Dan Henderson Knocks Out Babalu Sobral

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsDan Henderson is back, and he has his first win as a Strikeforce fighter.

Henderson, the former UFC star and Pride two-division champion who had a disappointing Strikeforce debut in April, looked sensational in defeating …

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Dan Henderson is back, and he has his first win as a Strikeforce fighter.

Henderson, the former UFC star and Pride two-division champion who had a disappointing Strikeforce debut in April, looked sensational in defeating Renato “Babalu” Sobral on Saturday night’s Strikeforce card. Henderson landed five vicious right hands to Babalu’s head on the ground to knock Babalu senseless, forcing referee Big John McCarthy to step in and stop it.

Strikeforce Dan Henderson vs Babalu Sobral

Light Heavyweight bout: Benji Radach vs Ovince St. Preux No pick. St Preux is no pushover. Heavyweight bout: Antonio Silva vs Mike Kyle Even though Mike Kyle is the heavyweight King of the Cage champion, I think Antonio Silva here is a nice pick. Too big, has much improved cardio and has found his jab. […]

Light Heavyweight bout: Benji Radach vs Ovince St. Preux

No pick. St Preux is no pushover.

Heavyweight bout: Antonio Silva vs Mike Kyle

Even though Mike Kyle is the heavyweight King of the Cage champion, I think Antonio Silva here is a nice pick. Too big, has much improved cardio and has found his jab.

Welterweight bout: Paul Daley vs Scott Smith

Awesome fight. Daley is the better technical puncher. Foot work as well. I just like Scott Smith and want to root for him. I’m picking Scott Smith, but I think this is going to be super tough for Smith ala the Lawler fight.

Middleweight bout: Robbie Lawler vs Matt Lindland

Lawler 100% here. Lindland is practically over the hill at this point, while Robbie Lawler is peaking. If Lindland can get this fight to the ground though, Lawler has to be concerned as Lindland’s top game is pretty sick.

Light Heavyweight bout: Dan Henderson vs Renato Sobral

I’m going with Sobral via submission.

Strikeforce and TUF 12 Finale on Cable This Saturday. Which Will You Watch?

After watching Stephan Bonnar grind out consistently exciting, if not bloody fights throughout his 5 year UFC career, the no brainer is to stay tuned for his Main Card TUF 12 Finale bout against Igor Pokrajac. But who is Pokrajac and is watching a fight with Bonnar against a virtual unknown worth not tuning […]

dan-henderson-vs-babalu(1)
After watching Stephan Bonnar grind out consistently exciting, if not bloody fights throughout his 5 year UFC career, the no brainer is to stay tuned for his Main Card TUF 12 Finale bout against Igor Pokrajac. But who is Pokrajac and is watching a fight with Bonnar against a virtual unknown worth not tuning in to the if anything, *interesting line-up Strikeforce has put together

About an hour after the TUF 12 Finale card begins on Spike TV, Strikeforce will be airing its card on Showtime with a match-up between an aging Matt Lindland, who at 40 years old can be summed up as an Olympic wrestler with a spotty MMA record (he’s also a politician) and Robbie Lawlor, whose recent losses were met at the hands of notables, Jake Shields and Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Lawlor should grind out the win against Lindland via TKO, but despite the odds stacked against Lindland, he does put in the effort to keep the fight interesting.
Up next on the Strikeforce lineup would be former UFC Welterweight Paul Daley, the guy who got kicked out of the promotion for sucker punching Josh Koscheck after the 3rd round bell. To this day we don’t know exactly what kind of trash-talking Kos did to provoke the punch, but Kos does admit he said something pretty vile. Daley is facing a fellow striker in Scott Smith. The wild nature of Smith’s style and Daley’s technical skills will make for a standup slugfest that should leave Smith on the ground in a TKO.
Finally, the long-awaited rematch, 10 years in the making or that’s what the hype tells us, is the Main Card event between Dan Henderson and Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Henderson is a wrestler who’s developed a powerful right hand and Babalu is a crazy jiu-jitsu artist. The fight should go the 3 rounds, as neither fighter is expected to submit and overall this should be a good one.

