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Courtesy of :The MMA TruthRelated Posts:Daniel Cormier Calls Out UFC Champion Jon Jones:…UFC on Fox 7: Strikeforce Champion Luke Rockhold Challenges…Daniel Cormier Announces Fight with Frank Mir; Challenges…Frank Mir vs. Daniel Cor…
Courtesy of :The MMA Truth
During Tuesday nights episode of UFC Tonight, a list of Strikeforce fighters moving to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was announced. Besides the fighters already announced in Gilbert Melendez, and Daniel Cormier, a number of fighters will make compete in the Octagon in the near future. No news yet on former UFC champ Josh Barnett and […]
During Tuesday nights episode of UFC Tonight, a list of Strikeforce fighters moving to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was announced.
Besides the fighters already announced in Gilbert Melendez, and Daniel Cormier, a number of fighters will make compete in the Octagon in the near future.
No news yet on former UFC champ Josh Barnett and his future, but after a big payout following last weekends final event, the UFC may not be inclined to pay his price.
Included are:
Light Heavyweight
Gegard Mousasi
Gian Villante
Middleweight
Luke Rockhold
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza
Tim Kennedy
Roger Gracie
Lorenz Larkin
Welterweight
Tarec Saffiedine
Nate Marquardt
Roger Bowling
Jason High
Bobby Voelker
Lightweight
Josh Thomson
Ryan Couture
K.J. Noons
Pat Healy
Adriano Martins
Kurt Holobaugh (who drops to 145-lbs with the move)
After the demise of Strikeforce on Saturday, fight fans were left to sit and wonder which fighters (aside from the champions) would make their way to the UFC. As Yahoo! Sports reported, UFC on FOX 7 in April will feature Gilbert Melendez vs. Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title and Frank Mir against Daniel […]
After the demise of Strikeforce on Saturday, fight fans were left to sit and wonder which fighters (aside from the champions) would make their way to the UFC. As Yahoo! Sports reported, UFC on FOX 7 in April will feature Gilbert Melendez vs. Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title and Frank Mir against Daniel […]
With the final Strikeforce event taking place this past weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship wasted little time in announcing two key matchups featuring a couple of the former promotions top fighters. Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert ‘El Niño’ Melendez (21-2) will face UFC 155-lbs title holder Benson ‘Smooth’ Henderson (18-2) in an unofficial title unification bout […]
Gilbert Melendez
With the final Strikeforce event taking place this past weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship wasted little time in announcing two key matchups featuring a couple of the former promotions top fighters.
Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert ‘El Niño’ Melendez (21-2) will face UFC 155-lbs title holder Benson ‘Smooth’ Henderson (18-2) in an unofficial title unification bout as part of the main event for the Fox television event (unofficial as the UFC is not likely to book all of Strikeforce’s champs in title unification bouts with it’s champions).
While previously announced opponents, Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier (11-0) and former UFC champ Frank Mir (16-6), are set to square off once more. Their first pairing was set for this past fall but an injury to Mir forced the two-time UFC champ off the card.
The official announcement was made today at UFC.com.
In the main event, UFC lightweight boss “Smooth” Benson Henderson will defend his belt for the third time when he takes on Strikeforce’s last 155-pound titlist, Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez, in a clash of champions the entire MMA world has been waiting for.
Plus, Daniel Cormier, the Strikeforce Grand Prix heavyweight tournament winner, will return to action quickly after his win over Dion Staring last Saturday to battle two-time heavyweight champ Frank Mir in a long-anticipated showdown.
UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Melendez (aka UFC on FOX 7) is expected to take place on April 20, 2013 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
Melendez was to have defended his title versus Pat Healy at the final Strikeforce event but a nagging shoulder injury kept him off the card. His last bout took place in May in a grudge match versus Josh Thomson with Melendez coming out on top via split decision. ‘El Niño’ has been involved in lightweight title matches with Strikeforce in nine straight matches.
Henderson earned a unanimous decision over Melendez’ teammate Nick Diaz last month in the main event of the UFC on FOX 5 event in Seattle. That was ‘Smooth’s’ second straight title defense after defeating Frankie Edgar by controversial split decision in their back-to-back fight last August. So far in the Octagon, Henderson remains undefeated at 6-0.
Cormier was in action this past weekend in Oklahoma City, fighting in the co-main event versus newcomer Dion Staring. ‘DC’ used his wrestling to nullify his opponents striking, ending things in the second round by TKO for his eleventh straight victory. Cormier won the GP tournament in May of last year by beating Josh Barnett by decision.
Mir enters the bout on a loss, losing to Junior dos Santos in a title match at UFC 146 last May by second round TKO. Mir had won three straight including the “2012 Submission of the Year” bout with Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140. At the December 2011 event, Mir would win by technical submission after breaking Nogueira’s right arm with a kimura.
(Look at it this way, Nate, at least no one saw Tarec do this to you.)
Over the past few weeks, we’ve referred to Strikeforce’s final event as a lot of things: “a series of pathetic mismatches on the level of Pros vs. Joes,” “an injury-riddled metaphor for MMA in 2012,” “a once great promotion, now, a study in moppishness,” but no matter how hard we try, words often fail to accurately depict Strikeforce’s drawn out fall from grace.
