It is now being reported by Long Island Newsday that two of Strikeforce’s best light heavyweights, Ovince St. Preux and Gian Villante, will fight each other at UFC 159 in Newark, New Jersey.
A former college football player for the University of Tennessee, Ovince St. Preux went 4-4 before being signed to fight on the undercard of Strikeforce: Nashville in 2010. St. Preux provided more than just a cheap pop for the organization, as he would defeat Chris Hawk in only forty-seven seconds. OSP would win his next six fights before dropping a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal in December of 2011. St. Preux’s most recent fight was a knockout over TJ Cook at Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman in August.
Look, Ovince, all I’m saying is that maybe Lane Kiffin is slightly underrated and doesn’t deserve so much hatred. Props: fightinginsider.com
It is now being reported by Long Island Newsday that two of Strikeforce’s best light heavyweights, Ovince St. Preux and Gian Villante, will fight each other at UFC 159 in Newark, New Jersey.
A former college football player for the University of Tennessee, Ovince St. Preux went 4-4 before being signed to fight on the undercard of Strikeforce: Nashville in 2010. St. Preux provided more than just a cheap pop for the organization, as he would defeat Chris Hawk in only forty-seven seconds. OSP would win his next six fights before dropping a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal in December of 2011. St. Preux’s most recent fight was a knockout over TJ Cook at Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman in August.
Meanwhile, Gian Villante made his Strikeforce debut as part of the promotion’s Heavyweight Grand Prix, losing to Chad Griggs in the first round. Villante then dropped down to light heavyweight, and despite losing a unanimous decision to Lorenz Larkin in his first effort as a Strikeforce light heavyweight, Villante quickly turned things around. He has won three fights in a row since losing to Larkin, but has remained inactive since May due to Strikeforce cancelling events once everyone stopped caring.
With two of Strikeforce’s most promising light heavyweight prospects looking to make a statement in their UFC debuts, this should be an entertaining scrap. Don’t expect this fight to go the distance – both fighters have heavy hands and like to bang, bro.
UFC 159 will take place on April 27 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It will be headlined by the TUF 17 coaches clash between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen. We’ll keep you up to date as this card continues to fill out.
The spotlight is locked on women’s MMA more so than any other time in history. With Invicta FC putting on successful all-female events and Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche set to make UFC history in Anaheim, the moment has come for the top women fighters…
The spotlight is locked on women’s MMA more so than any other time in history. With Invicta FC putting on successful all-female events and Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche set to make UFC history in Anaheim, the moment has come for the top women fighters in the world to show and prove.
The buzz is steadily rising in the wake of UFC 157 as “The Ronda Rousey Show” prepares to take center stage. It will undoubtedly be a pivotal moment in the chapters of WMMA. If the showing is a successful one, the doors of the Octagon will open for a collection of the world’s top female fighters to compete.
That being said, there is plenty that could go wrong in the equation, and Alexis Davis isn’t caught up in the possibilities of what may or may not happen in the future.
The 28-year-old Canadian is firmly focused on her personal rise and is determined to climb to the top of the mountain. “Ally-Gator” has found victory in five of her last six showings with her most recent win coming over Shayna Baszler at Invicta 4 back in January. It was a rematch three years in the making, and Davis evened the score via rear-naked choke in the third round, leaving Baszler sleeping on the canvas in the process.
“I think I made a huge statement in that [Shayna] Baszler fight,” Davis told Bleacher Report. “It may not have been big media wise because a lot of MMA media doesn’t really cover WMMA all that much and might know know who Shayna is. But she is one of the toughest female fighters and one of the truly legit female fighters in the sport.
“She is very well-rounded and has a great submission game much like myself. For me, beating Shayna was taking the next big step and she was one of the toughest fights I’ve had. A victory over a fighter I consider to be one of the toughest women out there is a great feeling.
In the ranks of WMMA, Davis’s stock has never been higher. The Team Cesar Gracie-fighter has steadily built a reputation for her gritty style and willingness to trade leather at every turn. On the strength of her runs in Strikeforce and Invicta, Davis is now in a position to be considered one of the world’s best.
