Attention Strikeforce: JZ Cavalcante Needs to Eat, Wants to Fight

(Despite not being able to afford a shirt, JZ remains upbeat about the situation.)
When you’re a fighter and your income is dependant on how often you fight, it’s understandable that you might get a bit upset when your employer, without explanation, ke…


(Despite not being able to afford a shirt, JZ remains upbeat about the situation.)

When you’re a fighter and your income is dependant on how often you fight, it’s understandable that you might get a bit upset when your employer, without explanation, keeps you out of work for an extended period of time.

Such is the case with Gesias Cavalcante.

"JZ" has been sitting on the sidelines waiting since October for Strikeforce to call to tell him when he would be fighting next. Unfortunately for the American Top Team lightweight his phone has been silent the past three months so he decided to take matters into his own hands and contacted the San Jose-based promotion to see what was up.

Not surprisingly, he was given the runaround.

“I’m basically in the dark. I wanted to fight on either the December or January Strikeforce card. I was told they were full, so I was told I’d be fighting in the February show," JZ, who signed a four-fight deal with SF prior to his last fight explains. "That got full, so I heard March would be it. But that’s coming up quickly. I don’t know when or who I’m fighting.

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Video Evidence: Maynard Trains, ‘The Reem’ Finale, Thomson Talks, Bas Shows Off Holiday Beard

(Propers: YouTube/UFC)
Would it surprise you much if we told you Gray Maynard’s UFC 125 video blog wasn’t – how do we put this – the most exciting thing in the world? Nope, the No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title …

(Propers: YouTube/UFC)

Would it surprise you much if we told you Gray Maynard’s UFC 125 video blog wasn’t – how do we put this – the most exciting thing in the world? Nope, the No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title just kind of grinds this one out. Give Maynard some credit for tooling around Vegas in a black-on-black Caddy with dark tinted windows and retiring to what appears to be his very sweet condo to play with his dogs, but that’s about as exhilarating as this one gets. At one point, dude makes a sandwich. Open-face. Peanut butter and banana on a rice cake. In a four-minute video, it takes about a minute. And that’s sort of a metaphor for the whole thing.

Anyway, we know it’s still officially the holiday weekend and you’re still trying to ease back into this thing, so after the jump you’ll find a smattering of weekend videos to keep you entertained. Think of it as like our Xmas gift to you. Our Xmas gift for you that we stole from other places without so much as a tremor of good conscience. Hey, we never said we were nice guys.

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FieLDS K-1 Dynamite! New Year’s Eve Show Card Nearly Complete

(Ishii misunderstood the SEG reps when they offered for him to sign for a K-1 bout with LeBanner. He thought he was signing for to get a K-1 belt with LeBanner.)
In keeping with Japanese tradition of announcing bouts at the last minute,  K-1 revea…


(Ishii misunderstood the SEG reps when they offered for him to sign for a K-1 bout with LeBanner. He thought he was signing for to get a K-1 belt with LeBanner.)

In keeping with Japanese tradition of announcing bouts at the last minute,  K-1 revealed the majority of its competitors for its FieLDS Dynamite!! show on New Year’s Eve at a special press conference held in Japan last night.

Besides the rumored featherweight championship bout between champion Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya and welterweight title tilt between Marius  Zaromskis and Kazushi Sakuraba, SEG also confirmed Satoshi Ishii vs. Jerome Le Banner, Sergei Kharitonov vs. Tatsuya Mizuno, Shinya Aoki vs. Yuichiro Nagashim, Kyotaro Fujimoto vs. Gegard Mousasi and Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Josh Thomson among among other bouts.

They also announced that Strikeforce heavyweight champion and K-1 Open Weight Grand Prix winner Alistair Overeem will be on the card against a yet-to-be-named opponent and that depending on the caliber of his  challenger, the fight could be for the DREAM heavyweight strap. Bobby Lashley and Todd Duffee are the two leading candidates to face The Reem, but according to sources, an announcement likely won’t happen until next week as they are working through a few hurdles with their number one choice.

A strange addition to the card is a pro wrestling bout between Bob Sapp and Shinichi Suzukawa which will be contested under Antonio Inoki’s Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) rules. At least it will give us a chance to go to the washroom and to grab a sandwich and a beer.
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Josh Thomson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri Signed for Dynamite!!

Filed under: DREAM, Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsFans won’t get a chance to see Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki at Dynamite!!, but there will be an important lightweight DREAM vs. Strikeforce fight on the card after all.

Josh Thomson vs. Tats…

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Fans won’t get a chance to see Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki at Dynamite!!, but there will be an important lightweight DREAM vs. Strikeforce fight on the card after all.

Josh Thomson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri has been signed for the Dec. 31 event, MMA Fighting has learned from sources. The bout will take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

State of the Strikeforce Lightweights

Filed under: StrikeforceStrikeforce has a lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez, whose only fight in 2010 was a win over the lightweight champion of Dream, Shinya Aoki, and who keeps talking about his desire to fight the lightweight champion of Bellat…

Filed under:

Strikeforce has a lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez, whose only fight in 2010 was a win over the lightweight champion of Dream, Shinya Aoki, and who keeps talking about his desire to fight the lightweight champion of Bellator, Eddie Alvarez. So doesn’t Strikeforce have any of its own lightweights for its champion to fight?

No, not really. At least not right now, where the best fight for Melendez really would be outside the organization. But as we look at the state of the Strikeforce lightweights below, we’ll examine whether the promotion can beef up its lightweight roster and make bigger things happen in 2011.

Four Rubber Matches That Absolutely Need to Happen

(We should all be that fired up, at least once in our lives. Props: UFC.com)
When BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123, one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history finally got its conclusion. And while not every two-fight series needs an immed…

BJ Penn UFC 123
(We should all be that fired up, at least once in our lives. Props: UFC.com)

When BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123, one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history finally got its conclusion. And while not every two-fight series needs an immediate tie-breaker — the Internet has already informed Dana White what we think of Lesnar vs. Mir III — there’s something incredibly dramatic and satisfying about a good rubber-match. Off the top of our heads, here’s a few others we’d like to see…

Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy
Tim Kennedy Jason Mayhem Miller MMA photos
History: Kennedy def. Miller via decision @ Extreme Challenge 50 (2/23/03), Miller def. Kennedy via decision @ HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon (12/15/07)
Why it needs to happen again: Look, I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for Jason Miller to agree to a catchweight fight with Nick Diaz under 185 pounds. Mayhem hasn’t even fought for Strikeforce since he squashed Tim Stout in April, and Kennedy is still without an opponent himself after dropping a decision to Jacare Souza in August — and he’s already mentioned that he wants another go-round with Mayhem. Strikeforce has two talented, unattached middleweights at their disposal with a storyline already in place. It doesn’t take rocket appliances to figure this out, guys.

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