Author: Ben Fowlkes

Falling Action: Best and Worst of Strikeforce Live

Filed under: StrikeforceI’ve never been to an MMA event quite like Wednesday night’s Strikeforce: Live show in Los Angeles. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m not sure, but at least it’s something different.

For one, there was the venue. …

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I’ve never been to an MMA event quite like Wednesday night’s Strikeforce: Live show in Los Angeles. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m not sure, but at least it’s something different.

For one, there was the venue. The Nokia Theatre seems more suited to an intimate Bright Eyes concert than an MMA fight. It’s the kind of place where you feel almost obliged to pronounce the word ‘theatre’ with a bad British accent – not the kind of place where you go to see guys kick each other in the head.

For instance, according to the Nokia Theatre website, Justin Bieber is playing there in about a month. Unlike Strikeforce, which packed in 5,259 fans last night (according to Scott Coker) Bieber’s show is already sold out.

Strikeforce Live Blog: ‘Cyborg’ Santos vs. Marius Zaromskis Updates

Filed under: StrikeforceLOS ANGELES, Calif. — This is the live blog for Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Marius Zaromskis, a welterweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce: Los Angeles card from the Nokia Theatre.

Zaromskis, the DREAM welterweight champi…

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — This is the live blog for Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Marius Zaromskis, a welterweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce: Los Angeles card from the Nokia Theatre.

Zaromskis, the DREAM welterweight champion, looks to bounce back from a loss to Nick Diaz in January to face Santos, the husband of the Strikeforce 145-pound women’s champion.

The live blog is below.

Strikeforce Live Blog: Robbie Lawler vs. Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral Updates

Filed under: StrikeforceLOS ANGELES, Calif. — This is the Strikeforce live blog for Robbie Lawler vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral, the main event of tonight’s Showtime card from the Nokia Theatre.

Lawler-Sobral will be contested at 195 pounds and will aff…

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — This is the Strikeforce live blog for Robbie Lawler vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral, the main event of tonight’s Showtime card from the Nokia Theatre.

Lawler-Sobral will be contested at 195 pounds and will affect the title scene in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. A win for Lawler could potentially earn him a middleweight title shot, while a Babalu victory could earn him a light heavyweight title shot.

The live blog is below.

Sobral Outpoints Lawler, Santos Knocks Out Zaromskis at Strikeforce: Live

Filed under: StrikeforceLOS ANGELES – It wasn’t exactly a definitive ending, but Renato “Babalu” Sobral did just enough to edge out Robbie Lawler in the main event of Strikeforce: Live at the Nokia Theater in a rare Wednesday night event.

The catchwei…

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Renato LOS ANGELES – It wasn’t exactly a definitive ending, but Renato “Babalu” Sobral did just enough to edge out Robbie Lawler in the main event of Strikeforce: Live at the Nokia Theater in a rare Wednesday night event.

The catchweight bout turned out to be a back-and-forth affair, with Sobral doing more damage from distance and Lawler trying to load up for the one blow that would end it all.

While Lawler was successful in avoiding most of Sobral’s takedowns, virtually negating the ground game entirely down the stretch, he wasn’t quite as effective in the striking exchanges, and the result was all three judges scoring the bout 29-28 in favor of Sobral.

Strikeforce’s Tim Kennedy Ready to Find Out What He Can Really Do

Filed under: StrikeforceTim Kennedy may be only 30 years old, but he’s already lived two very different lives. What’s more, he’s lived them both more or less simultaneously, balancing a pro fighting career with his duties as a Special Forces soldier in…

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Tim Kennedy may be only 30 years old, but he’s already lived two very different lives. What’s more, he’s lived them both more or less simultaneously, balancing a pro fighting career with his duties as a Special Forces soldier in the US Army.

It’s difficult for Kennedy (11-2) to say which career he’s more proud of. He feels like he’s accomplished more in the military, he says. Becoming a Green Beret, an Army Ranger, and a Special Forces sniper, earning a Bronze Star for valor – those are achievements that bring a special kind of satisfaction.

“But at the same time,” Kennedy notes, “ten days after Ranger school I got a two-day notice to fight Dante Rivera in the IFL, and taking a fight like that after being in Ranger school for two, three months, and then going in there and knocking him out, that’s a pretty good feeling too.”

Claude Patrick Has a Legitimate Gripe About UFC 115 Submission Bonus

Filed under: UFCPublicly, UFC fighters will always tell you that they don’t count on receiving an end of the night bonus check. Privately however, they’re looking at their counterparts on each fight card and calculating their chances of pocketing some …

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Publicly, UFC fighters will always tell you that they don’t count on receiving an end of the night bonus check. Privately however, they’re looking at their counterparts on each fight card and calculating their chances of pocketing some extra cash.

UFC newcomer and Canadian MMA veteran Claude Patrick admitted as much in a post on the Underground Forum earlier today, where he wrote that he had sized up the lineup and concluded that the Submission of the Night bonus would likely be awarded either to himself or fellow submissions expert Mike Pyle.

Of course, that’s not how it went down, and the end result was both Patrick and Pyle going home somewhat disappointed after the UFC elected to award Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic the $85,000 bonus for Submission of the Night at UFC 115.