She’s looking to fight her way to the top, and whatever promotion that journey carries out in doesn’t really matter to her. The only thing Davis wants is to fight the best the world has to offer.
“I would love to fight for the UFC,” Davis said. “I’m completely happy fighting for Invicta but I know UFC is the next huge platform depending on how everything works out with this fight at UFC 157. For me it all comes down to how I perform in my fights. When this news was going on about women coming to the UFC I chose to focus my attention on my fight with Baszler. Whether or not my next fight in the UFC isn’t something I can focus on. I have ample opponents in front of me and that is where my focus needs to be.
“No matter where or who I’m fighting, it is always going to be a good fight. I don’t think to this day I’ve ever had a boring fight. This is what I do for a living. This is what I love to do. I’m coming out there to win and it doesn’t matter who it is I’m facing. It doesn’t matter if I fight for the UFC or Invicta next, I’m going to be a better fighter than the last time you saw me.”
For Davis and many other women competing in mixed martial arts, times have never been better. With all major promotions beginning to showcase the top female talent on their rosters, the landscape of WMMA has shifted entirely.
Where options were once limited, the sudden growth of WMMA has attracted scores of new talent to the biggest stages and allowed female fighters to progress in the proper fashion. This was a luxury Davis wasn’t afforded, and she’s excited for the next generation of female fighters to make their mark.
“I think we are under the spotlight more than ever,” Davis said. “Especially with how much attention a lot of these promotions are giving women. With the UFC fight coming up soon and Invicta doing so well, it is an exciting time for women in the sport. Even promotions like Bellator are putting women on center stage and it’s great exposure.
“You get a lot more young females interested in the sport and realizing it is not just people getting in a cage like barbarians. People thought that way before but there are legit skills behind these ladies. There are women who bring Olympic-style wrestling or world class Judo now. There are great jiu-jitsu practitioners competing and there are a lot of skills to back up these ladies. Even with the guys, no one is just coming in there looking for blood. This is a sport and people are starting to see that.
“It’s crazy and I almost wish I could have started my career at the point the sport is right now,” Davis added. “I turned pro right away in my first fight against Sarah Kaufman, but now you have the ability and grow with your record. We have shows like Invicta where people who are just coming off amateur fights can face similar competition all the way up to women who have been competing for seven or eight years like myself. That provides a wide range and promotions like Invicta are really helping in that sense. Now other promotions are seeing that too and women aren’t easily looked past anymore. We’ve come to the point in time where a high percentage of fight cards are going to have women bouts.”
Since the days of Gina Carano, the topic of women flaunting their sex appeal has been a hot button issue in WMMA. It has become a debate of style versus substance, and while fighters like “Conviction” and Rousey have validated their salesmanship by performances inside the cage, others have fallen short in their efforts.
This divide has created a dialogue in the mixed martial arts community, and with the sport being entertainment based, it is unlikely the stigma will fade anytime soon. Davis takes zero issues with her fellow competitors boosting their profiles and believes everything will ultimately be determined when the cage door closes.
“You are going to come across different types of people in this world,” Davis said. “The more publicity fights and the fighters in them get, you are going to come across people who are going to sell their image in different ways. When it comes down to it, what is going to keep the fans is what happens in the cage.
“I hate to say it but I don’t think it will ever go away. I think the bigger this gets the more you are going to have that element. I’m all for people who want to show themselves in a certain light, just be able to back it up and have a little bit of class. Maybe try being a bit more Playboy than Hustler.”
While the road ahead holds uncertainty for Davis opponent-wise, the future is undoubtedly bright. In the aftermath of UFC 157, the sport’s biggest promotion will decide how much it is willing to grow the bantamweight division. If things go smoothly, Davis will find her name added to that roster.
That being said, should things go in a different direction, one fighter who has been on Davis’ radar for some time is former Strikeforce champion Cris Cyborg.
