Daniel Cormier is legit. Tonight marked the finale of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament and Cormier beat Josh Barnett to get the unanimous decision.

I hear Barnett actually hurt his hand doing something during fight but Cormier’s performance made it quite clear he was the better man despite the hand injury.

Look at the highlights I posted below. Cormier lands clean cut punches and slams Barnett on his back. That is impressive. Barnett hasn’t lost since 2008 and this guy with a round belly takes it to him. Cormier is definitely a contender. He’s beat Jeff Monson, Antonio Silva and now Josh Barnett. I think that deserves a debut in the UFC. Same for Josh Barnett. Even though he lost tonight, I think Barnett would still give half the heavyweights in the UFC unbelievable problems.

In the meantime, enjoy the fight gifs courtesy Iron Forges Iron

It’s not bad and neatly features cameos from a piano-playing Bruce Buffer, a running Lyoto Machida, Machida’s dad, a huge freaking spider and Steven Seagal.

Watch all the action:

The “What the Hell Is Going On” Highlights
Anderson Silva does his cowboy strut while wearing huge MMA gloves that look oddly good with his brown leather jacket. He orders a Budweiser but is blocked when Steven Seagal orders the same beer. I really don’t know what the problem is, or why Seagal wears sunglasses indoors, but the greatest fighter in the world gives pause.

We cut to a montage. Silva finds himself in several interesting situations that pay homage to Enter the Dragon, Blood Sport, The Karate Kid, Kill Bill and Rocky 4. I have no idea what the hell it’s supposed to mean but nevertheless, still quite entertaining, particularly when Silva dresses up as Uma Thurman in Kill Bill by wearing a wig and yellow track suit.

Back to reality. Silva and Seagal stare at each other in the eyes and we cut to the Budweiser logo. Don’t really know what happens next but if I were to guess, I’d say that Silva kindly bows out and pours a glass for his Sifu. After all, Seagal is the real deal. Nobody wants to mess with the master. And that’s something I think we can all agree on.

I don’t even drink Bud, and this commercial says nothing about how good it is. But now I’m dying to. What just happened?

You Look:

The Highlights:
All of it. This fight is pure excitement. You can really see that The Korean Zombie has matured as a fighter. His combinations are crisp and creative, his grappling is fluid and he transitions very well.

Really check out the uppercut, flying knee and D’arce choke Korean Zombie used to finish Dustin Poirier – it’s done very well.

I think that when TKZ beat Dustin Poirier, he really proved that he has the skills to face anyone in the featherweight division. Jose Aldo has a serious contender.

#WarZombie

UPDATE: Watch the full highlights and D’arce Choke video

Chan-Sung Jung took Poirier into the fourth round and submitted him with a D’arce choke at UFC on Fuel 3. Wikipedia has listed the outcome as a “technical submission.” Hopefully this means Poirier neglected to tap and was thoroughly rendered unconscious.

How The Fight Went Down:

Round 1: The Korean Zombie comes out uncharacteristically cautious. He picks his shots and gamely stops Dustin Poirier’s takedown attempts. The Korean manages a few takedowns of his own.

Round 2: The Korean Zombie returns to his old style. Spinning backfists, flying knees, crazy wild punches. He ends the round with triangles and armbar attempts. Steller.

Round 3: Chan-Sung Jung is tired Dustin Poirier lands his share of power strikes that leave noticeable marks on The Korean Zombie’s face.

Round 4: Chan-Sung Jung lands a solid uppercut and follow with a flying knee. Poirier shoots but is countered by a D’arce. End.

What’s Next for The Korean Zombie

I’m actually very excited about this win because it feels like there’s finally a credible threat to Jose Aldo’s featherweight championship.

Chan-Sung Jung has an incredible style that’s always entertaining to watch. He just doesn’t stop moving forward. By virtue of being Korean, this dude fights better as he gets punched with increasing frequency.

Overall, a carefree approach to fighting makes The Korean Zombie perfect to challenge Jose Aldo for his featherweight championship. Aldo is a great striker with probably greater Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. But Chan-Sung has a reinforced skull that lets him slug it out. UFC on Fuel 3 let the world know about TKZ’s improved striking, takedown and wrestling prowess. You never know what might happen if TKZ and Aldo got together in the cage. 8 times out of 10 I’d say Aldo smacks TKZ until he looks like Mark Hominick’s rendition of Quark. But there’s a sizable chance that The Korean Zombie knocks out Aldo, or at the very least overwhelms him with his relentless, back-from-the-grave, forward march.

Either way, I can’t wait to see Chan-Sung Jung fight Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight belt.

It’s a pretty neat sight, Pudzianowski winning, but then again, I wasn’t completely surprised that Sapp got overwhelmed in 40 seconds by a similarly large man. After all, didn’t he tap out to James Thompson after getting taken down? It sucks for Bob Sapp, but oddly enough this guy keeps on getting fights. I just checked his Wiki and he’s fighting again next Friday. Amazing.

