Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsTyron Woodley is a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career.
Woodley defeated Jordan Mein by split decision at Saturday night’s Strikeforce event, winning his tenth fight in much the same way he has won his last couple of fights: H…
Woodley defeated Jordan Mein by split decision at Saturday night’s Strikeforce event, winning his tenth fight in much the same way he has won his last couple of fights: He used his superior wrestling to control the fight for 15 minutes, and got booed afterward by fans who didn’t find the fight entertaining enough.
It was surprising that one judge scored the fight 29-28 for Mein, who drops to 23-8. The other two judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 for Woodley, who said he would like to fight for the Strikeforce welterweight title.
“I should be fighting for the title next,” Woodley said.
Although Mein landed some hard punches in the early going, Woodley did exactly what he wanted to do in the first round, taking Mein down and controlling him on the ground. Woodley had a good first round.
The second round was similar, in the sense that Woodley took Mein down and stayed on top of him, although this time Mein was much more active from his back, landing elbows from the bottom and at least attempting to do some damage.
At the start of the third round Mein threw a kick, and Woodley made him pay for it, catching Mein’s leg and planting him on his back. Woodley stayed on top on the ground for most of the round and although they did get back to their feet at the end of the round, Woodley clinched with Mein and remained in control. It was an easy decision win for Woodley, even if one judge didn’t see it that way.
This is the Strikeforce live blog for Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein, a welterweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce on Showtime event from the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Woodley (9-0) is coming off a win over Paul Daley by unanimous decision. Mein (23-7) is a Canadian prospect who scored a TKO win over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos last September in his Strikeforce debut.
Round 1: Mein pumps out jabs to feel out Woodley. Woodley misses on an overhand right but connects on a kick to the body. 55 seconds is the amount of time elapsed until Woodley shoots. Woodley works for the single-leg with Mein’s back against the fence. The referee separates them. Mein misses on a big right hand. Woodley scores the trip takedown and quickly looks for an arm-triangle choke. Woodley settles inside of Mein’s halfguard. Mein tries to roll out but Woodley’s top control is too good. Woodley lands a nice elbow with under a minute left. Mein escapes to his feet. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Woodley.
Round 2: First strike of the second round is a Mein leg kick that is momentarily caught. Woodley hits the mark on a big right hand that stumbles Mein backwards. The strike also allows Woodley to set up clinch and then the takedown. Woodley is concentrating more on staying in top position instead of landing strikes. Mein off his back actually seems more active than Woodley. Mein lands elbows on Woodley’s shoulders. Mein attempts a guillotine but the sweaty Woodley slips right out. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Woodley.
Round 3: Mein tries a jumping knee and Woodley drives him to his back. More of the same with Woodley burying his head into the chest of Mein and pinning him down. Woodley stands up and drops down an elbow. Mein eyes a kimura and for some reason the referee stands them up at this time — not when Woodley was pinning Mein, but when Mein was looking for a submission. They clinch. Mein tries a takedown but it’s blocked. The fight ends with them each trading a knee in clinch. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Woodley. Crowd boos.
Tyron Woodley wins via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
There’s some strange scoring all around tonight, including ones on the undercard, specifically the Burrell-Terry fight. You can sorta, maybe make a case for Mein winning round two for his offense off his back, but Woodley definitely wins at least two of these rounds.
This is the Strikeforce live blog for Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein, a welterweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce on Showtime event from the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Woodley (9-0) is coming off a win over Paul Daley by unanimous decision. Mein (23-7) is a Canadian prospect who scored a TKO win over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos last September in his Strikeforce debut.
Round 1: Mein pumps out jabs to feel out Woodley. Woodley misses on an overhand right but connects on a kick to the body. 55 seconds is the amount of time elapsed until Woodley shoots. Woodley works for the single-leg with Mein’s back against the fence. The referee separates them. Mein misses on a big right hand. Woodley scores the trip takedown and quickly looks for an arm-triangle choke. Woodley settles inside of Mein’s halfguard. Mein tries to roll out but Woodley’s top control is too good. Woodley lands a nice elbow with under a minute left. Mein escapes to his feet. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Woodley.
