As top fighters are slowly picked off from Strikeforce and brought into the UFC it seems like it's only a matter of time until we see Strikeforce shut down and the best assets brought over to the UFC.
For the sake of discussion I'm setting a guideline for determining who you would bring in:
Only five fighters can be brought over from each weight class. This prevents anyone from taking the easy way out of "bring them all in and let it get sorted out naturally." You must pick five though.
We'll start with the heavyweights and light heavyweights, the rest of the divisions will follow shortly.
Here are my picks.
Heavyweight:
In:
Fabricio Werdum - I honestly think that the UFC's heavyweight division is a miserable place for Werdum, but he's a top 10 heavyweight with wins over Antonio Silva and Fedor Emelianenko so you can't cut him. I have to believe he loses a lot of value within 3 fights though.
Shane Del Rosario - 11-0 American heavyweight who has gotten a finish in every fight and only been out of the first round once. I'm not high on him in terms of being a future superstar, but he's got enough going for him to give him the chance to become one in the UFC.
Chad Griggs - Griggs is sloppy as all hell but he's also tough as nails, 11-1 overall (3-0 in Strikeforce) and could be a good fit on the prelims of UFC cards serving the same kind of role as a Joey Beltran.
Josh Barnett - Honestly, I'd like to put him on the cut list for his history. Since this is as of today, though. I think you'd have to take him. Should Cormier beat him in the grand prix finals though? Goodbye Josh.
Daniel Cormier - Of the five, this is the one guy I'd want more than anyone else. The steady improvement from fight to fight, the backstory, it all adds up to a legitimate and valable heavyweight comodoty.
Notable cuts:
Antonio Silva - I'm going to catch heat for this one, but who has Bigfoot ever truly beaten? His win over Fedor was impressive as he put together a complete gameplan and executed it. Beyond that though his biggest win is light heavyweight Mike Kyle in a fight where he was badly hurt? A completely shot Andrei Arlovski by decision in the only fight in a 4 fight stretch where Arlovski wasn't stopped? I'd rather have a guy like Griggs serving a role by testing guys out on the undercard for reasonable pay than overpay for Silva to get trucked by the UFC roster.
Herschel Walker - Herschel is a fun story but the amount of extra attention he truly brings has been overstated and there's no one on the current UFC roster that you'd pick him to beat, so you can't honestly keep him.
Sergei Kharitonov - There's only so much room on the UFC roster and Kharitonov just isn't a special fighter. He has wins over Alistair Overeem and Mike Russow but that was over 4 years ago now. He also got paid $100,000 to fight Josh Barnett so if the UFC kept him, they'd have to negotiate some lower pay.
Lavar Johnson - Tremendous addition for Bellator.
Shawn Jordan - Another guy who would fit in well on the Bellator roster.
Follow after the jump for the light heavyweights.
Light Heavyweights
In:
Rafael Cavalcante - Feijao fights with a style that UFC president Dana White would love. He is prone to the occasional slip-up but he fights his ass off and could be competitive with the mid-tier of the UFC 205 roster.
Muhammad Lawal - He still has a little work to do to become a truly well rounded threat but he has charisma for days, tremendous wrestling and legitimate KO power.
Lorenz Larkin - His bout with Nick Rossborough had to bring people like myself back down to earth a bit. I'd been very high on Larkin but he showed that he still has some work to do. But at only 25 years old with underrated defensive wrestling and grappling skills and a whirlwind striking game, Larkin has a very bright future.
Ovince St. Preux - OSP is a tremendous athlete dating back to his time as a very talented defensive player at the University of Tennessee. His career got off to a 3-4 start thanks to an overly tough schedule as he was still learning the sport. Now riding an eight fight win streak and beating some legitimate names, OSP is one of the fastest rising 205'ers.
Gegard Mousasi - I think we can all agree that Mousasi isn't proving out to be quite the rare talent many thought he would be. Still, he sports a 31-3-2 record at the age of 26. The Keith Hackney draw is an unfortunate blemish on his record for a fight that he should have won if not for reffing and judging issues. He'd have plenty of success in the UFC.
Notable Cuts:
Gian Villante - Just hasn't proven out. 1-2 in Strikeforce, Gian has to do some work on the regional scene (or find a cushy career in Bellator) to earn a spot in the UFC.
Roger Gracie - Ignoring the last name, Roger is just not good enough at mixed martial arts.
Renato Sobral - Babalu's last exit from the UFC is probably enough of a reason to not see him stick around.
Antwain Britt - Britt exists in that space just below able to compete reliably at the Strikeforce/UFC level but just good enough to probably run wild on 205'ers outside of the big leagues.
Mike Kyle - Too much baggage, not quite good enough.