What's next for Daniel Cormier?

That was the question on everyone's mind after he manhandled veteran Josh Barnett to win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament on Saturday night at the HP Pavilion.

Will he go straight to the UFC, where he'd clearly fit in among the division's elite, or will he fight again in Strikeforce?

The answer, for now: Neither. A visit to the surgeon is on deck before anything else goes down in Cormier's career.

Cormier broke his right hand in the opening stanza of his five-round battle with the former UFC heavyweight champion. It was the same hand he broke when he knocked out Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in September in the tournament semifinals.

The former Olympic wrestler decided against surgery the first time around, which made for an eight-month stretch between his fights. This time, he wants to let it properly heal.

"I think this time I'm going to take a different approach," Cormier said. "I think I'm going to have surgery on it and get it fixed, because I don't want it to be recurring and then end up costing me later and later on down the line."

Cormier never bothered telling his corner that he thought his hand was broken. Instead, the early injury forced him to improvise.

"You're in a fight, you have to use all your weapons," said Cormier. "That's why I was kicking, I was punching, I was kneeing him in there. Josh is too good to fight handicapped. I don't think my coaches picked up on [the injury] because I didn't tell them. I just kept fighting."

That approach led to an epiphany for the undefeated American Kickboxing Academy star during the second round, which led to the fight turning to his favor for good.

"The biggest surprise was when I took him down in the second round and just kind of stayed here," Cormier said. "It was very surprising to me how easy it was to stay in his guard, he's such a good leg lock guy that I thought maybe he would let me pass through his half-guard or something.

"I made an adjustment in the fight when I realized he was going to allow me to control him on the bottom. It was a little easier with my strikes when I realized he was going to respect my takedowns. It changed things a little bit."

Still, Cormier was impressed with the toughness displayed by his opponent, who wasn't at the post-fight press conference.

"Josh did a great job," Cormier said. "He fought tough, he fought hard, he was in there in my face the whole time. I couldn't believe some of the shots that I landed in there, especially the two head kicks. I couldn't believe that he stayed up."

Cormier has one fight left on his Strikeforce contract. He hopes to fight again in 2012. No one would speculate as to whom Cormier would meet. After all, who knows what Strikeforce will look like six months down the road? Cormier simply wishes to focus on getting healthy.

"Normally when you get surgery you get it to heal faster," he said. "It's not as bad as it was the first time, because the first time, I could hardly I even move it."

And besides, Cormier has been through far worse predicaments in life than a broken hand, both in competition, where he came up short in several international wrestling meets, and more importantly, in his personal life, where he has coped with quite a bit of tragedy. The heavyweight, who was emotional in the cage after the win, waxed philosophical during the press conference.

"When you think about everyone's trials and tribulations, for me, getting knocked down and getting back up, it made me a stronger person," Cormier said. "Everything's turned back around. Not only is my career going great, but I have two young kids, a great girlfriend, it's just everything is on the up and up right now."

"Now matter how bad things get, eventually the sun is going to shine. "If you just keep it at, pursuing your goals, eventually good things happen to decent people. For a person who is set on his goals, good things happen. Everyone deals with adversity. It's how you bounce back from it."

Finding motivation to fight Josh Thomson wasn't the grand struggle it was made out to be for Gilbert Melendez.

"It's tough to get motivated sometimes just because if I was on the other end of the stick and I got a good opportunity, it's a lot easier to get motivated," he said after a close decision victory over Thomson at "Strikeforce: Heavyweight Grand Prix Final."

Finding momentum during the fight was a different story.

A disappointed Melendez (21-2 MMA, 11-1 SF) felt he could have performed better against Thomson (19-5 MMA, 10-2 SF) in the rubber match that many fans saw as a lateral move for his career.

"I couldn't really unleash the beast tonight," he said. "I just kind of felt like I was in control."

Two of three judges agreed and awarded Melendez the fight by scores of 29-28. A third dissented for Thomson, 29-28. It was Melendez's fourth title defense since retaking the belt from Thomson in December 2009.

"Strikeforce: Heavyweight Grand Prix Finale" took place Saturday at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The main card aired live on Showtime while went to Showtime Extreme aired prelims.

The close fight prompted the question of a fourth fight between the champ and former titleholder. Melendez placated the pro-Thomson crowd with a "yeah sure, whatever," when it was broached immediately after the decision.

But at the post-fight presser, he gave an emphatic "no" when asked the same.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, meanwhile, was lavish in his praise of the rubber match but said Melendez and Thomson wouldn't meet again.

"The trilogy is done, and we'll go from there," he said.

From the announcement of the third fight, Melendez faced questions of whether he was up to the task when his campaign to cross into the UFC failed. He was frank in admitting the matchup was not the one he wanted, but he said he would properly prepare nonetheless.

Thomson's previous performance, a workmanlike decision victory over K.J. Noons, led many to believe Melendez would dominate the fight, and he was an overwhelming favorite in betting lines.

Melendez said he knew Thomson would be a tough and tried not to let expectations get to him.

"Even if I win, you lose, unless you finish him or do it in spectacular fashion," he said. "But I'm alright with it."

Thomson proved he was as dangerous as ever when he nearly submitted Melendez late in the fourth round. Melendez called the close call a "game changer."

And moving forward, it's a game he doesn't want to play again.

"I got the job done, and I thought I was in control," Melendez said. "I was cruising it."

Following an ACL injury he recently revealed to MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio), Gegard Mousasi won't be back in the cage anytime soon.

