortunately unable to participate.

These two each have their own skills, but what could make this matchup even more interesting?

Silva is 6'4'', Cormier is 5'9''.

Fights with big height advantages are always fun to watch.

Sergei Kharitonov Will Knock out Josh Barnett

Kharitonov (18-4) has fought against some of the best around.

He's beaten Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Pedro Rizzo, Semmy Schilt, and Ninja Rua. That's not bad.

Many pegged Kharitonov as the "dark horse" of the tournament. When he beats Barnett he'll prove them all right.

Barnett comes into this fight on a seven fight win streak, including victories over Brett Rogers, Pedro Rizzo, and Jeff Monson.

Kharitonov is the best fighter you've never heard of, and he's going to take down Barnett on his way to a finals matchup with Daniel Cormier.

They Will Bring Both Fighters into the Cage to Square off

This one isn't all that bold, but it's probably going to happen.

They're going to do this just for promotional purposes and so all the fans get to see what they want.

Unfortunately for Strikeforce, the tournament just didn't work out how they'd hoped.

Fedor got eliminated.

Overeem knocked out Werdum.

Overeem then pulled out.

Those three were the biggest names in the tournament, and aside from all three of them being on the same side of the bracket, they were pulling for one of them to make the finals.

Instead they'll be stuck with fighters that the casual fan hasn't heard of.

Therefore...

Nobody but Hardcore Fans Will Care About the Finals

Sergei Kharitonov, Daniel Cormier, Antonio Silva and Josh Barnett.

You ask most fans out there, and maybe they've heard of Josh Barnett.

Those other three? No idea.

Strikeforce was hoping to make the finals their debut on PPV, but that's clearly not going to happen, even if my predictions for the finalists are way off.

The flaws of this tournament just go to show that there are too many ways that the tournament format can fall apart in the end.

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