I agree that they’re best bet is definitely the castoffs from TUF and if/when Affliction keels over.

That said, why didn’t you mention Arlovski or Tim Sylvia? Both are higher-up fighters with some name value and probably a comparatively small asking price.

but that would be an intriguing match. Gracie was widely believed to be ducking opponents in Sengoku, I wonder if Strikeforce will be willing to give him some squash matches?

I think the fact that Strikeforce and Affliction have proven willing to work together in the past suggests that it’s more likely than not that we’ll see Fedor in the Strikeforce cage, likely in a fight against their World Champion.

Furthermore, Fabricio Werdum remains signed and under-utilized, but would likely be favored in a fight against either Bret Rogers or Alistair Overeem. That makes another credible contender.

The other Affliction heavyweights, such as Barnett, Yvel, Buentello, and Rothwell could also be utilized by Strikeforce to fill out their heavyweight division. Roger Gracie seems more like a long-term prospect, a fighter whose name assures a degree of marketability, and who, if handled correctly, could be a draw for the company.

I think they’ll do just fine.

was a relatively slow, grip-fighting guard puller compared to the other top open-division guys in the BJJ scene. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got a SICK guard, but he was beat several times by Xande Ribiero and was always having a hard time with Jacare (who’s now fighting at middleweight, I believe).

I personally feel Roger should continue taking smaller matches until he proves he can hang with the heavy-handed brawlers who refuse to be taken down easily. Of course, if he starts winning like a madman, I’ll be wearing my gracie barra gi in public and acting like I believed all along.

what about guys like Kharitonov, Dave Herman, Travis Wuiff, Daniel Puder(who i think is already under contract for them) Lavar Johnson? Granted those guys are world beaters, but a couple of them are up and comers. I don’t think that StrikeForce is going to be able to compete with affliction or UFC monetarily, so why not sign guys who are up and coming in hopes of grooming them into champions

I think for Strikeforce the goal should be exciting instead of relevant because relevant would be very hard to do and overly expensive. If they concentrate on the match ups instead of depth they can get the attention now without having to have a huge division.

I think they already have a good group of HW’s they can build on.

Heavyweight:
Alistair Overeem [CHAMP]
Fabricio Werdum
Paul Buentello
Brett Rogers
Roger Gracie
Dave Herman
Shane Del Rosario
Levar “Big” Johnson
Abongo Humphrey
Jon Murphy
Carl Seumanutafa

Possibly Fighting For Strikeforce Soon:
Andrei Arlovski
Tim Sylvia

Buentello was in the UFC and couldn’t hack it

Subo, you crack me up. Buentello was 3-1 in the UFC.

Except Fedor isn’t “the first guy in that echelon” (which presumably included Sylvia, Arlovski, and Randy six months ago); he’s on a totally different echelon, in that he has been outclassing even hall-of-fame caliber opponents like Nogueira for years.

Also, Cheick Kongo and Gabriel Gonzaga, if they weren’t in the UFC, would be derided as fighters on par with the Ben Rothwells, Jeff Monsons, and Paul Buentellos who circulate the MMA heavyweight periphery, so if Velasquez and Carwin’s wins over their first real tests in Kongo and Gonzaga justify their spots in the Top 10, then Barnett’s wins over Monson, Rizzo, and Yvel should count as much or more, given the rest of his resume.

Furthermore, isn’t it bootstrapping to say that Carwin and Lesnar’s wins are more legitimate than Bret Rogers’ over Arlovski? Both Couture and Gonzaga lost to previously unranked heavyweights, and somehow maintained their credibility. (As for Sylvia losing to Mercer, well, he probably isn’t going to recover from that.)

As for Junior Dos Santos, we don’t yet know if he’s the next big thing or the next Gabriel Gonzaga, but the win over Werdum justifies his spot in the Top 10. However, in a division filled with prospects and gatekeepers, there’s a limited hierarchy of fighters with extensive resumes in the UFC to test his skills against, and as such, your analysis (as well as that of most fans) will be heavily slanted in favor of the UFC Hype Machine, which simultaneously touts Brock Lesnar as the Next Fedor while simultaneously undercutting the credibility of the Real Fedor.

And if in a year’s time, Fedor is fighting in the UFC, I’ll tip my hat your way. But in the here and now, there’s still credibility elsewhere.