Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, NewsGeorges St-Pierre’s next fight has not yet been decided. The UFC welterweight champion could either move up in weight to fight middleweight champion Anderson Silva, or he may stay put and face Strikeforce’s 170-pound …
Georges St-Pierre‘s next fight has not yet been decided. The UFC welterweight champion could either move up in weight to fight middleweight champion Anderson Silva, or he may stay put and face Strikeforce’s 170-pound champ Nick Diaz.
It’s a fight Diaz wants badly, and last Thursday, he was in Las Vegas to meet with UFC president Dana White and ask for it. The results of that meeting are so far unknown, but we can report there is no deal done just yet. But we also know that White is often quite receptive to fighters who passionately lobby for a specific fight.
Though the bout is not official, many believe it’s a more likely possibility than St-Pierre vs. Silva, and in the earliest odds released for the bout, St-Pierre has been installed as a fairly large favorite.
MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas has installed St-Pierre is a -425 favorite over Diaz, making him an over 4-to-1 choice to win. Diaz is at +325.
St-Pierre (22-2) is the winner of nine straight bouts and has defended his belt six times in a row since re-capturing it with a win over Matt Serra in April 2008. Just three weeks ago, he held off Diaz’s Cesar Gracie teammate Jake Shields via unanimous decision.
Diaz, though, has an even longer win streak than GSP, boasting 10 straight victories, including his most recent, an April 9 knockout of Paul Daley that moved his record to 25-7 with 1 no contest. Given Diaz’s boxing ability and attacking jiu-jitsu style, many feel his skill set can offer St-Pierre more matchup problems than any top-ranked welterweight.
The prospect of a Silva vs. St-Pierre superfight still remains a possibility, but St-Pierre would find himself in the role of underdog there. As it currently stands, Silva is a -175 favorite. The middleweight champ has other things to think about first, however. He is currently booked for a UFC 134 title defense against Yushin Okami.
Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsNo sooner had Nick Diaz retained his Strikeforce welterweight title in April when he started discussing his future possibilities. There was a potential boxing match with Fernando Vargas thrown around, t…
No sooner had Nick Diaz retained his Strikeforce welterweight title in April when he started discussing his future possibilities. There was a potential boxing match with Fernando Vargas thrown around, then another one against Jeff Lacy. There was a suggestion that he could face UFC champion Georges St-Pierre in an MMA superfight.
One option that Diaz seemed to immediately dismiss, however, was a rising star in his own company, within his own division, Tyron Woodley. The unbeaten Woodley, in Diaz’s opinion, would be “in a little over his head” moving so quickly into the title picture.
And so the waiting game for Woodley began. At 8-0, he seems stuck in a purgatory between prospect and top-flight contender, and with no easy route to his intended destination at the top. Woodley hopes that road will begin this summer, when he is expecting to fight at a still officially unannounced July 30 show, against an opponent yet to be determined.
While he says the uncertainty of his opponent is not a source of frustration for him, he believes he should only be fighting one of two men: Diaz or Paul Daley. By their account, he’s not ready for them. And by his own, he’s beaten most of the contenders directly below him in the division, and facing anyone else wouldn’t make much sense. What we’re left with is a matchmaking stalemate.
“I think the fans want to see it,” he told MMA Fighting. “You check Twitter and message boards, and the fans want to see me fight these guys. These guys had to fight someone to get a name. Diaz had to beat someone, to knock them out, like he did with Robbie Lawler in the UFC. Daley had to knock out Martin Kampmann. I’m not going to stop asking for these fights.
“They’re calling out people they want to fight, people with names,” he continued. “And I have to sit back and hear them say, ‘Oh, he’s not ready yet,’ or ‘I’ll mess this kid up.’ That’s what they’re saying to the camera, but deep down inside, they don’t believe that.”
Woodley went into his Jan. 7 match against Tarec Saffiedine with the belief that a win would get him a crack at the belt. He handled Saffiedine in a unanimous decision victory and waited to see what would happen next. First, Daley took a fight in the UK and missed weight, but ended up winning. That set him up to fight Diaz, and the fight ended in a first-round TKO for the champion.
