Sometimes things just don’t go your way when picking MMA fights and Saturday was that example.

I was 1-3 in my Strikeforce picks, with my lone win being Josh Barnett choking out Sergei Kharitonov.

It was a great win for Barnett, who now advances to the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Finals against the surprise contender, Daniel Cormier.

Cormier, the Olympic wrestler, used his striking to topple Antonio Silva and advance to the finals. He landed a pair of big punches early in the fight, with the second one sending Silva to the ground. From there, Cormier finished the fight with a pair of big hammer fists.

Cormier has now propelled himself into the heavyweight spotlight and a battle with fellow wrestler, Josh Barnett, should make for an interesting championship.

Cormier may have the edge with his striking and wrestling ability. That could help him stay off his back against Barnett, who should have a submission edge on the relatively new fighter.

In the other two featured bouts, Luke Rockhold upset Ronaldo Souza to win the Strikeforce Middleweight title. I didn’t give Rockhold much respect entering the bout, but he grinded a nice win over Souza, using his striking and submission defense to keep the fight in his favor. Question is, does this give Rockhold a chance to move to the UFC for a unification bout? Or does he still not catch the eye of the UFC brass?

Muhammed Lawal returned to action by KO’ing unbeaten Roger Gracie. King Mo’s big right hands ended the fight in the first round and gave him one of his most impressive wins to date.

Here are my picks for the four bouts that will be featured on tonight’s Showtime card.

Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals – Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov – I think Barnett will be smart and handle Kharitonov similar to how he did Brett Rogers. Look for Barnett’s wrestling to eventually lead to a submission finish in the second or third round.

Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals – Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier – Silva vs. Overeem would have been a bigger draw for Strikeforce, but now their champ is with the UFC. Still, Silva has shown some improving skills and I think he will be able to handle Cormier, who is still developing his skills. Cormier can wrestle, but Silva is stronger and should have better conditioning. I look for Silva to out-strike and out-grapple Cormier to earn a decision victory.

Strikeforce Middleweight Championship – Ronaldo Souza vs. Luke Rockhold – Rockhold is a nice little fighter, but Souza should have no trouble with him. The submission wizard should find a way to work his magic in this fight and force a tap. Rockhold hasn’t faced a lot of tough talent and is just proof that Strikeforce doesn’t have much of a middleweight division.

Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Bout – Muhammed Lawal vs. Roger Gracie – King Mo hasn’t fought in over a year and young Roger Gracie is off to an impressive start to his career, submitting the likes of Trevor Prangley and Kevin Randleman. Lawal is going to want to keep this fight standing, but he has a strong wrestling background that may ultimately lead to his demise. I see the better-conditioned Gracie using his skills to get the fight to the ground and choking out the former Strikeforce champ.

Bullz-Eye.com has the odds for the two semifinal contests, which features Josh Barnett and Segei Kharitonov and Daniel Cormier taking on Antonio Silva.

Barnett walks into his bout as the favorite with a betting line of -280 against Kharitonov, who has odds of +220. Barnett (30-5) is coming off a second-round submission win over Brett Rogers while Kharitonov (18-4) knocked out Andrei Arlovski in less than three minutes of his quarterfinal match.

In this semifinal, Barnett has the grappling edge while Kharitonov appears to have the KO power in his striking. Whoever can dictate the location of the fight will likely get the victory.

In the other semifinal, Silva (16-2) is the favorite to win with odds of -175 while his opponent Cormier (8-0), has odds of +145 to win. Silva defeated Fedor Emelinanenko by second round TKO to reach the semifinals while Cormier is filling in for Alistair Overeem, who was removed from the tournament due to his unwillingness to fight in September because of an injury.

Cormier is a strong wrestler with some good submission skills while Silva has started to put together a complete fight game. Silva has big punches and a smother grappling style. He looked the most impressive of any fighter in the quarterfinals, but now fights somewhat of an unknown in Cormier, who has just eight pro fights.

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will take place from the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on Saturday. The show will air live on Showtime at 10PM ET.

There have been a few shake ups in this group as of late, mainly near the top. Still, the division has remained pretty solid as we work toward the big meeting of Velasquez vs. dos Sanots.

1. Cain Velasquez (9-0): Velasquez will return in November to take on Junior dos Santos. It will be a tough test for the UFC champ, as he has not fought in nearly a year and is coming off a major surgery.

2. Junior dos Santos (13-1): dos Santos tore through Shane Carwin in an impressive victory that solidified his spot as the top contender to the UFC crown. Junior has proven he can out-strike a striker and stuff a takedown, but will he be able to handle the explosiveness and speed of Velasquez?

