The 21 year old Canadian fighter made his debut at Strikeforce: Barnett vs Kharitonov with an explosive tko win against Evangelista Santos @ 3:18 of the 3rd round. He has notable wins over Marius Zaromskis, Josh Burkman and Joe Riggs. His first amateur fight was at the age of 14 and he amassed a 6-1 record before turning pro in 2006. He now stands at 23-7, 13 wins by (t)ko and 7 wins by submission. His strong points is his well-roundedness body shots and reach, his losses have mostly come due to being out-grappled or out-wrestled.
Back in June, Daniel Cormier beat a very game Jeff Monson in Grand Prix Alternate Bout. Just three months later Cormier has entered the Grand Prix due to Alistair Overeem's departure and is now in the finals against Josh Barnett. Last night (Sept, 10) Cormier defeated Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva via first round KO.
Despite being tagged by a pretty good punch by Sergei Kharitonov, Josh Barnett made fairly quick work of his adversary at last nights second leg of The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. With the win Barnett will now take on tournament replacement Daniel Cormier.
Tonight at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio the next leg of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix takes place. The two semi-final bouts are Josh Barnett against Sergei Kharitonov and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva against Daniel Cormier. The fight card also features a middleweight title bout between champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold, as well as "King" Mo Lawal vs Roger Gracie.
The fighters made their way to the scale today at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov will feature the semi finals of the heavyweight grand prix tournament, with the main event being Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov and the co-main event between Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio Silva in semifinal match-ups.
Yesterday in Cincinnati, Ohio the competitors from Saturday's Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov's main card came together for the pre-fight press conference. This card is stacked from the prelims to the main card. The main event is a heavyweight semi finals match between Josh Barnett and Sergei Kharitonov, preceded by the co-main event between Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Daniel Cormier.
When you are away from your job for an extended period of time, you are either not looking forward to going back or excited to go back. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal fits the latter.
The former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion returns to the cage this coming Saturday night as faces Roger Gracie at Strikeforce: Barnett vs Kharitonov live on Showtime at 10:30ET.