Under the currently accepted Strikeforce rankings, Daley is the only contender ahead of Woodley that is free to fight in the summer. He has no idea if it’s a fight being considered, but he doesn’t think it’s one Daley wants.
“For Daley, his wrestling and jiu-jitsu are his weak points,” he said. “He doesn’t want to get put on his back like Josh Koscheck did, like Jake Shields did, like Pat Healy did, especially by a kid who is not in the top 10 rankings, who doesn’t have the same name recognition that these guys have. Daley? I don’t think he wants to fight wrestlers.”
He views the Diaz situation entirely differently. He says straight-up, “I don’t think Diaz avoids bouts with anybody” and that he’s a “fan” of watching him fight. At his best, he can even look at Diaz’s situation objectively, even if it means he’s the odd man out.
“I can’t knock him, I can’t hate on him for what he’s doing,” Woodley said. “Realistically, it’s a lose-lose situation for him. If he fights me, he’s gonna hear he’s not fighting top guys because I’m not as well known. And if he loses, he lost to a prospect while I made my mark off of him. Now where do you go? So he looks around and says, ‘Maybe I’ll get the fight with Georges St-Pierre.’ Why not fight the No. 1 guy in the world? Look at the risk vs. reward, and I can see where he’s at.”
When he shifts back into sportsman mode though, he says things should be more simple. In any other sport, when it gets to postseason or tournament format, or more specifically, when you’re fighting for a championship, winners fight other winners. Victors move forward, and losers are weeded out. And he hasn’t lost. Look around the rest of the division, and few others can say that. Daley lost his last fight. So did Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, and Scott Smith, and KJ Noons and Saffiedine, and the list goes on.
With his six Strikeforce wins, he’s a proven winner, and he emphasizes that he is not “calling out” anyone out of disrespect, but out of ambition. He says he won’t be upset if he doesn’t get Daley or Diaz next, and it won’t change his target.
“If I don’t keep moving towards a world championship, what the heck am I in MMA for?” he said. “I respect these guys as fighters and competitors, but do I want to fight you? Yes, if you’ve got the belt, I do. It’s nothing personal.”
Last week, Zuffa held its annual fighter meetings in Las Vegas, and Woodley looked around the sea of fighters, saw a few he’d fought in the past, others he wants to fight in the future. Diaz was not one of them. He never got a look at him. He did see Daley, however, and the two shook hands and exchanged quick pleasantries.
Afterward, Woodley returned back home, where he is helping his wife take care of their newborn, 3-month old Dylan. Back in the gym, Woodley is working to refine his striking and get back to basics on his considerable wrestling skills, well aware that the highest levels of MMA will require him to be more than proficient at both. Diaz and Daley are very different fighters, and will require very different preparation.
He just doesn’t think they have the preparation to beat him.
“I’m not a good fight for either one,” he said. “I’m faster, more explosive and a much better wrestler than Diaz. He has gas for days, can take a punch better than anybody at 170, and his jiu-jitsu is world class, but look at his three losses: Diego Sanchez, Joe Riggs, Sean Sherk. Nobody recently has fought Diaz on their own terms. They always engage him in his war and they always lose.
“As far as Daley, I just think it’s a good fight for me, a cool bout,” he continued. “Realistically, I don’t get to decide who’s next, but my next fight needs to see a performance like I had against Andre Galvao, like in my first couple bouts. I watched [Bellator’s] Michael Chandler fight the other day, and I was thinking, ‘That’s how I used to fight.’ Putting pressure on guys, heavy pressure. After the second round, he made a gesture with his hands like he was breaking a stick. He was saying, ‘I broke him.’ I’ve got to get back to that. I’m so excited to train, and I’m looking forward to getting back in the cage. I need a big fight.”
Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, NewsAfter his fighters went 4-1 on the biggest UFC card in history on Saturday, Firas Zahabi said his biggest star’s left eye will be OK – and that a champion vs. champion fight may be in his future.