3. Brock Lesnar (5-2): Lesnar may not return anytime soon, but I still think he deserves a high ranking as he was able to beat some of the best on this list before getting injured. Lesnar is going to need to show he can handle getting hit when he returns if he hopes to contend for the title ever again.

4. Alistair Overeem (35-11): Overeem was able to beat Werdum without too much difficulty but wasn’t impressive in his own right. Now, some debate with Zuffa has gotten him taken off the rest of the Strikeforce Grand Prix and leaves his MMA future in question. Hopefully Overeem will return and maybe someday step inside the octagon.

5. Shane Carwin (12-2): Sure Carwin didn’t look that great against JDS, but his only two MMA losses come against Santos and Lesnar. He still is an explosive striker and has the ability to knockout anyone. Carwin is going to need a strong performance in his next outing and show that he wasn’t a flavor of the month.

6. Frank Mir (15-5): Mir is still one of the best despite having lost to a number of big names in the last few years. Mir is coming off wins over Mirko Cro Cop and Roy Nelson, but neither outing was that impressive. Mir has become more of a striker in recent years and gotten away from his impressive submission skills.

7. Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1): Werdum didn’t look very good against Overeem last month as he looked too desperate at times. The stigma of beating Fedor certainly wore off in that loss. Now, Werdum must find a worthy opponent to keep him relevant in Strikeforce.

8. Antonio Silva (16-2): Silva is looking like he might be the man to beat in the Grand Prix, especially with Overeem now out of the running. Silva has been improving with each fight and has the ability to overwhelm opponents with his size.

9. Josh Barnett (30-5) – Some criticized Barnett for a lackluster win over Brett Rogers, but he had the right game plan and executed it perfectly. Rogers wasn’t worthy of being in the cage with Barnett due to his poor ground skills and Barnett proved it. Barnett is still a threat in the heavyweight division and he may be the dark horse to win the Strikeforce Grand Prix.

10. Fedor Emelianenko (31-3): Fedor returns to action this week to take on Dan Henderson. Fedor will have the size edge, but he may be lacking in other areas. After two-straight losses, can Fedor rebound and be the legend he once was?

That showed on Saturday when he lost a decision to Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem, in the first round of the Heavyweight Grand Prix (Photo courtesy of Tracy Lee at Yahoo! Sports)

While Overeem wasn’t that impressive either, I never enjoy watching a guy flop to his back and beg his opponent to come to the ground.

This is MMA, not a grappling tournament. If you can’t get your opponent to the ground, then you better find a way to beat him on your feet.

Do you ever think you would see Cain Velasquez begging his opponent to do anything? I don’t. It is pretty clear that Werdum doesn’t have a ton of confidence in his striking, and to truly be considered one of the best in the heavyweight division, he needs to be more well-rounded and be willing to exchange.

In the other featured bout, Josh Barnett used his experience and grappling to beat another one-dimensional fighter, Brett Rogers. It was clear that Rogers couldn’t hang with Barnett and his grappling and it seemed to be only a matter of time before Barnett got the submission, which he eventually did in the second round.

Barnett will now face Sergei Kharitonov in the second round of the Grand Prix while Overeem will face Antonio Silva. These fights should hopefully take place before the end of 2011.

On a side note, Saturday was a nice coming out party for heavyweight Daniel Cormier and lightweight Jorge Masvidal, as both men had dominant wins over prominent opponents.

Cormier won a unanimous decision over former UFC No. 1 contender, Jeff Monson. Monson was never able to get the fight on the ground like he wanted it and Cormier peppered him with strikes for 15 minutes and even threw in some takedowns of his own.

For Masvidal, he bloodied and beat K.J. Noons in a decisive unanimous decision. While all three judges saw it 30-27, many thought it could have been scored 30-26. Masvidal now is the No. 1 contender to Gilbert Melendez’ lightweight title, and after his performance on Saturday, it would seem that this could be quite the explosive fight.

Here are my picks for the four bouts that will be on the main card.

Heavyweight Grand Prix – Alistair Overeem (34-11) vs. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1) – Overeem doesn’t have a match in this weight class in Strikeforce in my opinion. He has really beefed up and continues to have the same striking ability he has always had. Only a true wrestler has the skill set to take him out, and Werdum isn’t a wrestler. I look for Overeem to pick apart Werdum and earn a second round TKO.