You Look:

The Highlights:
The round starts. Both men rush out and throw crazy, angry punches. Pudzianowski manages to grab Sapp’s face and knee it. Pudzianowski backs Sapp up against the ropes, fakes a knee and takes Sapp down beautifully. He throws hammer fists and punches. A ref walks in to stop the fight, Pudzianowski can’t be stopped.

Jackson is working with MEDL Mobile to develop 3 punching-themed games for smartphones. It’s a pretty slick idea; you hold the phone in your hand and you throw your fist as hard as you can. Rampage will tell you how you did and whether or not you can bust grapes. He demonstrates the app. Also, listen to the music at the end. Kind of catchy I’d say.

You Look:

Thoughts:
The game sounds simple enough to encourage a download but I can’t see how you can convincingly stretch this gimmick into three separate games, particularly when Jackson’s annoying voice will be featured across the board.

I think Rampage is doing a pretty smart thing. As you all know he’s pretty upset with the UFC right now, because according to him he fights for like, no money. This is a good follow-up to his recent appearance in the A-Team; after all, if you’re going to be a celebrity you definitely need to have a presence in the mobile app space. Reinforce your own brand, be trendy, that sort of thing.

However, despite this app’s novelty, I can’t help but think how vulnerable my phone is. I think it’d be absolutely hilarious if you play the game but end up hauling your device entirely across the room. Suddenly you’re out an iPhone and Jackson says your swing sucks. If that happens, I’d finish my iPhone right there.

The app is tapped for a “future release” whatever that means. Those who’ve tried it, let me know or leave a comment below.

All I recall is Fedor losing to Big Foot Silva and Alistair Overeem jumping ship to fight Brock Lesnar. Those seem to be the high points of the tournament. I’m really surprised this whole deal wasn’t finished earlier. An 8 man tournament spanning a year-and-a-half is ridiculous. Strikeforce could have made it a multi-fight event where fighters had to compete several times in a single night. Sounds grueling but it’s tough and novel enough to draw big PPV buys. Plus the event wouldn’t have been dragged out.

So anyway, the tournament is finally coming to a close next Saturday. Showtime has appropriately released a recap video to get us interested after eons of teasing and foreplay.

Basically, it all builds up to a fight between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cornier.

You Look:

The Highlights:
Fedor gets his face hammered into ugliness.
Sergei Kharitonov knocks Andrei Arlovski out. Look at Arlovski at 0:48. Arlovski = dead.
Daniel Cornier takes out Bigfoot Silva in stylish fashion then asks everyone to give him some respect. A personal observation: his voice is oddly high for a man his girth.
Josh Barnett chokes out Kharitonov and stands up to scream in victory. Look at his tummy. There’s excess skin pouring over his belt. Yeesh.

I love this segment. Brock Lesnar looks very dissatisfied and he gives TripleH buckets of dirty looks. I won’t spend too much time on the drama, but the verbal exchanges made me lol.

An Example:
Triple H: “John. JOHN? I’m gonna say this one time only. SHUT UP.”
*Crowd goes wild*

After a few more seconds of getting insulted, Brock Lesnar just can’t take it anymore and smacks TripleH in the back of the head. He takes him down and kimuras him.

You Look:

The Highlights:
Triple H talks to Brock Lesnar about some sort of contract he signed when he returned to the WWE. It’s clear that Lesnar hates the terms he’s under and expresses his hatred for Mr. H by twitching his eye and puckering his mouth. He also looks really red. But that’s probably the acting lessons. Triple H basically gives the ol’ “If you don’t like it then leave” ultimatum to Lesnar and goads him. Some suit at the back tells Triple H that he’s being really unfair and Brock gives the audience some sad eyes. Triple H takes the contract the suit brings out and rips it in ity bity pieces. WHOA. Game changer. After some more hilarious soap opera drama, Brock Lesnar cheap shots Triple H and puts him in a kimura hold. It breaks. *Gasp* Triple H keeps holding his wrist. Little does he know that the kimura is a shoulder lock.

And there you have it, proof that wrestling is fake.

You Look:

The Highlights:
Most of the fun starts at the 5:25 mark. Ortiz talks about how he originally wanted to teach kids and educate them as a wrestling coach. Aww, so nice. Video cuts to him having an amazing time teaching two Swedish girls how to perfect a triangle choke.

Skip to 8:52. Sweep from full guard to mount is sick.

9:15 mark. Jake Shields thoughts wander off as a seemingly limitless number of girls run past.

Go to 9:41. Jake Shields makes all the girls jump up and down with their hands above their heads. That sly man. Stole my moves.

Anyway, check out Scarlett Johansson in her finest 15 moments.

[Show as slideshow]

Awesome is it not? Now go watch the movie and come back here because you know it just wasn’t enough.