MMA veteran Mike Kyle (18-7-1) will lay it all on the line this weekend when he steps into the cage against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on the main card of Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II.
Kyle, who has bounced around several fight promotions for years, took the fight with Silva on short notice after his original opponent, Valentijn Overeem, withdrew do to an injury.
Now Kyle, riding a six fight unbeaten streak, will get a chance to earn a big win and maybe find a more permanent home.
I really feel like I don’t have anything to lose. I don’t go into the cage to lose, or just for a paycheck. I’ve been working so hard to get my career going. You think I’m going to come to St. Louis and just lose, or not give it all I have? I have complete confidence in myself. In my mind, I’m not getting the number one contender spot for the light heavyweight title shot right now, anyway…Henderson or Babalu are apparently getting a shot before me. The way I look at it, I have to fight Roger Gracie or Gegard Mousasi first. So for me, I have nothing to lose in this fight. And, this fight puts me in the mix as a heavyweight, too. I’d really like to beat “Bigfoot” and show the world…why can’t I be ranked in the top ten in the light heavyweight and heavyweight classes? This is the kind of fight that it might take to show everyone the skill level where I am at.
Kyle recently won the XMMA light-heavyweight title on Nov 5th in Australia, has fought for Strikeforce as a light-heavyweight and heavyweight fighter. His last fight was against Abongo Humphrey at the Strikeforce Challengers 9 event, earning a submission win. Before that, he was submitted by Fabricio Werdum in August of 2009, and earned a TKO win over current Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ Rafael Cavalcante in June 2009.
HT: Strikeforce.com