Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier came into his bout with Dion Staring tonight (Sat., Jan. 12, 2013) at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla., as a ridiculous 20-1 favorite.

"The Soldier" was certainly no Frank Mir; on the contrary, he took a lickin' and kept on tickin' even though he was outgunned and outclassed from the opening bell. Cormier -- who starred on the wrestling mats at nearby Oklahoma State University -- leveraged his Olympic-level grappling to completely throttle Staring.

Cormier was hitting takedowns whenever and wherever he wanted them and was then hitting Staring whenever and wherever he wanted to. Staring didn't offer much resistance or threaten at any time during the match, even though he resisted the takedown attempts at times.

But, once he hit the mat, Cormier beat him from pillar to post.

Staring somehow survived a first round beating and nearly made it out of the second before referee John McCarthy realized that sending him needlessly into the final frame was senseless. With about one minute left in the round, McCarthy interrupted the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA)-trained fighter and called the fight, giving Cormier a technical knockout win and keeping his perfect professional record intact (11-0)

Now it's on to bigger and better men, Mir, who "DC" called out (again) and want to fight on FOX in May.

Giddyup!

For complete results and blow-by-blow coverage of Strikeforce: "Marquardt vs. Saffiedine" click here.