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The Strikeforce Champions, should they get title fights right away?

3K views 28 replies 27 participants last post by  El Bresko 
#1 ·
I brought this up in the big Hendricks thread in reference to Nate but I'd like to get everyone's take on this.

Strikeforce obviously is closing down and Ronda has already been crowned the Women's Champ, no problem with that because the UFC didn't have a Women's division before but every time the UFC has brought a company into the UFC the champs of said company got unification matches Dan Henderson got two of them against Rampage and Anderson and Anthony Pettis was set to fight the winner of the second Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard fight until it ended up in a draw, others have brought their titles over to the UFC and been crowned UFC Champ such as Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, and most recently Ronda Rousey.

But what about Ronda's fellow SF Champs, Luke Rockhold, Gilbert Melendez and Nate Marquardt?

Anderson's management has already stated a Rockhold fight interests them, and Melendez is being thrown around as a potential opponent for Bendo in his next fight, Nate's name hasn't been mentioned that much but he has a defense scheduled for the upcoming January show, however if he wins where does he fit into the Welterweight picture, if Rockhold and Melendez get title shots, wouldn't it be right for Nate to get one right away?

Also, how do you think they would do in the UFC? Do they have a shot at winning gold?

What does MMAF think about Rockhold, Nate, and Gil in the UFC? Personally, I feel Jacare is better than Rockhold and won their fight and I think he'll do better than Luke.
 
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#2 ·
I say yes, since the Pride guys got title unification bouts right away. Well, except Gomi since he went elsewhere and lost a few fights.

Then again, the WEC guys didn't get immediate title fights.... so it's a hard call.
 
#24 · (Edited)
They will, Pettis was supposed to but he took a fight to stay active and lost. Aldo and Cruz didnt have to because they dont have a UFC counterpart at the time. Melendez/Bendo, Rockhold/Silva (this will be interesting lol), Nate/GSP (dont think will happen, they friends), Cormier/JDS, these will happen as of now. I believe Hendo was supposed to fight Jon Jones right away, but IIRC their was a mix up. The UFC has a habit of giving them an instant unification bout if the UFC Champion isint tied up/injured and the challenger wants to have a risky "test fight"

You could say that GSP/Condit was the real unification fight as Condit was the "linear" WEC and StrikeForce WW Champion. So in a way, GSP has all 3 WW Belts, might get 2 SF ones if he fights Nate. lol
 
#3 ·
I wouldn't mind it at all, they are all top 5 caliber fighters, so why not. But I say no. Rockhold and Gil to a lesser extent aren't huge names for UFC only fans. If they bring them over and give them a favorable matchup they could get their UFC cred. But I wouldn't mind if any of them got a shot.

In order of who deserves it Melendez probably deserves it the most. Then Rockhold. Then Marquardt.

I would pick none of them vs. the current champ. Melendez would definatly give Bendo a good fight though. Actually that would be an awesome fight, but Benndo's kicks and cardio would be the difference.
 
#4 ·
No, none of them are at that level, it would be a crime, the closest to being an elite fighter is likely Melendez but it sucks to be him cause he is in the most stacked division in MMA.
 
#5 ·
I would say no. I think you have to give them warm up fights against top 5 competition to A)get them fan recognition because lets face casual fans thing of SF as the UFC minor leagues and B)to see if they can hang with there counterparts.
Also, Pride and SF are two totally different companies and you're forgetting about DC who was the HW tournament winner which I believe also made him the HW champion.
 
#6 ·
Yeah anyone who thinks SF is on Prides level knows nothing about Pride. People debated over what was better Pride or UFC , nobody is calling SF the #1 company in MMA.
 
#7 ·
In regards to Nate Marquardt...I think we will see reluctance from him or GSP to fight each other, they have always been and currently are close training partners.

WW-
Nate is a new champ (has yet to defend the belt) I think he should have to fight a few bouts at WW, the Koschecks/Fitch's, etc he has a bout in January so we can wait on him.

MW-
Rockhold cleaned out Strikeforce...he should be put into the MW picture with Belcher, Belfort/Bisping, Weidman,

LW-
Gil should be given an immediate shot as he is the longest standing Strikeforce champ..or immediate after Pettis/Cerrone..Maybe give him Maynard for next #1 contendor spot

HW-
Cormier should have to fight again after Jan 14..Overeem is getting the next shot so if Cormier is staying at HW give him another fight
 
#8 ·
I think they all need a warm up fight as well. I am really interested seeing Nate fight a top UFC WW to see if he still looks as beast as he did in his last fight. Just hard to compare the UFC WW div to any other org's since it's so stacked. Same with LW.
 
#9 ·
All the Strikeforce fighters should come to the UFC as interim title holders

LW division, Gilbert Melendez faces Benson Henderson for the LW belt.

WW division, Johny Hendricks gets a crack at Nate Marquardt for his interim belt, GSP still gets Diaz but Hendricks gets to be a WW champion which wins over Fitch, Koscheck, Kampmann, and Marquardt would entitle him.

MW division, Luke Rockhold faces the winner of Belfort/Bisping for an interim title, fights Chris Weidman or Tim Boetsch while Anderson takes his time off, fights GSP/Jones.

