Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsStrikeforce on Thursday announced four of the five televised bouts slated for its Jan. 7 event at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The new matchups are Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov, Muhammed “…
Strikeforce on Thursday announced four of the five televised bouts slated for its Jan. 7 event at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
And as previously reported, the main event will be middleweight champion Luke Rockhold defending his belt against UFC veteran Keith Jardine.
“Jardine is a big name who’s fought a lot of tough guys in this sport,” Rockhold said in a statement. “I’m not going to sleep on him or this opportunity. This isn’t just another fight for me, I’ve wanted my chance to prove I’m a champion and a five-round title defense is the way to do it.”
Rockhold (8-1), undefeated in seven Strikeforce fights, captured the middleweight strap away from Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza by unanimous decision in September. Jardine (17-9-2) made his Strikeforce debut in April, fighting Mousasi to a draw. Jardine will be making his 185-pound debut.
Lawler (18-8) will be looking to snap a two-fight losing streak. In 2011, Lawler lost to both Souza and Kennedy. Amagov (9-1-1) made the jump from the Russian MMA scene to Strikeforce in July and has since won two bouts.
In his lone fight in 2011, Lawal (8-1) scored a first-round knockout over Roger Gracie. Larkin (12-0) won four fights this year, three of which took place inside the Strikeforce cage.
Saffiedine (11-3) lost to Tyron Woodley in January and then bounced back to beat Scott Smith in July. Stinson (22-7) made his Strikeforce debut in July and earned an impressive KO over Eduardo Pamplona.
For one, both men are coming off losses. Sure they were to Diaz, who was as dominant of a champion as Strikeforce has ever known, but why not make them earn a shot at the title like everyone else. You could argue that undefeated Tyron Woodley, (who we were told by a source close to Daley a few days prior to Santos being pulled from his bout with Tarec Saffiedine to instead face the brash Brit was Semtex’s original opponent) deserves a shot before either fighter.
Secondly, why should Daley and Santos get back-to-back title shots? Doesn’t that somehow cheapen the belt and make it a runners up prize? Why not just give it to the second place finisher then like they do with the Miss America title when the winner is unable to fulfill her duties?
Anyway, Daley is of the opinion somehow that he thinks he deserves to immediately fight for the belt again, like a do-over is common in MMA championship bouts.
“Nothing’s been said but, to me, it makes sense,” Daley said ESPN ‘s UFC Podcast. “Nick Diaz vacates the title, we were the last two guys to contend for the Strikeforce welterweight title, so it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. I would suggest, if I was promoting it, that the next fight is for the title.”
He would also like to suggest that he be allowed back in the UFC and be given a coaching gig on season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Josh Koscheck in spite of Dana White’s assertion that he will never fight for the Zuffa-owned promotion again. Can’t balame a guy for tryin’.
“[TUF] would be good! That would be very interesting. Would Dana White let it happen? I doubt it. I don’t mind TV, I don’t mind going up against Koscheck,” he explained. “My season would definitely be interesting because I say things how they are. I don’t play up for the cameras. It would be funny.”
If White doesn’t go for that suggestion, Daley says he’s got many more suggestions about how he should run his business that involve him being given plenty of big opportunities.
“I want a Diaz rematch. If Diaz loses to GSP and my fight’s for the title, I’ll get the title and then use it to line up a rematch with Diaz. I know it’s within my power to beat Diaz. It sounds stupid because I lost to him, but had I not have got caught with a certain shot around the two-minute mark, I wouldn’t have been fighting on instinct and the fight would have been a lot different,” he said. “He had the ability, the skill or the fortune to land that shot to the temple, which I couldn’t recover from with the pace he was setting.”
As far as his loss to Diaz, Daley sees the finish a lot differently than pretty much everyone else. He maintains that, in spite of the close-up that clearly showed him wobbly and stunned sitting on the stool and asking what the hell happened after eating a slew of shots from Diaz that saw Big John McCarthy step in and save him from taking more damage, he wasn’t in trouble and likely would have recovered sufficiently to mount a come-from-behind win.
