Strikeforce Grand Prix: Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier, Head-to-Toe Breakdown

We interrupt this talk of one promotion's story of a fighter returning after a long illness to fight another fighter who's debuting while another crazy fighter gets replaced by another fighter to bring you a preview of another promotion's fight, wherein one fighter is replacing another fighter who left for the aforementioned promotion in a heavyweight tournament.

Got it? Great.

The fight in question is Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier. They square off this Saturday at Strikeforce 36 in the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, in which Cormier is filling in for Alistair Overeem, who you may have heard is now facing Brock Lesnar at UFC 141.

Here's the full scoop on the matchup between these two formidable heavyweights.

5. Wrestling

Cormier fans know his wrestling bona fides are almost unparalleled in mixed martial arts. He wrestled in the NCAA national championship, was a member of the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Olympic teams and has plenty of decorations from a range of international competitions.

Physically, he's a fire hydrant of a man. But an incredibly skilled fire hydrant. 

Bigfoot has shown some takedown ability and some very nice ground-and-pound, but he's simply not on par with Cormier when it comes to wrestling.

Advantage: Cormier

4. Striking

This one's tougher to call. Both men have dangerous hands, and love to throw them.

Eleven of Silva's 16 wins have come by striking-related stoppage, including pounding Fedor Emelianenko into a towel throw in his previous bout.

Not to be outdone, five of Cormier's eight wins have come from strikes. His fists are particularly lethal, though his training at the American Kickboxing Academy should have him well prepared and well rounded in the stand-up department.

Nevertheless, I'm giving a slight edge here to Silva. He has displayed a stronger technical game to this point, including a propensity for mixing legs and knees into his attack.

Advantage: Silva

3. Submissions

Cormier has shown he can sink in a choke or two, but I'm giving the advantage to the fighter who earned a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the Nogueira brothers.

Advantage: Silva

2. Intangibles

This one is interesting.

On endurance: Both men haven't exactly proven to be bulletproof in this area, but with 17 of their 26 combined MMA fights ending in the first round, it hasn't really been an issue yet. Will it be an issue in this fight? We'll see.

On heart: Both men have faced some good, even great, fighters, but neither has arguably competed at the top levels of a top promotion against an opponent in top condition with major stakes on the line.

Advantage: Push

1. Bottom Line

I hate to deal in theoreticals, but this one might come down to who wants it more, and/or who can dictate where the fight takes place. That said, neither has a clear advantage either in stand-up or ground phases; Cormier has to respect Silva's judo and jiu-jitsu, while Silva can't look past Cormier's fists.

In the end, I'm going with Silva. Cormier is a formidable fighter, but all three of my regular readers will surely remember me picking Silva to win the entire grand prix, even before Overeem bowed out. I see no reason to change that now.

Winner: Antonio Silva, TKO, Round 2