HW division, Daniel Cormier faces Fabricio Werdum or Allistair Overeem after that he faces Dos Santos/Cain.
 
#11 ·
No. They all need to do an Overeem. Come in and fight a top contender. If they destroy them, then title shot e.g. Overmeem. If they win unimpressively, another fight first, that is what should have happened with Shields. If they lose then tough luck and let them work there way up the ranks e.g. Lombard or Pettis.

Gil Melendez, Marquardt, Rockhold and Cormier are all great fighters, but they are not well known enough and have not done enough to warrant an instant shot. Giving them a casual UFC fan intro fight will probably damn near double the PPV for the title fight over an instant title shot.
 
#13 ·
No.... like hell no. The only reason the UFC would ever do that is to prove once and for all they have all the best talent as their champions finish the SF HW's within a round.

I'm not saying they aren't talented fighters, but they have yet to prove they can hang with the elite of the elite.
 
#14 ·
Yeah, I agree with the idea that they have an "intro" fight. Maybe a top fiver or someone in the upper mid tier. Like Jake Shields for instance. Of course that could backfire like it did for him, and they'll have a lackluster showing. Then again, he did get the title shot after all, so I guess it doesn't matter as long as UFC fans know who they are before they get the title shot.
 
#16 ·
In fairness shields went back down in weight for the first time in several years and history has shown that going up staying there for an extended period then moving back down will destroy a guy.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3
 
#19 ·
Great topic btw

Anyway SF talent is superthin. Jake came over and that didn't go well and he beat Hendo. Not saying they don't have some possible great match ups in the UFC but to come into a title shot isnt realist. Lombard didn't do it and he was on a streak like no other and then he comes in a losses to Tim. Imagine if he came in and fought Anderson. I think the reason Pride guys came over is because those were match ups that people wanted to see for years and at the time those divisions weren't too deep and the popularity of the UFC was still growing.

They gotta at the vbery least be coming in to face a #1 contenders fight. Except Nate, I mean he wasnt exactly in the title hunt when he left. I believe he was 2-2 in his last four fights in the octagon.
 
#23 ·
I'd like to see a Strikeforce vs UFC card featuring all the big names in Strikeforce. A good main event for that card would be Melendez vs Henderson or perhaps Cormier vs The winner of Dos Santos vs Velasquez. I doubt it will happen though. I don't think Rockhold should jump ahead of all the UFC contenders to fight Silva, I think he should be matched up against Belcher or maybe Weidman. Marquardt is in a tough spot cause I know him and GSP are friends and training partners which often stops guys from wanting to fight each other. Hopefully they realize that their is no friends when it comes to business and if Marquardt can knock off a top welterweight contender(Hendricks) then I think he and GSP should be matched up and would make for a great fight.
 
#25 ·
I have no problems w/ any unification title bouts personally and think it makes for interesting fights. I do not agree who act like the UFC champs are completely on a different level. Better, probably, but I bet most of the fights would actually be pretty good (not all).....:thumb02:
 
#26 ·
Strictly from a marketing perspective I don't understand why the UFC doesn't do this more often. I know this isn't a Strikeforce example but look at Hector Lombard, he dominated in Bellator for years looking invincible. If they made his first fight against Anderson Silva it would of been huge. I think most educated MMA fans would of picked Silva but there was definitely an "unknown" about Lombard. To the relatively uniformed MMA fans they would of seen it as a super fight. Lombard gets Boetsch instead and loses...and now the Silva/Lombard fight may never happen.
 
#28 ·
Pride was not only a rival organization, but had elite fighters.

Overeem
Rampage KOed Chuck twice
Wandy
Big Nog toppled Tim Slyvia for the belt and beat Randy Couture.
Mirko was the only one who couldn't quite put together solid wins with top contenders.
Shogun
Hendo (already fought in the UFC before)

and of course Anderson Silva. Fedor was the only one who didn't join the UFC.

SF on the other hand is nowhere near the level of the UFC. Nate is a UFC fighter in my mind. Luke...is top 20. Melendez is a legit top five or top 10. Overeem was the fighter everybody wanted to see.

Nick Diaz was already in the UFC. He lost to Diego Sanchez and will lose to big wrestlers pretty much any day of the week. Against elite strikers he has shown incredible brilliance. I can't believe he decimated Frank, Zaromskis, Daley, BJ Penn, and gave Condit a run for his money.

I mean who's the LHW champ now. None of em except for Gegard is top tiered. King Mo...is so so, Feijao is mediocre, etc. SF is a feeder organization. It was the woman's and HW division that made SF.

Immediate match ups I'd like to see.

Nate Marquardt vs Rory vs GSP. All trained together.

Luke Rockhold vs Rich Franklin. They're very similar.

Gegard Mousassi vs Glover Texiera to show how good Gegard is. Gegard can beat virtually every LHW. Machida, Phil Davis, and Rashad would give him some difficulties.

The answer is yes to LW and WW. No to MW and LHW. As for HW yes everybody wanted to see it and probably will happen soon.
 
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