Round 2: First strike of the second round is a Mein leg kick that is momentarily caught. Woodley hits the mark on a big right hand that stumbles Mein backwards. The strike also allows Woodley to set up clinch and then the takedown. Woodley is concentrating more on staying in top position instead of landing strikes. Mein off his back actually seems more active than Woodley. Mein lands elbows on Woodley’s shoulders. Mein attempts a guillotine but the sweaty Woodley slips right out. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Woodley.
Round 3: Mein tries a jumping knee and Woodley drives him to his back. More of the same with Woodley burying his head into the chest of Mein and pinning him down. Woodley stands up and drops down an elbow. Mein eyes a kimura and for some reason the referee stands them up at this time — not when Woodley was pinning Mein, but when Mein was looking for a submission. They clinch. Mein tries a takedown but it’s blocked. The fight ends with them each trading a knee in clinch. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Woodley. Crowd boos.
Tyron Woodley wins via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
There’s some strange scoring all around tonight, including ones on the undercard, specifically the Burrell-Terry fight. You can sorta, maybe make a case for Mein winning round two for his offense off his back, but Woodley definitely wins at least two of these rounds.
Filed under: StrikeforceStrikeforce returns on Showtime tonight, and thanks to the free preview weekend it’s available even for you non-subscribers out there. So what are you going to be looking at when you accidentally stumble onto the channel that yo…
Strikeforce returns on Showtime tonight, and thanks to the free preview weekend it’s available even for you non-subscribers out there. So what are you going to be looking at when you accidentally stumble onto the channel that you usually breeze right past on your way to Nat Geo Wild? Here are just a few of the major storylines and pressing concerns heading into Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine.
I. For the sake of argument, let’s try and justify the decision to give Keith Jardine a middleweight title shot:
a) For starters, there’s Scott Coker’s ‘anything can happen’ defense, which suggests that because it’s not impossible for Jardine to win, it must therefore be reasonable for him to get the chance. That has a certain simplistic beauty to it, but if you accept that you must also accept that any fight would, by that logic, be acceptable. Rockhold vs. a bloated Tyron Woodley? Yep, that works. Rockhold vs. a dangerously emaciated Bobby Lashley? That too. As long as we’re at it, I could make 185 pounds no problem. So why didn’t my phone ring with an offer, forcing me to immediately fake a staph infection? You get the point.
b) Then there’s what I like to call the ‘cumulative effect’ defense. This argues that when you look at Jardine’s entire history as a fighter — from his 2006 TKO of Forrest Griffin to his 2007 split decision over Chuck Liddell to his recent draw with Gegard Mousasi — it’s not too shabby. And that’s true. Taken as a whole, Jardine’s career is pretty solid. It’s just the last few years — including the 2-5-1 record his last eight bouts — that have been pretty dismal. But hey, if we’re giving out title shots as lifetime achievement awards now, I assume Wanderlei Silva’s shot at Anderson Silva must be coming up any day now.
c) Finally, the old ‘he was the best we could find on short notice’ defense. What it lacks in poetic flourish, it makes up for with cold, hard pragmatism. Tim Kennedy was hurt, according to Coker. Robbie Lawler was coming off two straight losses. ‘Mayhem’ Miller, Jake Shields, and Dan Henderson had all fled the organization, and ‘Jacare’ Souza just fought Rockhold back in September. Who else is left to take this fight? The answer, apparently, is Jardine. And so here we are.
II. But no matter what you think of the matchmaking, don’t blame Jardine. He’s been saying he wants to drop down to middleweight for a while now, and from his perspective, why not say yes to a title shot in his first fight there? He’s got nothing to lose. If he wins, he’s the Strikeforce champ and his career is revitalized. Even if he loses he can still earn some brownie points for making a fight out of it. Really, the only way he comes off looking bad is if he gets knocked out or submitted in the first two minutes. That’s always a possibility — the old ‘anything can happen’ saw cuts both ways — but let’s just say the bar is set very low for him here. He made the weight, which is a good start. Now it’s up to him to see if he can’t justify this bizarre matchmaking and get his name back in the news for the right reasons.
