Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsNick Rossborough has replaced the injured Virgil Zwicker in the September 23 Strikeforce Challengers event, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting.
Nick Rossborough has replaced the injured Virgil Zwicker in the September 23 Strikeforce Challengers event, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting.
Rossborough will take on the unbeaten Lorenz Larkin in the night’s main event.
The switch was first reported by Sherdog.com and has since been made official by Strikeforce.
Rossborough is a seven-year veteran of the sport with an 18-13 record. He tried out for season seven of The Ultimate Fighter, but was eliminated by Jesse Taylor in the entry round and never made it into the house.
Rossborough competed as recently as last weekend, defeating Hank Weiss via second-round guillotine choke submission. Overall, he’s won six of his last seven.
Larkin has yet to lose in his MMA career, going 11-0. He’ll face a distinct reach advantage in this one, as he’s 5-foot-11 and Rossborough is 6-foot-5. It will also be something of a style clash, as 11 of Rossborough’s wins have come via submission, while Larkin prefers the striking game, and eight of his victories have come via KO or TKO.
Strikeforce Challengers takes place at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.
With all of the MMA available this weekend, you had to expect to sit through at least a few decisions. Maybe even a few overreactions to a subpar performance. Last night, Strikeforce Challengers 16 delivered on your expectations. Fans at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington sat through six straight unanimous decisions, with every fight on the televised portion of the card ending this way. Yet despite the lack of stoppages, most of last night’s fights were still pretty entertaining.
Fodor vs. Terry was a very entertaining scrap, with both lightweights landing hard shots throughout the fight. However, whenever the fight went to the ground, Caros Fodor clearly controlled the action, earning him the decision. The AMC Pankration prospect improved to 11-3, with four consecutive victories under the Strikeforce banner. Excuse me for pointing out the extremely obvious, but Fodor really deserves a step up in competition.
With all of the MMA available this weekend, you had to expect to sit through at least a few decisions. Maybe even a few overreactions to a subpar performance. Last night, Strikeforce Challengers 16 delivered on your expectations. Fans at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington sat through six straight unanimous decisions, with every fight on the televised portion of the card ending this way. Yet despite the lack of stoppages, most of last night’s fights were still pretty entertaining.
Fodor vs. Terry was a very entertaining scrap, with both lightweights landing hard shots throughout the fight. However, whenever the fight went to the ground, Caros Fodor clearly controlled the action, earning him the decision. The AMC Pankration prospect improved to 11-3, with four consecutive victories under the Strikeforce banner. Excuse me for pointing out the extremely obvious, but Fodor really deserves a step up in competition.
If you’re looking to avoid overreactions to a performance that shouldn’t have surprised anyone, you may want to avoid any forum discussing Ryan Couture for the rest of the day. Ryan Couture lost for the first time as a professional last night to Matt Ricehouse, and looked pretty raw while doing so. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Ryan Couture looked like a guy with only two professional fights to his name getting his first real step up in competition. Matt Ricehouse improved to 5-0, but much like Ryan Couture, looked like a work in progress.
Naturally, the internet is handling a fighter with elite pedigree, but only two professional fights to his credit looking rough around the edges as rationally as possible. And by “as rationally as possible”, I mean they’re saying he’s a bust who will never amount to a decent fighter because he doesn’t look like Randy at this point in his career. Makes sense if you think about it. As our readers who follow the NFL can tell you, neither of Archie Manning’s sons amounted to anything after rough starts to their careers. Oh wait…never mind.
Also of note, Lorenz Larkin outpointed Gian Villante, Jason High out-everythinged Quinn Mulhern and Julia Budd outwrestled Germaine de Randamie on their ways to unanimous decision victories. By the way, Zuffa’s first ever women’s MMA fight had the fans booing pretty much the entire time. So if you didn’t get to watch Budd lay on Germaine de Randamie for three rounds, you more than likely missed the beginning of the end for women’s MMA in Zuffa. That’s the most unfortunate aspect of the less than exhilarating bout.
