Strikeforce schedules stacked card for final show ever in Oklahoma City
Adding to the blockbuster announcement that Ronda Rousey and now Miesha Tate will join the UFC as the first two female fighters comes the confirmation that Strikeforce will officially close doors after a January 12th blowout show. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated the following in a press release, courtesy of MMAFighting.com:
“We’ve built an absolutely stacked card for Oklahoma City and the Showtime viewers. We have three awesome title fights featuring some of the best fighters to ever grace the Strikeforce cage. Plus, we have Daniel Cormier, one of the fastest-rising heavyweight stars today, returning to his roots in Oklahoma to fight Dion Staring. January 12 is going to be a really special night.”
The show is set to feature all of the current champions under the Strikeforce banner, and also a bout with their most popular current fighter, Daniel Cormier. Here is how the main card has stacked up so far:
Lightweight championship: Gilbert Milendez vs. Pat Healy
Welterweight chamionship: Nathan Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Middleweight championship: Luke Rockhold vs. Lorenz Larkin
Heavyweight bout: Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring
So, with Strikeforce being gutted and slowly left to die after Zuffa purchased the promotion in 2011, news had been circling that the doors would soon be closed. At least all of the champions have a chance for one last bout before making their way over to the UFC. It will be interesting to see how they fare against the world’s top competition, and it appears Nate Marquardt will make his way back to the Octagon by default. There is top competition left in SF such as Milendez and Cormier, but he seems to be fighting a relatively unknown opponent in Dion Staring. It appears he is merely fulfilling his much talked-about contractual obligations, because this fight is far from the Frank Mir bout he originally had scheduled for earlier this month. What are your thoughts on something we have seen coming for quite some time now?