And that's just fine with his likely next opponent, who's expected to fight Mousasi for Strikeforce's vacant light-heavyweight title.

Following a grueling training camp, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (12-3 MMA, 5-2 SF) – who made quick work of Mike Kyle at Saturday's Strikeforce event – is looking for a little rest and relaxation before his tentative title fight with Mousasi (32-3-1 MMA, 3-1-1 SF), a fellow ex-champ.

Cavalcante stunned Kyle with a knee and ultimately tapped him out with a guillotine choke just 33 seconds into their Showtime-televised main-card fight, which was part of "Strikeforce: Heavyweight Grand Prix Final" at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. It was revenge for Cavalcante, who suffered a second-round knockout loss to Kyle three years ago at "Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields" in his promotional debit.

"It feels good," Cavalcante said. "I'm back on track."

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker concurred. And though many fans felt Cavalcante vs. Kyle II should have earned the winner a shot at the belt (one Dan Henderson vacated with his move to the UFC in late 2011), Coker said the belt soon will be on the line again.

"I think the likely candidate you'll see in the future at some point (for Cavalcante) is Gegard Mousasi," Coker said of the recovering fighter, who's 4-0-1 since losing the belt to Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal in 2010. "When that fight happens happens, I'm not sure – or if it all – but I think it's a natural progression for 'Feijao.'"

Since that Kyle loss back in 2009, "Feijao" is 5-1. It included winning the Strikeforce belt from Lawal, though he surrendered the belt to Henderson in his next outing.

Through it all, and especially after the first Kyle fight, Cavalcante said he learned what he needs to do to win. Granted, the four-month camp was exhausting, and he hopes to get a nice long rest as Mousasi recovers, but he said it set him up for success.

"In my first fight with [Kyle], I spent like three months here in the United States," Cavalcante said. "It was alright training, but it was far from my coaches and from my team. These things make a difference.

"This win for sure isn't about me. It's about my coaches. It's about the support they give me."

Daniel Cormier: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus)
def. Josh Barnett: $200,000

Gilbert Melendez: $175,000 (no win bonus)
def. Josh Thomson: $90,000

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante: $66,000 (includes $33,000 bonus)
def. Mike Kyle: $25,000

Chris Spang: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Nah-Shon Burrell: $7,000

Isaac Vallie-Flagg: $6,000 (includes $3,000) win bonus)
def. Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante: $18,000

Guto Inocente: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
def. Virgil Zwicker: $3,000

Gian Villante: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Derrick Mehman: $3,000

Quinn Mulhern: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Yuri Villefort: $2,500

Bobby Green: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. James Terry: $9,000

Both finalists in the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix will have another fight in the organization.

By winning the heavyweight tournament this past weekend in San Jose, Calif., Daniel Cormier moves to a fight that Strikeforce parent Zuffa previously promised to broadcaster Showtime, to highlight the grand-prix winner.

But it turns out that the other tourney finalist, Josh Barnett (31-6 MMA, 2-1 SF), also will have one more bout in Strikeforce, parent company Zuffa told USA TODAY on Monday.

Whoever faces them will have to come from outside Strikeforce's current ranks. Cormier and Barnett are the last two heavyweights left in the organization; Zuffa has already moved Strikeforce's other prominent heavyweights to the UFC.

UFC's next show might provide a pool of potential candidates. The promotion has an all-heavyweight main card planned for Saturday in Las Vegas. Three of the top four heavyweights in the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings are scheduled for the card, along with three others in the top 21.

Weeks before the tournament final, Barnett said the identity of his opponents no longer matters.

"I stopped a long time ago caring about specifically who I fought, and only gave a damn if they were willing enough to sign their name to the dotted line," Barnett said. "Because I've had plenty of people not be willing to face me in the ring, in the cage, whatever; Japan, United States.

"You can't make fights happen. The only way you can make a fight happen is if you go and track the guy down in the bathroom and say, 'Alright, it's going to happen,' and start swinging on somebody.

"Otherwise you've got management, you've got the promoters; you've got all these different factors that can come in and nix a matchup. So why care anymore?"

Regardless of who they face, neither Barnett nor Cormier will be fighting for awhile because of broken hands incurred during their bout. Cormier expects to undergo surgery after re-injuring a right hand that was first fractured in September during his victory against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. Barnett hurt in his left hand, with the X-ray seeming to show a complete break just above the point where the index finger joins to the thumb and wrist bones.

A full list of suspensions include:
Daniel Cormier: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by physician for possible right middle finger fracture. Also suspended 60 days with 60 days no contact, or until cleared by physician, for left eyelid laceration.
Josh Barnett: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by physician for possible left hand fracture. Also suspended 60 days with 60 days no contact, or until cleared by physician, for multiple facial lacerations.
Josh Thomson: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by physician for possible left knee fracture and possible right hand fracture.
Gesias Cavalcante: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by physician for possible left shoulder ligament injury.
Gian Villante: Suspended 180 days or until clear by physician for possible left middle finger fracture. Also suspended 30 days for hard bout.
Yuri Villefort: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by physician for possible right knee ligament injury.
Bobby Green: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by physician for possible fracture on left ring finger.
Isaac Vallie-Flagg: Suspended 60 days or until cleared by physician for one-inch laceration for right south-orbital area.
James Terry: Suspended 60 days or until cleared by physician for possible nasal fracture and laceration.

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