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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The impending death of Strikeforce is going to bring in another influx of talent into the UFC, but a vast majority of fighters in the organization will not be coming over. For those that do make the move over, only a handful are truly going to have any real impact in the UFC's current divisions.
There is some elite talent in the organization right now that will benefit the UFC's current roster. Additionally, one benefit from bringing in even more talent is the UFC is going to be forced to make some significant cuts. It's unfortunate for the fighters currently in the basement of their respective weight classes in the UFC, but it will mean a stronger roster from top to bottom.
Division by division, here's who is likely getting a shot in the UFC, and what we might be able to expect from them all inside the Octagon.
Heavyweight
Fighters Most Likely to Move to UFC: Daniel Cormier, Josh Barnett
Legitimate Players: Cormier, Barnett
Ok, we start with an easy one. Strikeforce's heavyweight division only has two fighters left after the rest of the division was folded at the beginning of 2012. Barnett may actually be a long shot to get into the UFC considering his past history with the organization, but I think they'll bring him in for at least one fight.
Both fighters actually can be considered legitimate top talent, with Cormier a definite top ten and Barnett probably just outside of that. Both would be beneficial additions to the heavyweight roster, and in Cormier's case he could be a legitimate title challenger within a fight or two. We'll see Cormier for sure make his way into the UFC sometime in the middle of the year, as he'll fight on Strikeforce's January event, and I do believe we'll see Barnett come into the UFC this spring.
Light Heavyweight
Fighters Most Likely to Move to UFC: Gegard Mousasi, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, Ovince St. Preux
Possible Additions: Mike Kyle, Guto Inocente, Gian Villante
Legitimate Players: Mousasi, Cavalcante
The light heavyweight division has two key names that fans have wanted to see against their UFC counterparts for some time, and that's Gegard Mousasi and "Feijao" Cavalcante. The former Strikeforce champions have suffered from a lack of major competition for the most part, and though they fell to "King Mo" Lawal and Dan Henderson, respectively, each could compete with a number of fighters in the UFC's light heavyweight field.
Now, I don't see either fighter being a legitimate title challenger in the UFC. There are just too many fighters on the UFC's roster whose strengths play well against their weaknesses. Of the two, Mousasi's the one who can shore up more of his game to try making a run, but he'll be coming back from a knee injury that's kept him out of action all of 2012.
Of the rest of the fighters from Strikeforce's light heavyweight roster, Ovince St. Preux may be able to make an impact down the line. However, his decision loss to Mousasi last December showed off some weaknesses in his game that need to improve greatly before that conversation can happen.
Middleweight
Fighters Most Likely to Move to UFC: Luke Rockhold, "Jacare" Souza, Tim Kennedy, Lorenz Larkin, Roger Gracie, Derek Brunson, Adlan Amagov
Possible Additions: Yancy Medeiros, Robbie Lawler, Lumumba Sayers
Legitimate Players: Rockhold, Souza
Strikeforce's middleweight division has a number of legitimate and highly talented competitors. The problem has been they've only had each other to fight. Tim Kennedy's losses to Rockhold and Souza showed the ceiling he's at right now, but he can compete with a lot of the guys on the UFC's roster.
Rockhold and Souza, the current and former Champions, can both plug right into the UFC machine and find out whether they're top ten talent or not. I'd imagine, based on Rockhold's last several performances, that he can hang with a lot of the fighters in the division, but much like light heavyweight I don't know whether or not he and Jacare are truly challengers.
They're each immensely talented, but the middleweight division has kind of emerged as a lot deeper than it's been in the past. It's just the fact that they're all miles behind Anderson Silva making it seem like it hasn't been. But until they're in there against Michael Bisping, Chris Weidman, Tim Boetsch, Alan Belcher, Yushin Okami, etc., we're just not going to know for sure based on what they've done against one another.
Welterweight
Fighters Most Likely to Move to UFC: Nate Marquardt, Tyron Woodley, Tarec Saffiedine
Possible Additions: Jason High, Jordan Mein, Kazuo Misaki, Jorge Santiago, Bobby Voelker, Nah-Shon Burrell, Quinn Mulhern
Legitimate Players: Marquardt
Strikeforce's death and another title fight in January are the door back to the UFC for Marquardt, and if he can make the welterweight limit consistently he might have more of an impact than any other fighter coming over from Strikeforce. Make no mistake, Marquardt would have been a legitimate welterweight contender in the UFC had he not been released because of his inefficient dabbling in TRT, and he will likely have a chance to be so once again.
The rest of the division features a number of fighters who will probably get at least one shot in the UFC, because they've put together some wins inside Strikeforce and have shown a little bit of competence in the cage. I certainly hope to see High and Santiago get another shot in the UFC, as each was released rather quickly from the organization in the past.
The fact that there are a number of potential fighters coming in from Strikeforce is why there won't be many fighters making the roster from this current season of The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC just won't be able to legitimately promote that many competitors in the division, and they'll take fighters who have shown a little more promise in Strikeforce than those who haven't done much on TUF.
But again, a number of these competitors aren't likely to make it beyond a fight or two. The UFC's going to be eying significant cuts, and fighters are going to have to perform, and do so consistently, to keep their spots on the roster.
Lightweight
Fighters Most Likely to Move to UFC: Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson, Pat Healy
Possible Additions: Billy Evangelista, James Terry, Justin Wilcox, Caros Fodor, Ryan Couture, Jorge Masvidal, KJ Noons, Joe Duarte, Isaac Vallie-Flagg.
Legitimate Players: Melendez
Strikeforce's two deepest divisions nonetheless are populated by fighters who aren't likely to make much of an impact inside the Octagon. Melendez is the one fighter in Strikeforce who can step into their division's roster in the UFC and fight for the title immediately, but the rest of Strikeforce's lightweight roster has fighters who wouldn't typically be fighting anyone close to Melendez's level at this stage.
He's going to be amongst the elite lightweights the moment he debuts in the UFC, and though a number of these fighters can compete with a number of the UFC's lightweights, this is a case where the depth in the UFC is so great that the level of competition might be too much of an upgrade for many of them coming over.
Lightweight is another division ready to be cleansed of it's lowest level, and so many of these fighters could get their shot inside the UFC to take those slots, and again it will be about consistent performances for fighters to keep their spot on the roster.
A few of Strikeforce's lightweights could emerge as top competition when it's all said and done, but on an elite level, it's really Melendez coming in with that distinction from the start.
Bantamweight (Women's Division)
Fighters Most Likely to Move to UFC: Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Sara McMann, Sarah Kaufman
Possible Additions: Liz Carmouche, Alexis Davis, Cris Cyborg
Legitimate Players: Rousey, Tate, McMann
A lot of the UFC's initial women's roster probably won't see everyone come over who was in Strikeforce, and a lot of names having success with Invicta could be getting calls in the next year and a half. It's hard to say what the UFC's going to do with the women's division until we see it in action, but right now it's the Ronda Rousey show.
Bringing Cyborg Santos over is only going to work if she's fighting at 135 lbs., and that's not likely to happen based on Tuesday's news regarding Cyborg not being medically cleared to make the cut.
This division is going to hinge on what Rousey does, who the UFC can sell against her, and how they go about doing that. Without Rousey, the women's portion of the sport isn't going to have the UFC's initial backing, so it's going to need her to be successful, and the UFC to develop challengers for her.
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It's clear that the Strikeforce merger will bring in a number of talented fighters, but there are only a couple names who will be joining the top end ranks in the organization. The rest will fill some roster spots, and they'll find themselves in an environment where they need to win early and often, or they'll be looking elsewhere for fights.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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