Listen up, people, and listen good, the best heavyweights in the UFC aren't necessarily the best heavyweights in the world! You really have to grasp that reality, and quickly, because the UFC/Strikeforce merge will be happening soon enough and you will be left in the proverbial dust. On top of that, if you're a gambler, you will lose lots of dough buying into the nonsense that the Zuffa PR machine keeps churning out. In the other weight classes, the UFC has the vast majority of the top fighters, but in the HW division, that's just not the case. Strikeforce has a ridiculously strong stable of heavyweights who easily rival, and in many cases, surpass those currently in the UFC. With Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce, it should only be a matter of time before this very important reality is proven.
The easiest thing to see when comparing the two promotion's HW rosters is how much more experience the top Strikeforce fighters have. Cain Velasquez, the current (I predict, short lived) UFC champion has all of NINE pro fights, with only two notable wins. Top contender (and soon to be champion), Junior Dos Santos, only has 14 fights. Brock Lesnar has a robust SEVEN fights on his diminutive fighting resume. The quickly sliding contender, Shane Carwin, only has 14 pro fights as well. Potential contender, Brendan Schaub, is very green with just nine fights. Aside from Frank Mir and Big Nog (who arguably should be retired at this point), none of the top UFC heavyweights has very much actual fighting experience. The flip side of that coin is the wealth of experience that most of the top Strikeforce fighters have. Their champion, Alistair Overeem, has 45 MMA fights and is currently the K-1 champion, still competing in both sports simultaneously. The living legend Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett both have 34 fights. Sergei Kharitonov has 22 fights. The least experienced of the bunch are Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, each with just under 20 fights. There's some serious disparity in experience here that can't and shouldn't be overlooked.
I put a lot of stock in the experience factor. For some reason, others don't. I don't understand how that would be the case. It all goes back to the perception that the UFC is the be all and end all of top MMA talent. To blindly assume that the top guys in the UFC are the best in the world, just because they have fought each other, makes absolutely no sense to me. I prefer to look at the other pertinent factors including overall skillsets, size, athleticism and fighting style. The fact is, styles make fights. Many of the top Strikeforce fighters are bad style match-ups for the top UFC guys and vice versa. The point is, neither promotion can say they have the better fighters until they either merge or cross-promote and actually fight each other.
The beauty of all of this is that we should hopefully be able to fill in all these blanks and answer all these question marks. The current Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will determine the best fighter there. Once that happens, if all goes right, we will finally see some crossover fights between the two promotions. I predict that the big boys in Strikeforce will more than hold their own against the relative noobs in the UFC. The HW rankings will be put in a tailspin over the next two years or so. There is no way that fighters at the level of Fedor, Overeem, Werdum, Big Foot, Barnett, Sergei and even Rogers will not do well against the best that the UFC has to offer.
When it's all said and done, which should take around 2 years or more to shake out, you will see completely restructured HW rankings lists with the Dutch monster, Alistair Overeem, sitting comfortably on top of most. This dude is just too big, too strong, too talented and too experienced for that not to be the case. There will finally be a clear cut King of Kings. Saturday night will begin the Reem's official assault on the heavyweight MMA landscape. Unfortunately for Fabricio Werdum, he's the first contract on Ubereem's hit list. The rest of the fighters in the mix are well aware of this, its the fans that need to be put on notice and put on blast for buying whatever bullshit the Zuffa PR machine is currently slinging. After Saturday night, those that don't know, will finally know!
In the words of the late, great Biggie Smalls, "And if you don't know, now you know, n***a!"
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