Filed under: Strikeforce
CINCINNATI -- The post-fight press conference had almost wrapped up, but Josh Barnett couldn't resist. When the topic of conversation turned to what Strikeforce was planning to do about its vacant heavyweight title, Barnett just had to put Scott Coker on the spot."Why don't we sweeten the pot?" Barnett asked. "Why don't we put that title on the line between me and [Daniel] Cormier?"
As he went on to explain, "Strikeforce needs a real champ. It needs a real champ like me or Cormier. Besides us, who is it?"
Coker, who seemed visibly uncomfortable with the question, gave a meandering answer in the form of a history lesson that eventually boiled down to one main point: "Let's just take it one step at a time, Josh."
In other words, Strikeforce isn't committing to anything just yet. Not until it absolutely has to.
And yet, it seems only logical to use the heavyweight Grand Prix to crown a champion now that Alistair Overeem has fled to the UFC and the title is vacant. As Barnett pointed out while slipping into his pro wrestling schtick at the presser, either he or Cormier could be legitimately dubbed the Strikeforce title-holder after winning this tournament.
"Either one of us is a grand champion," said Barnett. "Either one of us is the kind of guy who can take that belt, hold our hands up with it, and people look at us and say, hey, those guys are champs. That's the people we want representing our company. That's the kind of guy I want to look up to and say hey, you want to see a fighter? You want to see a real bad-ass in the world? There he is, right there. See that gold around his waist? That's not a joke. That's reality. The people he had to step over to get that, he earned it."
As Barnett said later, this was a speech he meant to give in the cage for all to see, but forgot it in the post-fight confusion.
"But I really believe that, once it gets to the finals, there really are no two better fighters to represent Strikeforce as a heavyweight champion," he said. "This is not where we intended to be at this point with the tournament, but the fact of the matter is, this is where we are. We have no champ. It's vacant. We can't walk around like that. We can't hold our heads as high if we don't have a heavyweight champion."
The fact that Strikeforce officials won't go ahead and put the title on the line makes you wonder, what are they saving it for? Or perhaps, is it a decision that's out of their hands, now that Zuffa owns the organization and seems to be picking it apart one piece at a time?
"I don't even want to go there," Barnett said. "I could speculate. I've been in this longer than almost anybody you can find at any of these events. But I just don't want to do it."
At the moment, he said, his more immediate goal is not just beating Cormier in the finals, but getting at least one takedown to prove that he's capable of putting a former Olympic wrestler on his back.
"I've got to get that takedown on DC," he said during the press conference, adding that he knew if he managed to do it, "Mo [Lawal] will never let him live it down, ever."
From the other side of the podium Cormier just grinned and leaned forward into his microphone.
"Not happening," he said.
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/09/11/josh-barnett-lobbies-for-strikeforce-to-put-heavyweight-title-up/
Javier Mascherano Javier Zanetti Jeff Overton Jim Furyk Joe Cole
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