Strikeforce Grand Prix: Should Underdog Daniel Cormier be the Tournament Favorite?

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament continues tonight with the semi-final fights, which include Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov and Antonio “Big Foot” Silva vs. Daniel Cormier.

As we head into tonight’s main card, Josh Barnett currently sits as the favorite to win the whole tournament. Should he really be the favorite?

Cormier, the newcomer to the tournament, is generally considered a fairly big underdog to win it all. He is the only remaining combatant who wasn’t a part of the original scheduled tournament, but that didn’t stop him from impressing the matchmakers in the organization to make him Alistair Overeem’s replacement when the champion left the company.

As a tournament alternate, Cormier seems to be flying under the radar by most fans and quite a few MMA pundits. While the 32-year-old is relatively new to the sport, he is ready to throw a big wrench in the tournament.

In a tournament that consists of four fighters with very different styles, it could be Cormier’s that is best suited to win back-to-back fights. His undefeated 8-0 record has included victories in a variety of different ways, including knockout, submission and most recently he earned back-to-back unanimous decision victories over Devin Cole and Jeff Monson.

For a fighter with little experience, Cormier is actually one of the more well-rounded fighters in the Strikeforce heavyweight division. Better yet, he already understands how to win.

Utilizing his surprisingly solid boxing skills, Cormier sets up his world class wrestling skills, which he knows he can use to control just about any opponent.

"There is no bigger gap in between skill sets than my wrestling over his wrestling," Cormier told USA Today regarding his opponent Antonio Silva.

"I'm going to try to take him places he hasn't been so far...like make him wrestle for seven minutes if I need to make him wrestle for seven minutes. I've got to get him exhausted."

Cormier trains with world class fighters like Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. These fighters have a long history of knowing exactly what to do to earn victories, even if the fans don’t necessarily like how they do it.

Still, it’s Josh Barnett who has been chosen by the odds-makers as the most likely fighter to win the tournament. The experienced former UFC heavyweight champion dominated his opening round opponent, Brett Rogers, and has the overall skill set to be one of the top fighters in the world once again. After that dominant performance, no one is questioning that Barnett can still fight at an elite level.

While Barnett’s experience and name recognition might make betters comfortable, it could very well be Daniel Cormier who shocks the world by marching to a Grand Prix tournament championship.