“A different ref, a different day… we’ve recently seen the Jose Aldo versus Mark Hominick fight, we’ve seen the Shane Carwin v Junior Dos Santos fight. Those guys were in far greater trouble than I was and the fight was allowed to go on. John McCarthy refereed the Hominick fight and let it continue, but he was different with me. He stopped it with three seconds to go, yet when I landed six shots after Diaz face-planted he didn’t even bat an eyelid. There’s frustration about that because I think McCarthy is a good ref, but there is no consistency. If you’re gonna let a fight continue when Hominick’s got a big f***ing lump on his head and on numerous times he’s in bad spots, you can’t stop a championship shot with three seconds to go. I had my guard up, I was kicking Diaz’s legs… had Herb Dean been refereeing I think the fight would have been allowed to continue.”
Sure, buddy. Keep telling yourself that.
As far as regretting the punch he threw at Koscheck, Daley obviously hasn’t learned how to “play the game” like Diaz.
“[The punch ] is a bit hard to comment on, but I would have thought I could have thrown a better punch and knocked him out, given that Koscheck wasn’t expecting it.
This is a big fight for everyone involved. Following two consecutive stoppage losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, Fedor’s unbeatable mystique has been shattered. With Strikeforce’s top heavyweights competing in the Grand Prix Tournament from which he was exiled, this bout gives Fedor a shot at a meaningful win against a highly respected legend. After all the talk of his possible retirement from the sport, a victory here would prove that Fedor is still very relevant in the MMA landscape.
This is a big fight for everyone involved. Following two consecutive stoppage losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, Fedor’s unbeatable mystique has been shattered. With Strikeforce’s top heavyweights competing in the Grand Prix Tournament from which he was exiled, this bout gives Fedor a shot at a meaningful win against a highly respected legend. After all the talk of his possible retirement from the sport, a victory here would prove that Fedor is still very relevant in the MMA landscape.
Henderson comes into this bout riding a two fight win streak that saw him exit the Nationwide Arena as the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. Although the two will meet at heavyweight and Henderson’s title won’t be on the line, belts always lose a little of their luster when their owner suffers a loss. [UPDATE: Scott Coker says this fight will take place at a catchweight of 220lbs).
The pairing also gives Strikeforce some much needed time to determine the number one contender at Light Heavyweight. The Mousasi-Kyle fight was expected to yield Henderson’s next opponent, but that bout got scrapped and replaced with Mousasi-Jardine, which resulted in a painful draw. This fight allows Henderson to stay active while Strikeforce determines a worthy challenger. To that end, some of the evening’s other fights should clear up the division’s hierarchy.
Filed under: Strikeforce, ResultsMMAFighting.com will have live Strikeforce results of the promotion’s first fight card of 2011, Strikeforce Challengers 13 happening from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.
MMAFighting.com will have live Strikeforce results of the promotion’s first fight card of 2011, Strikeforce Challengers 13 happening from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.
Filed under: StrikeforceTyron Woodley didn’t have an easy time with Tarec Saffiedine on Friday night’s Strikeforce Challengers card, but through three rounds of battling Saffiedine showed that his NCAA wrestling pedigree gives him a great advantage in …
Tyron Woodley didn’t have an easy time with Tarec Saffiedine on Friday night’s Strikeforce Challengers card, but through three rounds of battling Saffiedine showed that his NCAA wrestling pedigree gives him a great advantage in the clinch, and he won a hard-fought unanimous decision.
“I did well,” Woodley said of his performance. “Tarec is a very tough guy. He has some power, he has some pop, switches his stance. Difficult guy to find timing on. I endured, I pressed him, I kept the pressure on with my striking. I did a good job tonight.”
Filed under: StrikeforceIn theory, Strikeforce: Challengers is the event where the prospects carve a name for themselves before moving on to the big show. You know that because the ham-fisted opening sequence tells you, in the most direct and stilted w…
In theory, Strikeforce: Challengers is the event where the prospects carve a name for themselves before moving on to the big show. You know that because the ham-fisted opening sequence tells you, in the most direct and stilted way possible.
In reality, there are usually two types of fighters on Challengers: the prospects, and the guys the prospects are supposed to beat up.
Friday night’s main event showdown between up-and-comers Tyron Woodley and Tarec Saffiedine was a welcome departure from that. It was a showdown between two tough guys who had come up through the ranks in Strikeforce and were looking to make the jump to the next level.
Strikeforce on Thursday announced four of the five televised bouts slated for its Jan. 7 event at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
MMAFighting.com will have live Strikeforce results of the promotion’s first fight card of 2011, 
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In theory,