The Takedown MMA News Report 3.05.10: Strikeforce's Triple Threat
Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 03.05.2010
The Takedown looks at Strikeforce's second feature on CBS, the upcoming WEC 47 event this Saturday, Bellator news - both tournament and non-tournament, fight announcements, and a look at how the lack of top Light Heavyweight fighters will impact DREAM in 2010.
In My Opinion…
It has been all but unanimously agreed upon that the UFC has a monopoly on the Light Heavyweight division right now. From our own Light Heavyweight rankings there are only two out of the 15 presented that are not under Zuffa contract. These two are the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion in Gegard Mousasi, and the man Gegard defeated to become the champion in Renato "Babalu" Sobral.
This poses a problem for every other promotion who really wants to have those fights as it deprives their audience from about 1/5 of their potential fights. Sure they will always have more than a few 205 pounders to go around but the fact is none of them will even remotely crack the top 30 of the world, let alone being called a top 10 fighter. However, there are just enough combined through the various promotions that I think they can put on decent showings, which is especially important considering the DREAM Light Heavyweight Grand Prix is scheduled to commence this year.
First, and obviously, the two aforementioned fighters would be no-brainers for the competition. They are still top-flight fighters despite not being under Zuffa contract. However, the other 6 (because there is no way DREAM could get away with holding a 16-man bracket) are another story.
Personally, even though I think he is too far gone to be considered a top fighter anymore, Sokodjou would make a fine addition to the roster. He has the pure ability needed to hold his own so as long as nobody pressures him he would do fine. That's three fighters.
Next, since StrikeForce has this working deal with DREAM, I strongly think they should let Dan Henderson fight in the GP. He is the top fighter to have competed at 205 not in the UFC right now. Just saying. He makes four.
One spot should definitely go to the last (official) WEC Middleweight Champion. Paul Filho has been competing at 205 pounds recently and I would love to see him compete in the DREAM Light Heavyweight GP. I mean, why not, really? Sure there is the risk of the no-show (as he has done multiple times recently) but he could be a real player there.
The sixth spot should go to Minowaman. He usually weighs in right around 200 pounds and he has made a career of fighting larger men so it should be no different for him.
The final two spots are challenging to fill. Should they go to fighters with name value so they can help DREAM's numbers? Or should the final two spots be given to fighters with loads of skill? Frankly, I think there is more than enough skill already in this short list (among the different fighters of course) so people with big names should go here.
First: the recently released Mark Coleman. Coleman was the first PRIDE champion of any kind (the first PRIDE Openweight GP Champion) and he is a legend in the sport so he could provide some spotlight for the company. While I would not expect him to really win the thing he might make it to the semi-finals, thus giving him one last pig payday or two. Finally, the last spot should be given to Murilo "Ninja" Rua. He may be able to take some of the fame his name has and give it to the company. Besides, Ninja isn't a terrible fighter. He just had bad luck in WHO he fought.
Strikeforce's Triple Threat
Following the big M-1/Strikeforce debacle this past week, Strikeforce has announced a rather packed card for their second foray onto CBS programming. While only three fights have been confirmed for the four-fight televised card, they are big ones.
First, the expected main event of the night will be champion Jake Shields defending his newly-won Strikeforce Middleweight Championship against UFC and PRIDE veteran Dan Henderson.
Both of the other confirmed bouts are also title fights. Defending his newly-unified Lightweight Championship for the first time will be Gilbert Melendez against DREAM and WAMMA Lightweight Champion Shinya Aoki. However, while Aoki is the current champion for both of those organizations, this contest will solely be for the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship. The third and final title fight on the card will be the former DREAM Middleweight Champion and current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi defending his belt for the first time against Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.
One special note about Aoki's debut in a cage: his magical submission pants will be banned for the event. Hopefully he can pull a note from George Sotiropoulos's book and try to replicate those because frankly they are so advantageous for his style it is ridiculous.
Sorry, no rainbow magic pants this time.
These are all fine fights to make, but once again I will beat the dead decaying pus-filled horse that is the problem with advertising. Strikeforce and the WEC both suffer from it. I have seen no commercials for SF: Nashville and have not even heard of some fights until I began actively looking for news. Strikeforce has all the tools they really need to be a legit #2 promotion behind the UFC (outside of a bigger 205 pound roster) but if they can't pull this one thing together it could be the thing keeping them from their eventual dream of PPV.
The fourth and final guaranteed televised position has not been announced yet, but it is currently expected to be given to either Bobby Lashley or Herschel Walker. Hopefully the fight goes to Lashley because otherwise, every critic everywhere will jump on Walker for not keeping his word about "just seeing if he could do it," and I don't want to see that happen. Yet.
WEC 47: The Return of the Mullet Preview
The WEC makes it's third appearance in 2010 as it comes to Ohio during the world-famous Arnold Sports Festival with a main event featuring the only man to ever stop Miguel Torres in his storied career defending his championship against someone who only ever lost to the California Kid.
Brian Bowles is a unique man in his appearance belying his nature. He comes off as a quiet farmboy, but then again so did Matt Hughes most of the time. Bowles has some explosive power in his hands and some slick submissions skills, and while Dominick Cruz has seen it all before, I am sure that he hasn't seen it in nearly the kind of quality that Bowles will be throwing at him. I don't think this one is going to go the full 25 minutes (or even make it to the standard 15 minutes) before Bowles is declared the winner.
