Lorenz Larkin (pictured) has put on some outstanding fights and shown how dangerous he is on his feet, but is he worthy of No. 1 contender status already?

By Michael Hatamoto

It was just a couple of days ago when Full Contact Fighter posted a story regarding Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker’s decision to propel Lorenz Larkin into a title shot ahead of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

I’m sure if you’re a Larkin fan, it’s absolutely thrilling news to hear.  However, the rest of the MMA world was left rather confused, as the former light heavyweight hasn’t beaten very reputable competition.  Besides his most recent win against Robbie Lawler, a former shell of his heavy-handed striker fame of years past, Larkin has wins against Nick Rossborough, Gianpiero Villante and Scott Lighty inside the Strikeforce cage — and a knockout loss to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal was eventually turned into a no contest.

Larkin will face off against middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in early November, rather than the Brazilian submission specialist Jacare.

Coker was in full fight promoter mode when he boldly proclaimed Larkin as “probably the most dangerous striker in MMA.”  There is no clear logic, even according to Coker’s statement when speaking to MMAjunkie.com, and MMA fans simply aren’t buying what Coker is selling.

I’m always amused when fight promoters have to clearly spread BS to generate interest in potential fight matchups that don’t make very much sense.  Coker has been a master of promoting certain freak-show fights as the No. 2 MMA promotion in the United States — and after Zuffa’s acquisition, there seemingly are even less matchups for the president to make.­

Don’t get me wrong: I fully believe Coker used to work extremely hard as the head of Strikeforce, but a Rockhold vs. Jacare rematch is what we, as MMA fans, hope to see.