Cormier and Barnett face-off in Grand Prix finals

Editor’s note: With three of four bouts on Saturday’s Strikeforce main card involving Northern California fighters, we’ll be breaking down those fights.

After 15 long months, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is coming to a close. Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier are the last two standing and neither were favorites to win the GP when it began.

Believe it or not Cormier, who fights out of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, wasn’t among the original competitors.

In a tournament that once included Andrei Arlovski, Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Sergei Kharitonov, the final between Cormier and Barnett is a surprising one. After each won their semi-final bouts in September, the two will meet inside the Strikeforce hexagon.

Barnett is the clear-cut veteran with 36 fights under his belt, while Cormier is still relative newcomer fighting in just nine bouts. Cormier, however, is undefeated and has used an array of styles to win his matches.

Barnett, a former UFC heavyweight champion, comes in with more experience and a slight size advantage. The 6’3”, 261 Barnett is four inches taller and 14 pounds heavier than his competitor. His career spans several promotions including Pride FC, Dream and the UFC. He has wins over the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt, Kharitonov and Randy Couture.

He’s done so by utilizing grappling that is rarely seen by a man of his size. Barnett has won 19, or 61%, of his matches via submission. That includes his GP semi-final win over Kharitonov that came via an arm-triangle choke. His opponent this Saturday night might not be that easy to wrestle to the ground.

Daniel Cormier was an NCAA All-American while wrestling at Oklahoma State University and was the 2008 USA Olympic team captain. Although he finished fourth at the Olympics, his wrestling pedigree is greater than most mixed martial artists. Cormier has been known to use his wrestling to gain the upper-hand, but he’s also shown to be an impressive grappler and striker. His semi-final win over the much larger Antonio Silva came via KO in the first-round.

Barnett also has a wrestling background, but it’s as a pro wrestler for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Considering they don’t allow steel chairs or anything like that in the hexagon, fans can expect Barnett to not utilize his wrestling ability as much as Cormier. Barnett, however, has stated will look to takedown DC early and often. Whether this fight goes to the mat and stays there is hard to imagine.

This match-up is quite even. Both fighters have won multiple decisions via KO/TKO and submission. Cormier has the advantage in wrestling and has shown to be a strong striker. Barnett has the upper-hand in experience, cage awareness and jiu-jitsu. If crowd advantage was a measurable statistic, it would be in favor of Cormier who trains in San Jose.

Seeing this bout go the distance would not be too far-fetched and it seems that is likely to be the outcome. This is an even match-up and an opportunity for either man to make their case to join the UFC. Giving either man a distinct advantage heading into their main event is ignoring either’s strengths and how comparable they are.

Nitesh Dutt is an Operations Assistant for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and the MMA Blogger for @FightSportsCSN. Follow him on Twitter @NiteshDutt.