Let’s skip back over to the TUF 12 Finale. Let’s face it, you can’t claim anyone on this card is at the tail-end of his career. In addition to Stephan Bonnar versus Igor Pokrajac which should be nothing short of a stand-up and possibly blood-shed war, we have Demian Maia paired up against Kendall Grove that may end with Grove tied up in Maia’s masterful jiu-jitsu, but watching “Da Spyda” trying to use his long legs in defense against Maia won’t be boring.
Also on the TUF 12 Main Card are Welterweights Johny Hendricks and Rick Story. Hendricks is from the hailed wrestling Team Takedown and has yet to take a loss in his pro MMA-career. Rick Story is no joke either, as a Southpaw with a four fight win-streak in the UFC. The fight should go a full three grinding rounds leaving Hendricks the victor.

Both Strikeforce and UFC seemed to be very considerate offering some great fights at no cost (if you already pay for cable) but with the fights overlapping, thank goodness we live in a world of “why choose?” when we have those extra special features like DVR and Tivo to enjoy.

State of the Strikeforce Light Heavyweights

Filed under: StrikeforceStrikeforce’s light heavyweight title has been held by three different fighters this year, and two more fighters will vie for the right to fight for the belt in the main event of the promotion’s December 4 show. Although the Str…

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Strikeforce’s light heavyweight title has been held by three different fighters this year, and two more fighters will vie for the right to fight for the belt in the main event of the promotion’s December 4 show. Although the Strikeforce light heavyweight division doesn’t have the depth of the UFC, it does have several good fighters and the potential for a bunch of exciting fights over the next year.

So can Strikeforce make those fights happen? If they can, which fights should they book first? And who will be the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion in a year’s time? We answer those questions in our state of the Strikeforce light heavyweight division, below.

Hendo Says Pain Meds Hampered Weight Cut, Performance in Shields Fight

("So … you holdin’?" PicProps: Some dude’s blog)
It was pretty clear back in April that Dan Henderson came to Strikeforce: Nashville fully intending to knock Jake Shields out in the first round. When that didn’t quite happen, it looke…


("So … you holdin’?" PicProps: Some dude’s blog)

It was pretty clear back in April that Dan Henderson came to Strikeforce: Nashville fully intending to knock Jake Shields out in the first round. When that didn’t quite happen, it looked to a lot of people watching at home like Henderson just took an “ah, fuck this” attitude to the next four rounds. In conceding a unanimous decision loss, Hendo sent Shields cruising to the UFC on a high note while simultaneously raising a lot of troubling questions about his own future in the sport and exactly what Strikeforce got when it signed the 40-year-old former Pride champ to a deal after Big DW passed on him.

Now, Henderson says it wasn’t boredom or lack of training that made him look like a guy who’d rather be back home in California wolfing down fish tacos and watching the tide roll in for the final 20-minutes of his promotional debut.  It was, uh, the pain pills. Yeah … not sure if this makes it better or worse, but Hendo recently told MMA Weekly that the meds he was taking for his aching back turned his weight cut to 185-pounds for that bout into a real doozy and that it left him feeling not quite himself by the time he stepped in the cage.

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Babalu Sobral Beats Robbie Lawler by Unanimous Decision

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsA good fight at Strikeforce: Los Angeles Wednesday night ended with a very close decision, as Renato “Babalu” Sobral battled Robbie Lawler for 15 minutes and did enough to convince all three judges that he won two rounds.

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A good fight at Strikeforce: Los Angeles Wednesday night ended with a very close decision, as Renato “Babalu” Sobral battled Robbie Lawler for 15 minutes and did enough to convince all three judges that he won two rounds.

The judges’ decision — 29-28 all around — could have easily gone either way, but Babalu did just enough to win, and he said afterward that he’s hoping to fight Dan Henderson next.