Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez (Esther Lin/Strikeforce)
All fighters on mark for Saturday card in San Jose
All fighters on Saturday’s Strikeforce card in San Jose, Calif., made weight Friday for their fights.
Friday’s weigh-in event took place at the HP Pavilion, site of Saturday’s card. The main card will be broadcast live on Showtime at 10 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. The five-fight preliminary card will air live on Showtime Extreme at 8 p.m.
Main event heavyweights Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett weighed in at 238 pounds and 248, respectively. The two will meet to crown the winner of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix. That tournament gets its long-awaited conclusion after starting in February 2010. Cormier and Barnett reached the finals in September, but a Cormier broken hand delayed the finals.
In the co-main event, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez battles Josh Thomson for the third time with the 155-pound belt on the line. Each fighter has one decision win over the other. This time, though, to settle the trilogy, Melendez is a more than 5-to-1 favorite over Thomson.
The complete weigh-in results are below:
Main Card
Daniel Cormier (238) vs. Josh Barnett (248)
Josh Thomson (153) vs. Gilbert Melendez (153)
Mike Kyle (203) vs. Rafael Cavalcante (206)
Nah-Shon Burrell (170) vs. Chris Spang (169)
Preliminary Card
Isaac Vallie-Flagg (156) vs. Gesias Cavalvcante (156)
Carlos ‘Guto’ Inocente (205) vs. Virgil Zwicker (204)
Derrick Mehmen (205) vs. Gian Villante (205)
Yuri Villefort (170) vs. Quinn Mulhern (170)
Bobby Green (155) vs. James Terry (156)*
* Terry weighed in at 156.25 on his first attempt, but was given two hours to drop to the lightweight limit of 156.