Strikeforce has created a hell of a stir in the UFC

[Mikedh]

Not trying to imply Lawler was a fantastic MW. But he was regarded as a solid one for quite awhile, up until a couple fights after Shields. And their HW division still had some good matches. Cormier vs Bigfoot (Cormier's coming out party), Werdum vs Fedor and Bigfoot vs Fedor (the end of Fedor's run), Barnett vs Rogers and Sergei, Barnett vs Cormier. SF is responsible for Cormier's rise and was the stage for the fall of the GOAT. That's pretty historic in MMA.

Also, I think you're hyping up Zuffa buying SF. They didn't really do much. It was noted on a few occasions that SF was still operating under their own terms. That's why it took as long as it did to fold the fighters into the UFC. Contracts and shit. So I don't see how their involvement means much for the legacy SF brought over. Sure, Zuffa bought them, but even if they hadn't do you really think a guy like Rockhold wouldn't have turned into a MW star like he did over there?

I said the HW division was good. I wouldn't put Rogers in that, because like I said, outside of an instant KO he has never defeated a top 50 fighter. It's just that outside of HW they rarely had anything but squash matches that were not title fights because they were so thin. We did get Lawler and Melvin which was a dream fight, but not a lot of stuff like that.

After Zuffa bought them Rockhold (who haden't done anything previously) broke out. No one else. So they had Jacare, Rockhold and Rockhold? Not really a deep MW division when you have to work in Keith Jardine into the title mix. Rockhold got his title fight by beating Bellator WW Paul Bradley. Jardine got it in a bullshit draw in another division. Kennedy got another title shot by beating Manhoef who can't beat a grappler and Robbie Lawler who was coming off a loss. So if you want to include the Zuffa era Strikeforce stuff, remember that they were about as deep as putting Keith Jardine in the title mix who had gotten beat in his last five previous fights and had a bullshit draw in a different division. That is how deep it was.

 

[ShreddinMMA]

I said the HW division was good. I wouldn't put Rogers in that, because like I said, outside of an instant KO he has never defeated a top 50 fighter. It's just that outside of HW they rarely had anything but squash matches that were not title fights because they were so thin. We did get Lawler and Melvin which was a dream fight, but not a lot of stuff like that.

After Zuffa bought them Rockhold (who haden't done anything previously) broke out. No one else. So they had Jacare, Rockhold and Rockhold? Not really a deep MW division when you have to work in Keith Jardine into the title mix. Rockhold got his title fight by beating Bellator WW Paul Bradley. Jardine got it in a bullshit draw in another division. Kennedy got another title shot by beating Manhoef who can't beat a grappler and Robbie Lawler who was coming off a loss.

I didn't say they were great match ups at MW. I said they were understandable. Given they had to preserve their named fighters star power, a lot of those match ups made sense. Plus, they weren't always horrible.

 

[Mikedh]

I didn't say they were great match ups at MW. I said they were understandable. Given they had to preserve their named fighters star power, a lot of those match ups made sense. Plus, they weren't always horrible.

But it wasn't deep at MW. It was about as deep as a division that gives a fighter from another division who had not won his previous six televised fights a title shot. I would say that is the opposite of deep.

 

[ShreddinMMA]

But it wasn't deep at MW. It was about as deep as a division that gives a fighter from another division who had not won his previous six televised fights a title shot. I would say that is the opposite of deep.

Eh. I guess that's fair. Still...MW was all crap back then for awhile. The UFC didn't exactly have a great one either.

MW in general got interesting with the SF merger. But yeah, you're right on this one.

 

[Plissken]

You wanna play that game? Ok, Velasquez was in strikeforce first.

Lawler fought for the UFC for years, Werdum had 4 UFC fights. Cain had 1 Strikeforce fight, his first fight. Technically most of these guys fought in Pride first (Mousasi, Werdum, Melendez, Jacare).

 

[jmd69]

Ya know....the argument doesn't really matter. Strikeforce does not exist anymore...all the aforementioned fighters are UFC fighters. Next thread please.

 

[lsa]

I never understood threads like this. SF does nothing in the UFC..
Fighters does, former orgs does not make a fighter good or special..
His talent, dedication and training does.