III. Luke Rockhold summed up his reaction to the Jardine fight in one word: “dumbfounded.”At least he’s honest. It’s the kind of fight a rising young champ absolutely cannot lose. It’s also the kind where he can’t afford to be anything but totally and completely dominant. Basically, it’s a bad fight for Rockhold, and he knows it. But hey, what could he do besides sign on the dotted line and make the best of it? As his management no doubt told him, now is not the time to be making waves in Strikeforce. Now is the time to keep your head down and win.
IV. Number that will continue to blow my mind every time I’m given a reason to look it up: 29. That’s how old Robbie Lawler is heading into his 28th professional bout. How is that even possible? The guy’s been a pro fighter since 2001. He debuted in the UFC in 2002. He’s been doing this since back when Dana White had hair, and you’re telling me he’s not even 30 years old yet? If he were a Cuban Little League pitcher, no one would believe it. Lawler seems like he was born with a thousand-yard stare and a laconic nonchalance about his own ability to knock people stiff with one punch, and not much has changed over the years. He’s still more or less the same fighter he’s always been. His game plan for his 28th fight will probably be roughly the same as it was for his tenth. He still makes interviews more difficult than they have to be, and still has the same general disdain for all the non-fighting aspects of the fight game. At least Adlan Amagov knows what he’s up against. But then, so have a lot of people who ended up flat on their backs at the end of the night.
V. Only one person can beat Mo Lawal on Saturday night, and it’s Mo Lawal. I know, I know — anything can happen — but let’s stick to what’s likely to happen. He’s a good enough striker that he doesn’t have to dive in for a takedown right away, and yet his takedowns are such a constant threat that Lorenz Larkin will have to worry about them every time he opens up with an attack. Lawal’s best chance to lose this fight is to decide to keep it standing for too long in some misguided attempt to prove a point. That would be dumb, but it also might be the kind of thing a guy with an oversized ego would do. From the outside Lawal might seem like a Ric Flair-esque narcissist, but he’s actually a pretty savvy student of the game. At least, most of the time. Like most pro fighters, no matter how sober his analysis is when he’s watching others, his vision gets a little hazy when he turns his focus upon himself. The only way he doesn’t win this fight is if he gets to thinking too highly of his own striking skills and not highly enough of Larkin’s. Even the best wrestler is going to have trouble scoring takedowns if he only shoots after he’s been stung on the feet.
VI. Fun fact about Jordan Mein: seven fights into his pro career, he had a losing record. He began his pro career with a loss, in fact, to Rory MacDonald. That one must have started to look better as time went by, but Mein also dropped fights to several guys who didn’t go on to become UFC standouts. After back-to-back losses at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007, he was a very mediocre 3-4 as a pro. A lot of guys might have quit then, maybe decided to take their family’s advice and finally entered that management trainee program at the rental car place. Mein kept at it, and just a few years later he’s poised to take the leap from Strikeforce prelim fighter to solid undercard performer. It’s almost fitting that he should take on Tyron Woodley, the former Mizzou wrestler who seemed destined for big things in MMA right off the bat, and has been groomed as such in his time with Strikeforce. You never know from its beginning what a guy’s career will look like by the end. Sometimes those early struggles prove helpful later on.