Showtime Bouts
Caros Fodor def. James Terry via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Matt Ricehouse def. Ryan Couture via unanimous decision (29-28 3x)
Lorenz Larkin def. Gian Villante via unanimous decision (29-28 3x)
Jason High def. Quinn Mulhern via unanimous decision (30-27 3x)
Julia Budd def. Germaine de Randamie via unanimous decision (29-28 3x)
Preliminary Bouts
Derek Brunson def. Jeremy Hamilton via unanimous decision (30-27 3x)
Eduardo Pamplona def. Jerron Peoples via first-round TKO
Trevor Smith def. Keith Berry via second-round technical submission
(Barnett has his throat-slash. Roy Nelson has his belly-rub. Lorenz Larkin just stands there and poops in his diaper. Props: Strikeforce)
Tomorrow night, Strikeforce returns to the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington for one of the most compelling ‘Challengers’ events in recent memory. “Fodor vs. Terry” kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET, and features a pack of exciting prospects. Here’s a quick rundown of the five-fight main card, plus videos of some of their recent performances…
Caros Fodor (10-3) vs. James Terry (10-2)
Fodor is a Washington native who trains under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration. Eight of his ten victories have come by way of submission, but he was able to score his first stoppage-via-strikes in his last fight, battering a worn-out David Douglas until he earned a standing TKO in the third frame. He’s a perfect 3-0 in the Strikeforce organization, and will be looking to move another rung up the lightweight ladder against Cung Le protege James Terry, who has won his last three fights, two by first-round knockout.
(Caros Fodor’s TKO of David Douglas, 4/1/11)
(James Terry’s KO of Josh Thornburg, 4/1/11)
(Barnett has his throat-slash. Roy Nelson has his belly-rub. Lorenz Larkin just stands there and poops in his diaper. Props: Strikeforce)
Tomorrow night, Strikeforce returns to the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington for one of the most compelling ‘Challengers’ events in recent memory. “Fodor vs. Terry” kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET, and features a pack of exciting prospects. Here’s a quick rundown of the five-fight main card, plus videos of some of their recent performances…
Caros Fodor (10-3) vs. James Terry (10-2)
Fodor is a Washington native who trains under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration. Eight of his ten victories have come by way of submission, but he was able to score his first stoppage-via-strikes in his last fight, battering a worn-out David Douglas until he earned a standing TKO in the third frame. He’s a perfect 3-0 in the Strikeforce organization, and will be looking to move another rung up the lightweight ladder against Cung Le protege James Terry, who has won his last three fights, two by first-round knockout.
(Caros Fodor’s TKO of David Douglas, 4/1/11)
(James Terry’s KO of Josh Thornburg, 4/1/11)
Ryan Couture (2-0) vs. Matt Ricehouse (4-0)
Usually, you have to be a former WWE star to have your first two MMA fights broadcast on national television. Ryan Couture has been granted that honor due to his lineage in the sport, but he’s taken the opportunity and ran with it. After a successful stint as an amateur, Randy’s son has shown off his formidable grappling skills in Strikeforce, ending his first two bouts by choke — then doing post-fight interviews in which everybody marvels at how much he sounds like his dad. His next opponent has more experience, but far less acclaim. Ricehouse is a Missouri-based lightweight prospect who’s already tasted victory on two Strikeforce undercards. He’s also tall for the lightweight class (just like Ryan), and a proficient grappler (again, just like Ryan). There can only be room for one of them.
(Ryan Couture’s rear-naked choke submission of Lee Higgins, 2/18/11)
Lorenz Larkin (10-0) vs. Gian Villante (7-2)
With a combat background that includes boxing, BJJ, and kung fu, Larkin is becoming known as a knockout machine, ending eight of his ten fights with his heavy hands and feet. His Strikeforce debut was a second-round demolition of Scott Lighty in April, in which he came in on a week’s notice to replace Satoshi Ishii. With momentum behind him, the California native is the favorite in his fight against Gian Villante, who returns to the cage after losing a wild slugfest to Chad Griggs in February. Villante, a former heavyweight champ of the New Jersey-based Ring of Combat promotion, drops back down to 205 for this one.
(Lorenz Larkin’s TKO of Scott Lighty, 4/1/11)
(Gian Villante’s TKO loss to Chad Griggs, 2/12/11)
Hit the “next page” link to learn about the Kansas City Bandit vs. Campamocha, and the first women’s match in Zuffa history…
Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsLight heavyweight prospects Lorenz Larkin and Gian Villante have agreed to fight at Strikeforce Challengers 16, sources close to the fight confirmed with MMA Fighting.
Light heavyweight prospects Lorenz Larkin and Gian Villante have agreed to fight at Strikeforce Challengers 16, sources close to the fight confirmed with MMA Fighting.
While not officially announced by the organization, the event is expected to take place on June 24 in Kent, Wash.
Visa issues have knocked former Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii out of his Strikeforce debut on April 1.
Unbeaten light-heavyweight Lorenz Larkin (8-0) will replace him in a bout against Scott Lighty, Strikeforce confirmed in a press release.
According to the promotion, Ishii was unable to secure a visa at least partly due to the natural disasters that have struck his home country of Japan over the last few weeks.
Light heavyweight prospects 
Visa issues have knocked former Olympic judo gold medalist 