After his fighters went 4-1 on the biggest UFC card in history on Saturday, Firas Zahabi said his biggest star’s left eye will be OK – and that a champion vs. champion fight may be in his future.
Zahabi, head trainer at the Tristar Gym in Montreal, home of UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, told Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” on Monday that his star pupil’s left eye, which St-Pierre said he could not see out of midway through the fight onward, was not a serious injury.
Filed under: StrikeforceDavid and Damion Douglas will join some fairly elite company at Friday’s Strikeforce Challengers show in Stockton, Calif., about a 40-mile drive from their Antioch stomping grounds.
David and Damion Douglas will join some fairly elite company at Friday’s Strikeforce Challengers show in Stockton, Calif., about a 40-mile drive from their Antioch stomping grounds.
The fraternal twin brothers will fight on the same card, joining the likes of Antonio Rodrigo and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pride Critical Countdown Absolute, July 1, 2006) and Matt and Mark Hughes (Extreme Challenge 32, May 21, 2000) as twins who have accomplished the rare feat.
The Cesar Gracie-trained Douglas brothers, who fought together on an EliteXC show in September 2008, will do it this time on a televised card on Showtime, putting their entry on a future MMA trivia question a little more in the spotlight than their predecessors.
But if you’re imagining David and Damion as the kind of twins who do everything together, like in a cheesy ’80s Doublemint gum commercial, think again.
Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceSaturday’s announcement that Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, had bought top rival Strikeforce took the MMA world by surprise.
It also gave UFC president Dana White a new No. 1 catch phrase when “business as usual,” spok…
Saturday’s announcement that Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, had bought top rival Strikeforce took the MMA world by surprise.
It also gave UFC president Dana White a new No. 1 catch phrase when “business as usual,” spoken dozens of times during his interview with MMA Fighting and on Monday’s media call, replaced “he’s in the mix,” his previous favorite go-to response.
But even though, as White says, the UFC and Strikeforce will continue, for now, to operate the same way as they did last week, last month and last year – “business as usual” as separate promotional entities – it hasn’t stopped MMA fans from early salivation over some potential fights that used to be just pipe dreams.
And even though “business as usual” might prove to be legit and they may never happen, having the UFC and Strikeforce under the same banner at least can make us feel a little bit like Lloyd Christmas in “Dumb and Dumber”: “So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance …”
Let’s take a look at a pair of dream superfights in each crossover weight class (lightweight to heavyweight) between current UFC fighters and current Strikeforce fighters. And hey, if any of them ever get booked, you can always say you read it here first.
Filed under: StrikeforceCOLUMBUS, Ohio – This is the live blog for the untelevised preliminary card of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, which takes place tonight at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – This is the live blog for the untelevised preliminary card of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, which takes place tonight at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
The main card of the event, Strikeforce’s first in Ohio, features two title fights and will be broadcast live on Showtime at 10 p.m. Eastern. The preliminary card features six fights – with 11 of the 12 fighters hailing from Ohio.
Highlights on the preliminary card include Roger Bowling, who had a pair of entertaining fights against Bobby Voelkler last year, vs. Josh Thornburg, a Cesar Gracie fighter who will have Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in his corner; Jorge Gurgel, who looks to snap a two-fight skid against Billy Vaughan, who took the fight on four days’ notice; and heavyweight Jason Riley, whose Strikeforce debut last year was a quick submission loss to unbeaten rising star Daniel Cormier.
Georges St-Pierre‘s next fight has not yet been decided. The UFC welterweight champion could either move up in weight to fight middleweight champion Anderson Silva, or he may stay put and face Strikeforce’s 170-pound champ Nick Diaz.
No sooner had 
After his fighters went 4-1 on the biggest UFC card in history on Saturday, 
David and Damion Douglas will join some fairly elite company at Friday’s Strikeforce Challengers show in Stockton, Calif., about a 40-mile drive from their Antioch stomping grounds. 
Saturday’s announcement that Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, had bought top rival Strikeforce took the MMA world by surprise. 
COLUMBUS, Ohio – This is the live blog for the untelevised preliminary card of