But where words fail, numbers often succeed. And ladies and gentlemen, the numbers that were just released for Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine say so, so much more than we ever could. According to MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer, the promotion’s final event brought in less viewers than your average Tuesday afternoon rerun of a Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode. No, I am not currently watching a rerun of a Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode. Meltzer writes:
Saturday night’s show was headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine for the Strikeforce welterweight title, but was really promoted around being the end of an era. However, there was little fan interest in that nostalgia and the event did a 0.82 rating and 310,000 viewers among Showtime subscribers.
From a rating standpoint, the only major Saturday night show on the network that did a number in that ballpark was the September 10, 2011, show from Cincinnati…did an identical 0.82 rating, with 274,000 viewers.
Ouch. While there’s no doubt that the removal of guys like Luke Rockhold and Gil Melendez from the card — and the subsequent cancelling of their title fights — is at least partly responsible for these abysmal ratings, we’re not sure anyone could have seen the former #2 promotion in MMA ending its career on lamer terms than, say, Ice-T in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
(Look at it this way, Nate, at least no one saw Tarec do this to you.)
Over the past few weeks, we’ve referred to Strikeforce’s final event as a lot of things: “a series of pathetic mismatches on the level of Pros vs. Joes,” “an injury-riddled metaphor for MMA in 2012,” “a once great promotion, now, a study in moppishness,” but no matter how hard we try, words often fail to accurately depict Strikeforce’s drawn out fall from grace.
But where words fail, numbers often succeed. And ladies and gentlemen, the numbers that were just released for Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine say so, so much more than we ever could. According to MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer, the promotion’s final event brought in less viewers than your average Tuesday afternoon rerun of a Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode. No, I am not currently watching a rerun of a Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode. Meltzer writes:
Saturday night’s show was headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine for the Strikeforce welterweight title, but was really promoted around being the end of an era. However, there was little fan interest in that nostalgia and the event did a 0.82 rating and 310,000 viewers among Showtime subscribers.
From a rating standpoint, the only major Saturday night show on the network that did a number in that ballpark was the September 10, 2011, show from Cincinnati…did an identical 0.82 rating, with 274,000 viewers.
Ouch. While there’s no doubt that the removal of guys like Luke Rockhold and Gil Melendez from the card — and the subsequent cancelling of their title fights — is at least partly responsible for these abysmal ratings, we’re not sure anyone could have seen the former #2 promotion in MMA ending its career on lamer terms than, say, Ice-T in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
Meltzer continued:
The rating was only slightly better than most of the Challengers shows, low-budget Friday night shows with little or no name talent – and with very little promotion – that usually ranged from 0.5 to 0.75 ratings, and once hit the 1.0 barrier.
The ratings were down 43 percent and total viewing audience down 41 percent from the previous Strikeforce card on Aug. 18, which featured no name fighters outside of a Ronda Rousey vs. Sarah Kaufman main event.
As much as we should probably be surprised by that last bit of information, the fact that Strikeforce cancelled their two previous fight cards, then failed to put together even a few remotely hype-worthy fights for their final event likely drove more than a fair share of potential viewers away before all was said and done.
But if I can speak candidly, I would just like to say that Strikeforce deserved better than this. So, so much better than this. Over the past two years, the promotion has been abused, ridiculed, and purged from within, to the point that not even Detective Elliot Stabler could bring it comfort, let alone justice, in a two hour season finale of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. And for that, we will forever be in your debt, Strikeforce. You fought the good fight, and never once asked for anything but our undying viewership in return. Now let these ominous tones carry you into that good night.
With Strikeforce closing it’s doors this past weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship appears set to book a lightweight title unification bout between UFC champ Benson ‘Smooth’ Henderson (18-2) and Strikeforce title holder Gilbert ‘El Niño’ Melendez (21-2). The matchup is being targeted for this April as part of the UFC on FOX 7 event according […]
Ben Henderson
With Strikeforce closing it’s doors this past weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship appears set to book a lightweight title unification bout between UFC champ Benson ‘Smooth’ Henderson (18-2) and Strikeforce title holder Gilbert ‘El Niño’ Melendez (21-2).
The matchup is being targeted for this April as part of the UFC on FOX 7 event according to Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting.com.
The FOX event will likely take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California according to Chiappetta, the former home of the Strikeforce promotion.
Henderson is coming off a decision win over Melendez’s teammate Nate Diaz last December at the UFC on FOX 5 event. The win was Henderson’s sixth straight victory and second straight UFC title defense. ‘Smooth’ won the title just under a year ago by defeating Frankie Edgar by decision in their first bout at UFC 144.
Melendez has competed in nine straight Strikeforce title matches, going 8-1 in that span. ‘El Niño’ was to have defended his Strikeforce belt versus Pat Healy but a shoulder injury forced the cancellation of the bout twice. Melendez earned his last victory in May with a split decision over Josh Thomson in a grudge match.