This Saturday DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will fight on US soil for just the second time in his career when he meets Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm (16-1) on the Showtime televised card for Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley.
Beerbohm sees the fight as a chance to prove himself against one of the best 155 pound fighters in the world, and an opportunity for regular fans to learn the name “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm. He’s hoping for an exciting fight and will look for the finish against Aoki, despite what a win could mean for him now that the promotion has been taken over by Zuffa.
Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley takes place this Saturday, April 9, at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California and features a four bout Showtime televised card including two title bouts.
“I don’t think my sprawl-and-brawl is up to par. In MMA, if someone really wants a takedown and they commit to it, I think they usually get it. Unless, I guess, you have some super good sprawl-and-brawl, like Gilbert Melendez did. He really shut him down. But I’m not that type of fighter. I definitely have to be aware of his tricky submissions, but I have to kind of fight him a little bit different. I don’t want to be on my back with him, so I have to push the pace and either get on top of him or beat him up against the cage.”
“I like to go to the ground, and he’s one of the best grapplers in the world at lightweight. I think it should be an exciting fight, and I’m not afraid to go to the ground with him. I’m really not. He might think that no one wants to go there with him, but we’ll see what happens when we get there.”
Beerbhom suffered his first career loss last February, which comes after sixteen straight victories. He lost a unanimous decision to Pat Healy in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers 14.
Quote via MMAFighting.com