The Brazilian wrecking machine has been out of action since testing positive for a banned substance following her bout against HirokoYamanaka in December of 2011. The failed drug test spawned a rash of negative publicity for Cyborg, and her talks with the UFC have been rocky at best. Should both women find the door to the Octagon closed for the time being, Davis would like to mix it up with one of the most feared female fighters on the planet.
“I totally respect Cris,” Davis said. “I think she is a great fighter and I hope she does well. I’m not sure what is going on right now and if she can drop down to 135 pounds to make the UFC or not, but that is definitely a fight I’d be interested in. She has gone through the negative publicity with the whole steroids thing but I think she is still a great fighter. I think there are a lot of people who have probably looked past her because they think she was only successful because she was all juiced up or whatever. I’ve seen her jiu-jitsu and her Muay Thai and she is a legit top fighter.”
Over the next few weeks the next step of Davis’s journey will materialize, and she will be ready when it does. The Ontario native has set her sights on making 2013 a year to remember and is determined to keep the process of progress in constant motion.
“I want to go to Brazil,” Davis said regarding her plans for the year ahead. “I can’t really say when but it is definitely on my list. I am going to get a title this year and I want to successfully defend that title before the year is done. I don’t think you are a legit champion until you can at least defend your title. I’m also going to win a couple jiu-jitsu titles in there too—some Worlds and Pan Ams. It is going to be a full year but I have to keep myself busy.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
A pair of Strikeforce veterans are set to clash in their Octagon debuts as light heavyweights Ovince St. Preux (12-5) meets Gian Villante (10-3) in April as part of the upcoming UFC 159 pay-per-view event. News of the bout was identified by Mark La Monica of Newsday.com late Thursday night, confirming the bout with sources […]
Ovince St Preux
A pair of Strikeforce veterans are set to clash in their Octagon debuts as light heavyweights Ovince St. Preux (12-5) meets Gian Villante (10-3) in April as part of the upcoming UFC 159 pay-per-view event.
News of the bout was identified by Mark La Monica of Newsday.com late Thursday night, confirming the bout with sources in Villante’s camp.
UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen is expected to take place on April 27, 2013 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
St. Preux hasn’t fought since last August when he picked up a third round knockout victory over opponent TJ Cook at the Rousey vs. Kaufman event. The victory put him back on the winning track after an eight fight win streak ended following a decision loss to Gegard Mousasi in December 2011.
Villante is riding a three fight win streak into this match. His most recent bout took place in May of last year, a decision win over opponent Derrick Mehmen at the Barnett vs. Cormier event. The other two wins in his current run came against Trevor Smith and Keith Berry.
It’s been a busy day for Ultimate Fighting Championship officials with the addition of several bouts to upcoming events including the UFC on FOX 7 show this April. Former Strikeforce fighters Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal (23-7) and ‘Relentless’ Roger Bowling (11-3) are two of those fighters and will make their debuts at the San Jose event. […]
Jorge Masvidal – Image by Esther Lin for Strikeforce.com
It’s been a busy day for Ultimate Fighting Championship officials with the addition of several bouts to upcoming events including the UFC on FOX 7 show this April. Former Strikeforce fighters Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal (23-7) and ‘Relentless’ Roger Bowling (11-3) are two of those fighters and will make their debuts at the San Jose event.
Masvidal is set to meet Tim ‘The Dirty Bird’ Means (18-3-1), while Bowling takes on Anthony ‘The Assassin’ Njokuani (15-7, 1NC) inside the Octagon. Both bouts will be fought at lightweight.
Officials announced the bouts as well as previously confirmed matches between Norman Parke vs. Jon Tuck and Myles Jury vs. Ramsey Nijem, at UFC.com earlier today.
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. The event is headlined by a lightweight title match between UFC champ Benson Henderson and Strikeforce title holder Gilbert Melendez.
The event now features six lightweight matches on the entire card including the title bout.