And there are no strikeforce fighters in the UFC.
I am pretty sure if you ask them they will say they are a UFC fighter.

 

[BulldogWrestler]

these guy were always good if you know how to examine technique and fighting ability

the majority of the fucking morons on this site who called all these guys "washouts" or "B-Level" fighters only looked at the promotions and not the fighters themselves

I remember people giving me tons shit for saying Brock Lesnar wouldn't survive the Strikeforce HW GP Final

 

[campbecc]

Lawler was in the UFC first

and so was Fabricio...

when people are comparing Strikeforce vs UFC fighters they are typically talking about the last few years before UFC bought Strikeforce. It's just a continuation of the debate, UFC only fans kept saying Strikeforce sucked and their fighters would stand no chance in "the big leagues".

Same thing with WEC 155ers, people said they all sucked and they are owning the UFC fighters of the same era :icon_chee

 

[Redhawks100]

Mousasi looked great against a guy that he was supposed to beat.

 

[cgf]

BFC Heavyweight Division also includes names like Vitaly Minakov, Blagoi Ivanov and Alexander Volkov. All 3 of them would create some waves in the UFC.

Not yet. Minakov's lack of head movement and cardio are big holes he needs to address before he's a real threat to teh top heavies in teh UFC. Volkov needs to show he can defend the take down without his striking going to shit like it did against Ivanov, and Ivanov's striking needs to improve to. I like all three guys but they've still got work to do before being able to make any sort of real impact on the UFC's HW division.

 

[cgf]

these guy were always good if you know how to examine technique and fighting ability

the majority of the fucking morons on this site who called all these guys "washouts" or "B-Level" fighters only looked at the promotions and not the fighters themselves

I remember people giving me tons shit for saying Brock Lesnar wouldn't survive the Strikeforce HW GP Final

To be fair Robbie flies in the face of that, the fighter he's been since coming back to the UFC and fighting at WW is a completely different level than he had ever been before, and he's jsut looking better with each fight.

 

[boudstyle]

you wanna play games....lets look at the guys listed and see what their first main promotion was

Gil - WEC
Jacare - Dream
Werdum - Pride
Gegard - Pride
Lawler - UFC


so Strikeforce have
DC
Rockhold

so if you want to play games....Strikeforce only have two guys.

I like how you end with strikeforce ONLY have two guys.
Which in your lists ties them for ONLY the first place with Pride.

 

[Rhood]

Strikeforce was better than Pride

 

[stav]

No one doubted that the top 1-2 fighters in each weight class from WW-HW in SF were good and would be competitive in the UFC.

The prob is the UFC haters proclaimed them the uncrowned UFC champs and none have managed to claim a crown.

The UFC post pride merger had the majority of the top talent in each weight class from WW-LHW with HW being about 50/50 I'm talent.

This has been proven in the UFC in the last 2 years.
SF champs have done well but have had countless chances at either the title or no 1 contender shots and failed.
Diaz
Rockhold
Lawler
Mousasi
Lombard
Melendez

All great fighters def making waves but falling short of the god hood that UFC haters proclaimed they were.

 

[Non]

They're all UFC fighters now. It doesn't really matter.

 

[Mikedh]

when people are comparing Strikeforce vs UFC fighters they are typically talking about the last few years before UFC bought Strikeforce. It's just a continuation of the debate, UFC only fans kept saying Strikeforce sucked and their fighters would stand no chance in "the big leagues".

Same thing with WEC 155ers, people said they all sucked and they are owning the UFC fighters of the same era :icon_chee

It's a bunch of UFC fighters fighting other UFC fighters.

 

[Redhawks100]

Werdum fought in the UFC before Strikforce
Lawler fought in the UFC before Strikeforce
Melendez already failed at winning the title before
Mousasi lost a big fight to Machida

Lol

 

[Mikedh]

What Strikeforce, WEC and Pride fights are you guys looking forward to next? Really looking forward to their next events.

 

[Martinezzz]

Lawler was in the UFC first

and so was Fabricio...

Yeah but dana said they cant cut it in UFC and are UFC rejects