VII. Know where to find Showtime Extreme in the premium cable labyrinth? If so, then you can watch the prelim bouts before the main card gets underway. While the old Strikeforce used to treat those fights as if they weren’t even worth turning the cameras on for, the new Strikeforce seems to realize that you might as well do something with them, even if probably not a whole lot of people will be ignoring the Lions-Saints NFL playoff game to watch Trevor Smith and Gian Villante go at it. Still, it’s a step in the right direction, as is the decision to time this event to coincide with a Showtime free preview weekend. If Showtime wants to be in the MMA business, it needs to get all the way in. Just like I first made the decision to pony up for HBO so I could watch the last season of The Wire in real time, I’ll admit that I never felt the urge to get Showtime until they had Strikeforce. I can’t be the only MMA fan who feels that way, so why not get behind it and push it as the asset that it is? Besides, with the avalanche of commercials that accompany any NFL playoff game, we’ll have plenty of chances to switch back and forth and check on how Villante is doing.
Filed under: StrikeforceIf you’re tired of all those UFC events loaded with nothing but competitive fights, Strikeforce has got some good news for you. Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine event features no shortage of long odds and lopsi…
If you’re tired of all those UFC events loaded with nothing but competitive fights, Strikeforce has got some good news for you. Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine event features no shortage of long odds and lopsided match-ups, complete with a title fight that oddsmakers seem to think will be among the biggest mismatches of the night.
Let’s jump right into it and see which big underdog has just enough of a chance to convince us to do something stupid with our hard-earned cash, shall we?
Honestly, I’m a little surprised the line is this close. In Jardine’s last performance he fought to a draw against Gegard Mousasi in a fight that left his face looking like a watercolor painting gone wrong. The odds for that fight looked exactly the same as they do here, and yet I can’t help but feel like Jardine has even less of a chance this time. Rockhold is a better defensive wrestler than Mousasi was then, so Jardine probably won’t be able to score with takedowns as easily. Rockhold’s also a little more unpredictable on the feet, and I can’t think that losing a significant amount of weight at this point in his career will do much to help Jardine’s already suspect chin. Really, the only thing Jardine has going for him here is the fact that he has no business in this title fight at all. That means he has nothing to lose, but more importantly it means that Strikeforce is tempting the MMA gods, and they have a way of punishing matchmaking hubris like this. It would almost serve Strikeforce right if it ended up with a 36-year-old middleweight champ who had only one middleweight fight on his record. Then again, you really want to bet on a cruel twist of fate to catapult an aging journeyman over a rising young star? My pick: Rockhold. Barring anything totally weird — though, let’s face it, some nights this is a really weird sport — I don’t see how he doesn’t win this. At these odds, it’s prime parlay material.
Amagov may not be a household name in MMA just yet, but believe me when I tell you that he’s no joke. He can grapple and he can bang, and his record reflects both. But then, there’s a big difference between fighting Ronald Stallings and fighting Robbie Lawler. It’s easy to look at Lawler’s record and come away thinking that the hard-nosed brawler is falling off. He’s lost four of his last six, after all, and he’s currently on a two-fight skid. Then again, look at who he’s been losing to: Tim Kennedy, “Jacare” Souza, Renato Sobral, Jake Shields. Any one of those guys would be the test of Amagov’s young life, but for Lawler it’s just a normal couple of years. That experience matters, as does Lawler’s ability to knock your fondest childhood memories out of your brain with one punch. Amagov is a serious fighter and he may be on his way up the ranks, but he’s never fought anyone quite like Lawler before. As long as Lawler doesn’t let that fact go to his head, he should bounce back here. My pick: Lawler. Assuming he’s more or less healthy and doesn’t fight a dumb/reckless fight, I like his chances to find Amagov’s chin sooner or later.
On paper, Larkin looks like an impressive fighter, but it’s what you don’t see on his resume that could make all the difference. He might be undefeated in MMA, but he’s lacking two things: 1) a serious wrestling pedigree, and 2) experience against high-level opponents. Lawal has both, which should help explain why he’s such a heavy favorite. The question here is whether Lawal will approach this fight with the right temperament, or whether he’ll let his considerable ego get the better of him. His striking has come a long way in recent years, but that doesn’t mean he has to rely on it here. He can probably take Larkin down at will beat him up on the mat; he just has to believe that this is the right way to go and stick with it. Reasons to think he’ll do that: Lawal’s no dummy, and the AKA crew he’s working with knows how to put together a game plan and drill it into a fighter’s head. Reasons to think he won’t: Lawal is a showman, and he’s got just enough of a chip on his shoulder to want to do whatever his haters think he can’t. My pick: Lawal. It’s entirely possible that he could get himself into a boxing match that doesn’t favor his skill-set, but even then he always has wrestling to fall back on. I’ll put him right next to Rockhold in the parlay.