Masvidal hasn’t fought since last July when he won a split decision against opponent Justin Wilcox at the Rockhold vs. Kennedy event. ‘Gamebred’ bounced back from a decision loss to Melendez in a lightweight title fight. That defeat ended a two fight win streak which saw Masvidal defeat K.J. Noons and Billy Evangelista.
Means is riding an eleven fight undefeated streak with two straight wins inside the Octagon. He was to have fought Abel Trujillo at UFC 151 but was rescheduled for UFC on FOX 5. On the weigh-in day of the Fox event, Means injured himself slipping in the hotel sauna and was forced out of the match. His last actual bout took place in June of last year at UFC on FX 3, picking up a first round TKO win over Justin Salas.
Bowling drops to lightweight after competing at welterweight in the Strikeforce promotion. ‘Relentless’ is 2-1 in his last three with a decision loss to Strikeforce welterweight champ Tarec Saffiedine last August at the Rousey vs. Kaufman event. The wins were both knockout finishes with a TKO stoppage against Brandon Saling in March and a KO of Jerron Peoples in December 2011.
Njokuani looks to get back into the win column after trading losses for wins over his last five Octagon appearances with a 2-3 record. ‘The Assassin’ lost a decision to Rafael dos Anjos last summer in San Jose as part of the UFC on FUEL TV 4 show. His last win came in April of last year, winning a decision against John Makdessi at UFC 145 in a 158-lbs catchweight bout after Makdessi missed weight.
Barnett’s manager, Leland LaBarre, seemed to suggest that show cash was not their issue with the UFC’s offer, which is pretty surprising considering the ridiculous rate Barnett was receiving over at Strikeforce. According to LaBarre, there were other, undisclosed issues between Barnett and the UFC that simply could not be worked out:
We agreed on guaranteed compensation.In fact, we never even countered. We accepted their original offer. There are some outlying issues – one in particular – that as of this point we were unable to agree on.
Barnett’s manager, Leland LaBarre, seemed to suggest that show cash was not their issue with the UFC’s offer, which is pretty surprising considering the ridiculous rate Barnett was receiving over at Strikeforce. According to LaBarre, there were other, undisclosed issues between Barnett and the UFC that simply could not be worked out:
We agreed on guaranteed compensation.In fact, we never even countered. We accepted their original offer. There are some outlying issues – one in particular – that as of this point we were unable to agree on.
It is interesting that LaBarre felt comfortable making public what could very well have been a private development in contract negotiations, but would not detail what the sticking point is. Our guess: The UFC wouldn’t let Barnett go overseas on occasion to wrestle the likes of Bob Sapp. That, or they placed a special stipulation in his contract that forbid him from using a post-fight interview as a platform to quote biblical scripture or whatever the hell he was talking about at the final Strikeforce event.
Barnett’s professional record currently stands at 32-6. He has dropped only one of his ten MMA contests in the last six years — to Daniel Cormier in the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix last May. What do you think the one issue that kept Barnett from signing could be, Nation, and do you think he’s pushing his luck turning down a UFC contract at this point in his career?
It took Belgian fighter Tarec ‘Sponge’ Saffiedine seventeen career bouts to capture his first world title, defeating Nate Marquardt this month for the Strikeforce welterweight title. Saffiedine has yet to sign with the UFC following the dissolution of the Strikeforce promotion and is still negotiating his move to the Octagon. In this interview the ‘Sponge’ talks about his fight versus Marquardt, his improvement as a wrestler, the UFC and more.
HT: MMAInterviews.tv for the video
It took Belgian fighter Tarec ‘Sponge’ Saffiedine seventeen career bouts to capture his first world title, defeating Nate Marquardt this month for the Strikeforce welterweight title. Saffiedine has yet to sign with the UFC following the dissolution of the Strikeforce promotion and is still negotiating his move to the Octagon. In this interview the ‘Sponge’ talks about his fight versus Marquardt, his improvement as a wrestler, the UFC and more.
The spotlight is locked on women’s 
