Tag: Robbie Lawler

MMA Top 10 Middleweights: Respect for Chael Sonnen

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Sengoku, Rankings, MiddleweightsI didn’t think Chael Sonnen was a serious threat to Anderson Silva, didn’t think their fight would get out of the first round and didn’t think Sonnen could even come close to backing up all…

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I didn’t think Chael Sonnen was a serious threat to Anderson Silva, didn’t think their fight would get out of the first round and didn’t think Sonnen could even come close to backing up all that ridiculous trash talk he spewed in the run-up to their UFC 117 fight on Saturday night.

But while Silva did manage to pull off a fifth-round submission victory, I now believe Sonnen has to be considered the No. 2 middleweight in the world, and I also believe the next middleweight title fight should be Silva-Sonnen 2. No one had ever even come close to beating Silva in the UFC, and Sonnen had victory within his grasp on Saturday night. He deserves another chance.

You know Silva and Sonnen are the top two middleweights in the world. Find out about the rest of the Top 10 below.

Dan Henderson Readying for Fall Fight; Babalu Still Hopes to Face Him

It’s been three months since Dan Henderson walked out of the Strikeforce cage in Nashville, and the legendary MMA veteran is awaiting his next assignment from the organization.

According to his manager Aaron Crecy, Henderson is expecting to return in …

It’s been three months since Dan Henderson walked out of the Strikeforce cage in Nashville, and the legendary MMA veteran is awaiting his next assignment from the organization.

According to his manager Aaron Crecy, Henderson is expecting to return in the fall.

“We don’t have a date,” he said. “I’ve heard October or November, but I don’t know that anyone knows for sure just yet.”

Strikeforce Sets Middleweight Title Fight, but Misses Out on Tournament Hopes

Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse ExclusiveOn Friday night, Strikeforce announced it will fill its vacant middleweight title by pairing Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza against each other in Houston on Aug. 21. But the promotion won’t be filling…

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On Friday night, Strikeforce announced it will fill its vacant middleweight title by pairing Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza against each other in Houston on Aug. 21. But the promotion won’t be filling that title void the way it set out to.

While the solution to make the Kennedy-Souza winner the new 185-pound champion seems simple enough, MMA Fighting has learned from sources with knowledge of the situation that Strikeforce had been planning a one-night, four-man tournament in Houston to determine its next champion. The four competitors were to be Kennedy, Souza, Robbie Lawler and Matt Lindland.

Those plans, however, were nixed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Strikeforce: Los Angeles Fighter Salaries

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsIn his third Strikeforce fight of his career, former light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral earned $100,000 in his decision win over former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler last Wednesday at Strikefor…

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In his third Strikeforce fight of his career, former light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral earned $100,000 in his decision win over former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler last Wednesday at Strikeforce: Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre.

Lawler, who fell to 1-2 in the Strikeforce cage, pocketed $85,000 in his loss in the main event of the card. Check out below the official salaries from the California athletic commission for the entire six-bout card.

Falling Action: Best and Worst of Strikeforce Live

Filed under: StrikeforceI’ve never been to an MMA event quite like Wednesday night’s Strikeforce: Live show in Los Angeles. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m not sure, but at least it’s something different.

For one, there was the venue. …

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I’ve never been to an MMA event quite like Wednesday night’s Strikeforce: Live show in Los Angeles. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m not sure, but at least it’s something different.

For one, there was the venue. The Nokia Theatre seems more suited to an intimate Bright Eyes concert than an MMA fight. It’s the kind of place where you feel almost obliged to pronounce the word ‘theatre’ with a bad British accent – not the kind of place where you go to see guys kick each other in the head.

For instance, according to the Nokia Theatre website, Justin Bieber is playing there in about a month. Unlike Strikeforce, which packed in 5,259 fans last night (according to Scott Coker) Bieber’s show is already sold out.

Robbie Lawler Admits to Relying on KO Power “Too Much”

If you didn’t have a chance to catch last night’s Strikeforce card in L.A., well, your life will continue, naturally, but it’s just a tad incomplete. Okay, maybe not as incomplete if you were to miss Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, but still, you should do some rectifying pronto…The card had some damn entertaining fights […]

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If you didn’t have a chance to catch last night’s Strikeforce card in L.A., well, your life will continue, naturally, but it’s just a tad incomplete. Okay, maybe not as incomplete if you were to miss Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, but still, you should do some rectifying pronto…The card had some damn entertaining fights and the main event tilt between Robbie Lawler and Renato “Babalu” Sobral certainly didn’t disappoint.

Now anyone that has followed the career of Lawler, knows that he’s pretty skilled at crumpling dudes into unconscious piles of humanity with just one punch. Lawler was getting brutalized by Melvin Manhoef in his last fight, until, well, see above. In his bout with Sobral last night, Lawler never managed to land one of his trademark punches, and afterwards,  the HIT Squad fighter conceded that perhaps he was looking for the home run shot too much (thanks to Sherdog for the quote).

“I thought I was going to knock him out — plain and simple,” said Lawler. “It was inevitable that (I was going to) put my hands on him and knock out him out and it just never happened… When you can knock people out, sometimes you rely on that a little too much, I think.”

Although Sobral’s face looked like it had been caught under a rugby scrum, the UFC vet landed plenty of kicks and punches to the body of Lawler and probably had the edge in cage control. In other words, if Lawler had scored more often, things would have been different. To read more of Lawler’s thoughts on the fight head here.