As anyone who saw him turn on the go-go-gadget elbows against Evangelista Santos already knows, Mein is for real. He’s got a six-fight win streak going, and the last few have come against increasingly challenging opponents. Woodley, however, represents a different kind of test altogether, and it’s the variety that Mein has yet to prove he can pass. We all know what the former Mizzou wrestler brings to the table. His stand-up game might be coming along, but it’s not what he relies on to win fights, as his takedown-heavy performance against Paul Daley showed. Mein has shown in the past that he can be outwrestled, but Woodley’s shown that he doesn’t always have much of a plan B when he faces someone who can stuff a takedown or two. The line here seems to suggest that Woodley will stomp all over Mein, but I’m not sure that’s the case. If Woodley wins, it’ll probably have to be via decision. That gives Mein plenty of opportunities to figure something out and exploit an opening. Or maybe it just gives him plenty of chances to get taken down. My pick: Mein. Of all the big underdogs on this card, he’s the one with the best chance to surprise some people. Woodley has looked a little too one-dimensional lately, and Mein is undervalued. That’s all a riverboat gambler like me needs to know.
Saffiedine is one of those fighters that Strikeforce has been grooming in its Challengers shows for a while now, but those days are done. He looked solid while out-pointing Scott Smith in his last outing, but his game is not without its holes. The question is, can Stinson exploit those holes before Saffiedine goes upside his head with a flashy combo? Probably not. Stinson’s been in with some tough customers during his time, and he’s come away with wins over a few of them. Still, Saffiedine seems more polished. Anybody who has a 15-second knockout of Eduardo Pamplona on his record — as Stinson does — needs to be taken seriously. But if Saffiedine plays it smart and keeps this from turning into a streetfight, he should take this. My pick: Saffiedine. I’ll admit that I was tempted to leave Mein alone and take Stinson as my big underdog, but I just don’t see it here. He’s been too up and down, and the ups haven’t been quite high enough to make me a believer yet.
The ‘For Entertainment Purposes Only’ Parlay: Rockhold + Lawler + Lawal.
Filed under: StrikeforceCan a move down to middleweight revitalize the career of Keith Jardine? Or will Luke Rockhold simply be too much for the Dean of Mean? Will King Mo Lawal make a case that he’s the top light heavyweight on the Strikeforce roster,…
Can a move down to middleweight revitalize the career of Keith Jardine? Or will Luke Rockhold simply be too much for the Dean of Mean? Will King Mo Lawal make a case that he’s the top light heavyweight on the Strikeforce roster, or is Lorenz Larkin set for the biggest win of his career? Can Tyron Woodley, Jordan Mein, Tarec Saffiedine of Tyler Stinson put on the kind of performance that gets people interested in the Strikeforce welterweight division again?
We’ll attempt to answer those questions and more as we predict the winners of Saturday night’s Strikeforce event below.
What: Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine
When: Saturday, the undercard will be televised by Showtime Extreme starting at 8 p.m. ET and the Showtime televised main card begins at 10.
Where: Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
Predictions on the five Showtime televised fights below.
Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine Giving Jardine a Strikeforce middleweight title shot is an odd move: Jardine left the UFC on a four-fight losing streak, fought to a draw with Gegard Mousasi in his only Strikeforce fight, and has never fought at middleweight before. So, yes, the matchmaking here is a little strange. But Rockhold is the promotion’s middleweight champion, and Strikeforce needs to find him high-profile opponents, and given the current middleweight depth in Strikeforce, Jardine was about as good as it was going to get.
