Robbie Lawler Expected to Knock Out Matt Lindland

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ST. LOUIS — MMA Fighting spoke to Robbie Lawler following his devastating knockout of Matt Lindland on Saturday night about why he wasn’t surprised the fight ended so quickly, his next step and why he decided to grow a beard.

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ST. LOUIS — MMA Fighting spoke to Robbie Lawler following his devastating knockout of Matt Lindland on Saturday night about why he wasn’t surprised the fight ended so quickly, his next step and why he decided to grow a beard.

Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu — Live Results + Commentary

("Babalu, you old son of a bitch, I thought you were dead." "Maybe I was, Danny. Maybe I was." Photos courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)  (From left to right: Mike Kyle squares off with Bigfoot Silva’s massive crani…

Dan Henderson Renato Babalu Sobral Strikeforce MMA weigh-in photos
("Babalu, you old son of a bitch, I thought you were dead." "Maybe I was, Danny. Maybe I was." Photos courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)
Antonio Bigfoot SIlva Mike Kyle Strikeforce Strikeforce Rockstar ring girls Kelli Hutcherson MMA photos Robbie Lawler Matt Lindland Strikeforce MMA photos
(From left to right: Mike Kyle squares off with Bigfoot Silva’s massive cranium, Kelli Hutcherson stands out in a crowd, and this is going to sound really strange, but does that photo of Lawler and Lindland remind anybody else of those optical illusion face-drawings that show a different person when you look at them upside-down?)

Headlined by a rematch ten years in the making, and featuring a solid supporting cast of knockout artists, Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu could be the sleeper event of the year. The main card is about to kick off at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan will be liveblogging it as quickly as his little fingers will allow. Round-by-round updates from the Showtime broadcast can be found after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and share your own thoughts in the comments section.

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Classic Story Alert: The One Where Matt Lindland Slaps His Money on the Bar and Offers to Fight Royce Alger

("What part of ‘No, I am not interested in becoming a Jehovah’s Witness *or* accepting your complementary copies of "The Watchtower"’ do you not understand?" PicProps: Strikeforce)
Since the UFC and Strikeforce are set to go head-to…


("What part of ‘No, I am not interested in becoming a Jehovah’s Witness *or* accepting your complementary copies of "The Watchtower"’ do you not understand?" PicProps: Strikeforce)

Since the UFC and Strikeforce are set to go head-to-head tonight with dueling shows, we feel it’s only right to pass along another fairly fascinating story courtesy of Old Dad’s ongoing “My First Fight” series over on MMAFighting. This particular gem involves Matt Lindland, who at 40 years old faces a must-win against Robbie Lawler in Strikeforce tonight and prior to that was a royal pain in the UFC’s ass from about 2000-05.

The following story is an example of what we might call “classic Lindland behavior.” It also could serve as a good litmus test for any aspiring fighters out there who may be questioning if they have what it takes to make it in MMA. The test is this: When confronted by a man who tries to crush your dreams, how do you respond? Do you A) Nod sheepishly and slink away? Or B) Offer to fight that man for all the money you have in your wallet? If you answered B, you sir, are a fighter. You may also be Matt Lindland.

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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.

My First Fight: Matt Lindland

Filed under: StrikeforceOn Saturday night 40-year-old Matt Lindland takes on Robbie Lawler at Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu in St. Louis. It’s a fight Lindland admits that he needs to win in order to keep his career moving in the right direction, …

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On Saturday night 40-year-old Matt Lindland takes on Robbie Lawler at Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu in St. Louis. It’s a fight Lindland admits that he needs to win in order to keep his career moving in the right direction, and it’s also one that he intends to turn into, as he puts it, “a gritty, messy fight.” But before he finds out what his future holds, Lindland sits down with us to talk about his past, including his very first taste of MMA.

He has no problem admitting it now: back then, Matt Lindland had no idea how to even begin to prepare for an MMA fight. Then a 26-year-old wrestling coach at the University of Nebraska and an aspiring Olympic team member, all Lindland knew was that other Greco-Roman wrestlers had done it and it looked like a fun way to make a couple dollars.

One day he ran into Royce Alger, a well-known wrestler for the University of Iowa who was dabbling in MMA and was said to be headed to the UFC soon. Lindland told him he’d been thinking about taking the same path, and wanted to know how to get started.

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.