The second half of the first leg of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament popped off tonight (June 18, 2011) at the "Overeem vs. Werdum" event in Dallas, Texas.

Match-up number one put troubled star Josh Barnett up against the slimmer and trimmer Brett Rogers.

Both fighters remarked beforehand that they wanted to "kill" one another, making reference to their deathly monikers, "The Baby Faced Assassin" and "The Grim."

Creative.

It was actually rather obvious what the game plan would be for both men: Barnett wanted to get the fight to the floor and work his wrestling and submission game, while Rogers wanted to land the big punch to earn the knockout.

It should come as no surprise the 34-fight veteran came away with the tapout win.

Barnett absolutely had his way with Rogers. From the outset, the former UFC champion ran a clinic on his overmatched opponent, taking him down and advancing position at will.

He wasn't able to finish in the first, but it was only a matter of time and sure enough, Barnett dragged Rogers back to the floor in the second and wrapped up his neck for the choke.

With the victory, Barnett moves on the semi-finals to take on Sergei Kharitonov for the right to advance to the finals.

After his win, the pro wrestling trained Barnett once again cut a nice little promo, asking for the support of the fans, who largely gave it to him ... at least at the American Airlines Arena.

We'll see if that continues.