So how does this fight go? I have a feeling Jardine is going to be weakened by the weight cut, and that Rockhold will have better cardio and have his way with Jardine on the ground. Eventually I like Rockhold to finish Jardine on the ground. Pick: Rockhold
Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov The matchmaking here is a little strange, too, but the fight itself should be a lot of fun: Lawler and Amagov are both heavy hitters with exciting styles. Lawler has lost four of his six fights since signing with Strikeforce in 2009 and may be fighting for his job, and I think he’ll come out focused and ready to finish Amagov quickly. Pick: Lawler
Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin Larkin is one of the most fun fighters to watch on the entire Strikeforce roster, as evidenced by a cult following he developed while winning three straight Challengers Series fights. But while Larkin has a 12-0 record with eight wins by knockout or TKO, he’s never faced anyone even remotely as good as King Mo. Lawal is so much better a wrestler than Larkin that he can easily grind out a decision on the ground if he chooses to, and the biggest question may be whether Lawal decides to keep it safe and win a decision or take some chances and try to put on a show. I expect Mo to take the latter approach, which means there’s a chance Larkin catches him with one of his patented unorthodox strikes, but the much more likely result is that Mo proves he’s simply too skilled a mixed martial artist for someone as raw as Larkin. Pick: Lawal
Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein Woodley is a great wrestler who’s getting better standing up and is now 9-0 in his professional MMA career. Mein has looked good recently and is on a six-fight winning streak, and he might test Woodley’s chin. But Woodley shouldn’t have much trouble clinching with Mein, taking him down and winning a decision. Pick: Woodley
Tarec Saffiedine vs. Tyler Stinson Saffiedine lost to Woodley a year ago and then bounced back with a good win over Scott Smith. Stinson won his Strikeforce debut with a 15-second knockout of Eduardo Pamplona in July, but he’s going to struggle trading strikes with Saffiedine. Pick: Saffiedine
We had the opportunity to speak with Strikeforce welterweight contender Tyron Woodley yesterday ahead of the busy grand opening weekend of his St. Louis American Top Team affiliate gym, ATT Evolution and we touched on a variety of topics including his upcoming bout with Canadian prospect Jordan Mein, his gym’s revolutionary youth program and the rampant use of PEDs in the sport. We also touched on his thoughts on the inevitable GSP-Diaz match-up and why he thinks Stockton’s best fighter was right to turn down a fight with him.
Check out the highlights of our chat with T-Wood after the jump.
We had the opportunity to speak with Strikeforce welterweight contender Tyron Woodley yesterday ahead of the busy grand opening weekend of his St. Louis American Top Team affiliate gym, ATT Evolution and we touched on a variety of topics including his upcoming bout with Canadian prospect Jordan Mein, his gym’s revolutionary youth program and the rampant use of PEDs in the sport. We also touched on his thoughts on the inevitable GSP-Diaz match-up and why he thinks Stockton’s best fighter was right to turn down a fight with him.
Check out the highlights of our chat with T-Wood below:
On being matched up with relative Strikeforce newcomer, Mein:
He’s had 30 fights in total, so whether they were under the Strikeforce banner or not, he’s fought some legitimate guys and he’s a worthy opponent, so I know why it makes sense to fight him. Once people see us fight, they’ll know why it makes sense as well.
On why Nick Diaz wouldn’t fight him:
His kryptonite is wrestlers — wrestlers in good shape and wrestlers who have power and boxing ability. For him, at that point in his career he wanted to basically fight guys that were strikers, fight guys that would entertain with slugfests. For him to fight a guy like me who wasn’t yet ranked in the top 10 and was trying to make a name for myself, it wouldn’t have been wise for him to take a risky fight, lose and then his marketability goes down. You fight Georges St-Pierre and you make like quadruple the amount of money you make when to fight me. Win or lose you still kind of stay at the same market you’re at or you go up higher.