Heavyweight Grand Prix – Josh Barnett (29-5) vs. Brett Rogers (11-2) – Barnett is the better fighter but Rogers does have knockout ability with one punch. Look for Barnett to play it safe early on and survive the storm from Rogers before scoring some takedowns and eventually choking out his opponent in the second round.

Lightweight Bout – K.J. Noons (10-3) vs. Jorge Masvidal (21-6) – Masvidal is tough but he hasn’t quite slugged it out with the talent that Noons has in recent years. If this is going to be a slugfest, I look for Noons to come out on top. Strikeforce would like to get Noons and Gilbert Melendez in a fight together, and I think an impressive second round KO for Noons will do just that.

Heavyweight Bout – Daniel Cormier (7-0) vs. Jeff Monson (42-11) – Cormier has had a nice little start to his MMA career, but Jeff Monson is a smart fighter that will find a way to get Cormier to the ground. Once it hits the mat, Monson will dominate the fight and eventually score a submission in the first five minutes of action.

In the main event, Strikeforce heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum both came in on point. Overeem weighed in at 256 pounds while Werdum tipped the scales at 246 pounds.

In the other Grand Prix contest, Josh Barnett weighed in at 256 pounds for his Grand Prix showdown with Brett Rogers, who weighed in at 258 pounds.

Both contests will air live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday night.

For full weigh-in results, check out the jump.

Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum Weigh-In Results

American Airlines Arena, Dallas, Texas

Alistair Overeem (256) vs. Fabricio Werdum (246)

Josh Barnett (256) vs. Brett Rogers (258)

K.J. Noons (156) vs. Jorge Masvidal (155)

Daniel Cormier (239.5) vs. Jeff Monson (234)

Valentijn Overeem (234.5) vs. Chad Griggs (234)

Gesias Cavalcante (155) vs. Justin Wilcox (156)

Conor Heun (155) vs. Magno Almeida (155)

Nah-Shon Burrell (179) vs. Joe Ray (180)

Todd Moore (169.5) vs. Mike Bronzoulis (170)

Brian Melancon (175) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (170)

That’s the big question on Saturday when Josh Barnett faces Brett Rogers in the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Barnett, who has an impressive list of wins in his lengthy career but is often not considered one of the top heavyweights, takes on Rogers, who was thrown into the spotlight by Strikeforce before he was ready and has since had to take a dose of reality.

Here is a look at both fighters heading into their contest on Saturday.

Josh Barnett (29-5) – A former UFC heavyweight champion, Barnett has won his last six fights. A wrestler at heart, Barnett also has good striking and submission skills. 17 wins in his career have come by submission and that will likely be where he looks to win on Saturday. Rogers is very unproven on the ground but has big punching power. It would be wise for Barnett to keep Rogers grounded and win with his jiu-jitsu.

Brett Rogers (11-2) – Rogers started his career 10-0 and had a string of very impressive knockouts to his credit. But, then came fights against Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeen, who disposed of Rogers with some ease. Now, Rogers is an underdog in the Grand Prix, but he still has the one-punch KO power to be dangerous. Rogers will need to show improved ground skills and conditioning in order to compete with Barnett on Saturday.

Who Will Win: Barnett simply has to survive the opening storm that Rogers will likely have. That should last about two minutes and will require Barnett to either, take a punch or two, or score a quick takedown. I don’t see Rogers as much of a threat in this contest and I will take Barnett to win this fight by submission early in the second round.

The featured bout of Saturday’s Grand Prix is Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem, taking on Fabricio Werdum. Overeem opens as the heavy favorite with odds of -500 while Werdum has odds of +300. This is somewhat surprising since Werdum has a submission win over Overeem already in his career. Both men seem to be fighting the best they have in their career, but this will be the striker vs. grappler contest, where the winner will likely be decided by where the fight ends up.

In the second contest, Josh Barnett opens as a -340 favorite over Brett Rogers, who has odds of +260. Both men hit hard, but Barnett is also a world class wrestler, which should give him a clear edge over Rogers, who is mostly a power puncher. Both men are fighting for the first time this year, with Barnett nearly having a year off since his last bout.

Following another UFC PPV event, the middle of the week is lacking in programming, but we have another exciting event coming up on Saturday.

– On Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, Strikeforce presents the second half of the Heavyweight Grand Prix as heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem takes on Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett squares off with Brett Rogers. K.J. Noons, Jorge Masvidal, Jeff Monson, Daniel Cormier, and Valentijn Overeem will also be in action on the night. The main card will air on Showtime from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

That is all for this week. Next week features three events with UFC, Bellator, and Strikeforce all in action.