The Strikeforce Jiu-Jitsu Clinic

In two weeks, Strikeforce will return to St. Louis for a fantastic card that, the management can only hope, will make for a much more exciting series of fights than the CBS card which both flopped and drew heavy criticism. The best case scenario for Strikeforce is a stellar showing from many of the biggest names that the promotion has to offer.

Apart from friend of the site Antwain Britt (11-3 MMA), who will be fighting on the main card, taking on the Brazilian Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (8-2 MMA), the card will present the Strikeforce debut for one of the most exciting prospects in the sport today, and the greatest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor in the world. Roger Gracie (2-0 MMA) will make his lightheavyweight debut against former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman (17-14 MMA, 4-3 UFC) in a bout where he should be heavily favored.

While Roger Gracie (as the best BJJ competitor in the world) is, ipso facto, the best BJJ competitor in mixed martial arts, one of the best competitors to make the transition from BJJ to MMA, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (11-2-0-1 MMA, #10 IWMMAR) will return to the cage to face Joey Villasenor (27-6 MMA). While the main event and co-main event on the card promise substantial stand-up bouts, the submission clinic promised by Gracie and Souza should make for a good night for those fans of the ground game.

Souza, no one should forget, is coming off of a huge submission win over Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland (21-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in his Strikeforce debut, and may be in a prime position to take a shot at the organization’s current middleweight champion Jake Shields (25-4-1 MMA, #7 IWMMAR) if he puts on a good show against Villasenor.

Of course, the top of the Strikeforce card is what’s going to draw most of the attention, with four massive heavyweights who make up the best heavyweights in the division with the exclusion of Fedor Emelianenko (32-1-0-1 MMA, #1 IWMMAR) and Fabricio Werdum (13-4-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC, #10 IWMMAR), who will meet in the cage in June.

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem (32-11-0-1 MMA, #9 IWMMAR) will make his first title defense since winning the belt in November of 2007, as he takes on Brett Rogers (10-1 MMA, #8 IWMMAR) in what looks more like a contender’s bout for a shot at Emelianenko. Of course, Rogers has already lost to Emelianenko, but if he decisively beats Overeem then it’s hard to see Strikeforce finding another opponent for Emelianenko. If Alistair wins, he’s essentially guaranteed a shot at the #1 heavyweight in the world.

If Rogers beats Overeem in an awful performance and Andre Arlovski (15-7 MMA, 10-4 UFC) puts on an impressive showing against Antonio Silva (13-2 MMA), there’s an outside chance that Arlovski could earn a second shot at Fedor, but that seems pretty slim given that Rogers is always going to be a step ahead of him in the rankings after the beating he laid on Arlovski last June. Silva seems almost entirely disqualified because of his problems with steroids, but I suppose if Overeem is disqualified as a contender because of a loss to Rogers and Silva’s win is impressive enough, as the only guy left in the division without a loss to Fedor (assuming that Fedor beats Werdum), there is an argument that can be made for Silva, but still not a very good one.

My money, though, is on Overeem or Rogers, depending on who lands the biggest punch first.

Should be an exciting event which, we hope, will make up for the poor card that Strikeforce broadcast to the small portion of the country who tuned in on CBS.