On who he sees winning an eventual Diaz-GSP match-up:
It all depends on which GSP we get. We’ve seen several GSPs. We’ve got the one ace who fought Matt Hughes and Jon Fitch — the guy who was just really dominant. I think he wins the fight and I think he wins every last round, but I think if he over-utilizes the jab and is super conservative and super patient and just does enough to squeak out the rounds, Diaz might take those shots and he might get in there and give him a run for his money.
On which discipline is dominating the sport right now:
If you look at it, it’s the wrestlers with the striking. Look at Jon Jones…look at Dominick Cruz…look at all of these guys who are successful…except Anderson Silva…. Look at every champion that we have — even Cain Velasquez who just lost — and they were 99.9 percent wrestlers with the exception of Anderson Silva. I consider Georges St-Pierre a wrestler. He does a lot of wrestling and goes against wrestlers and takes them down. I think where our sport is transitioning to is high level wrestling, great conditioning and amazing striking and guys that are just tough. I think the slower-paced fighters are going to get weeded out.
On his new gym and his revolutionary youth program that extends far beyond the mats:
What I’m trying to do with this project is incorporate fitness into the household. We cater to the families and offer classes from two to four every day for kids and anybody can get involved. I’ve seen 80-year-olds in the gi. We let the parents know why we’re doing this and how we plan on doing it and let them know it’s a safe environment. If they get into a fight they’re in trouble with me. If they’re acting up and are disrespectful [at home], they’re in trouble. If they’re fighting at school, they’re going to sit and watch. For me, I reinforce what they’re doing in the home and overall I think the parents are going to appreciate what we’re doing and how we’re going to bring it to their family.
On the alleged epidemic of fighters using PEDs:
I think for me it would be [a case of me] doing more research [it would take too much time and energy] to find out who’s doing what and in what way they’re using it and how they’re trying to… At the end of the day, it’s like with anything done fast, it really don’t last. I haven’t seen anybody that’s been a drug dealer retire from [the money they’ve made] selling drugs. You know what I mean? They either stop while they’re ahead, they go to jail or they end up dead. In this case, most people that are doing [PEDs], they don’t want to work, but they want to surf by. I feel that most of the people doing PEDs or growth hormones or whatever they’re using, if I lose to them, I was going to lose to them [anyway], because they’ve still gotta train, they’ve still gotta be in shape and they’ve still gotta know the discipline. Taking a shot or a pill doesn’t teach you how to punch or proper technique. I have confidence that I’m in good enough shape and training tough enough that I win my bouts whether my opponents are using those extreme supplements or not.
It would take way more energy for me to investigate and form an opinion about it then to just go and train hard. It’s pretty gross out there; let me just tell you that right now. It’s rampant. It’s all over the place and it’s not even really frowned upon anymore. It’s casually distributed and used. It’s unfortunate. It’s not like it’s a situation where certain people have very low testosterone levels and they’ve been prescribed [TRT] through a physician a proper level so they can compete. Most of those people are 40-something and over. I think if you’re 29 and you train hard, your testosterone levels are fine. What we have is people who have access to physicians who are like, ‘You know that, you’re a little bit low. Let me get you back up there where you need to be or higher.’ From the studies I’ve heard that basically if you do it moderately or as recommended, then usually there’s a point where you get off. Nobody ever gets off. They stay on it the whole time. They feel how strong they get, they feel how fast they recover and it’s never used with any formula. Even with the scientific glitch in there, nobody ever gets off it. They just keep going. I just try to focus on the training because I’d be all day trying to figure out who’s on it, who’s not and all of the above.
Tyron Woodley is a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career.
This is the 
Strikeforce returns on Showtime tonight, and thanks to the free preview weekend it’s available even for you non-subscribers out there. So what are you going to be looking at when you accidentally stumble onto the channel that you usually breeze right past on your way to Nat Geo Wild? Here are just a few of the major storylines and pressing concerns heading into 
If you’re tired of all those 
Can a move down to middleweight revitalize the career of 