Daley, Barnett sign with Strikeforce

Quote :

English welterweight Paul (Semtex) Daley, released by the UFC in May, has signed with Strikeforce.

The hard-hitting 170-pounder was axed by the UFC after sucker-punching Josh Koscheck in the cage following his loss at UFC 113 in Montreal.

Daley (25-9-2) has fought twice since then. He submitted Daniel Acacio on an Impact FC card in Australia in July and won a decision last Saturday over Jorge Masvidal at Shark Fights 13.

His signing gives Strikeforce a marquee name to put up against current champion Nick Diaz.

"He's a big name and a great fighter," Daley said in a statement Thursday. "Diaz would bring out the best in me and would be a great test."

A win over Koscheck and Daley would have had a shot at UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Instead the brash Brit got a pink slip.

"He will never fight in the UFC ever again," UFC president Dana White said at the time. "He's done."

Quote :

Veteran MMA heavyweight Josh (The Babyfaced Assassin) Barnett has signed with Strikeforce.

The 32-year-old Barnett has a 29-5 record with stops in Pride, the UFC, K-1, Dream and Affliction.

The six-foot-three 255-pounder was UFC champion at 24, defeating Randy (The Natural) Couture at UFC 36 in 2002.

He has career wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt and Aleksander Emelianenko but his career has been patchy of late. He has not faced elite opposition and tested positive for steroids last summer while with Affliction.

His signing, however, gives Strikeforce a marquee name in its heavyweight division, which was rocked by Fedor Emelianenko's loss to Fabricio Werdum in July.

I fully expected Daily to go to Strikeforce and maybe Barnette will fight Fedor next.

It'll be interesting to see what happens if Fedor/Barnett is brought to M-1. They wanted all this crazy testing on Overeem, someone who has passed all steroid tests, so I wonder if they'll have the same request for Barnett who has already failed a couple tests.

Who else can Fedor fight at this point? He is going to have to wait for a rematch with Wredum, since he is injuried and he would have to wait for Oveereem, since he has other commitments right now. Seriously, who else is left. Rematch with Bret Rogers? That dude is a joke. Big Foot Silva maybe? I don't know.

While I don't think it'll happen, but Fedor should be able to make LHW if he wanted to. Outside of Overeem and Werdum, there's not much in the HW for him, so dropping down might be his next best option. I doubt it'll happen though.

Drop weight? Fedor will barely even fight guys. I seriously doubt he would drop to LHW.