Miguel Torres – and his MULLET – return! Miguel is known for being a dangerous fighter everywhere on the mat. When he holds somebody in his guard Torres will heel-stomp the crap out of their thighs and stomach. When he is on the feet he will pepper you with punches and kicks with each one finding its mark. Sure he may have head movement that would make Big Nog proud but he makes up for it, and that will be the factor as Cruz suffers the second stoppage of his career.
Lil Evil also returns with as much of a gimme-fight as he can get. Javier is a well-rounded fighter but he is lacking in heavy-handedness and does not have the tight grappling game needed to crack the upper echelon of featherweights. Pulver should be able to win this handily, or so I hope.
Deivida Taurosevicius takes on LC Davis in a match to determine who can break through to the next level in the WEC Featherweight division. The Lithuanian will more than content to sit back and use his superior grappling to dictate where the fight takes place en route to a submission win before the 15 minute mark.
Karen Darabedyan returns after his surprise win over former WEC Champion Rob McCullough to take on IFL vet Bart Palaszewski. Karen has the wrestling needed to control the pace of the fight and where it takes place, and while "Bartimaeus" has experience on his side, Karen is going to be able to slip past him and take him down to control the fight en route to lasting the whole 3 rounds for a win.
To check out my full predictions, go check out our 411 RoundTable!
Bellator News
Two more competitors have been announced for Bellator's second season Lightweight tournament. Joining the ranks of Ferrid Kheder, Mike Ricci and Cary Vanier will be Chad Hinton and Janne Tulirinta. Neither man has competed under the Bellator banner before.
Hinton, aged 38, has posted a 6-0 record as a professional fighter after a short two-year career thus far. Tulirinta, on the other hand, has posted a 12-3 record with his last four consecutive wins coming from four consecutive first-round stoppages. The remaining three participants are expected to be named out sometime later this month.
In other news, on Monday Bellator announced an open tryout for fighters to win a spot on Bellator's sixteenth event, which takes place on April 29 at the Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, MO.
The tryouts are scheduled to begin at noon EST on Saturday March 6, at Ringside, Inc.'s John Brown Training Center in Lenexa, Kan. Registration for the event begins one hour prior to the tryouts. The hopeful fighters must bring some ID, their own protective gear, and valid proof of at least two professional fights. These tryouts will consist of live grappling and bag striking inside of a cage.
This is not the first time they have done this. In just the first season, in fact, they used this method to grant a non-tournament spot to one Troy Gerhart who then competed in two non-tournament bouts, going 1-1 in the process.
Finally, Minnesota prospect Cole Konrad has signed a two-fight deal to compete in two non-tournament bouts during Bellator's second season with hints that, following an impressive performance, he will be competing in the third season's Heavyweight tournament. Konrad, thus far, has posted a 2-0 record as a professional.
In the Lands of the Rising Sun
Sengoku 12
This past week the bout order for Sengoku's 12th installment has been officialized. The order is as follows, with the main event listed first, followed by the co-main event, all the way down until the opening bout of the night.
- Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov (for Sengoku Middleweight Championship)
- Akihiro Gono vs. Diego Gonzalez
- Maximo Blanco vs. Chang Hyun Kim
- Tomonari Kanomata vs. Marlon Sandro
- Henry "Sentoryu" Miller vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
- Nick Denis vs. Yuji Hoshino
- Kiuma Kunioku vs. Leonardo Santos
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Shigeki Osawa
Remember, SRC 12 will be airing on HDNet on
DREAM.13
No further fights were announced this past week. Rumored, however, for the event is a title defense from current Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis against Kiyoshi Tamura. However, nothing is finalized.
- Bibiano Fernandes vs Joachim Hansen (for the DREAM Featherweight Championship)
- KJ Noons vs Andre Amade
- Katsunori Kikuno vs Kuniyoshi Hironaka
- Ikuhisa Minowa vs Jimmy Ambriz
- Ryo Chonan vs Andrews Nakahara
Don't forget, DREAM.13 will air live on HDNet the morning of March 22.
Hendo no scared.
Future Fights
A small recap of potential fights in the future announced over the week
- Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Mike Guymon, UFC 113
- Mike Pierce vs Julio Paulino, UFC on Versus 1
- Jake Shields vs Dan Henderson, Strikeforce: Nashville (for the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship)
- Gegard Mousasi vs Muhammed Lawal, Strikeforce: Nashville (for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship)
- Gilbert Melendez vs Shinya Aoki, Strikeforce: Nashville (for the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship)
- Alistair Overeem vs Brett Rogers, Strikeforce 24 (for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship)
- Rob Emerson vs Nik Lentz, UFC Fight Night 21
- Michael Bisping vs Dan Miller, UFC 114
- Andrei Arlovski vs Antonio Silva, Strikeforce 24
Quick Jabs
James Toney, a former world boxing champion, has been confirmed to have signed a multi-fight agreement with the UFC and will be competing in the UFC Heavyweight division. Now, while ‘many' (four) of the UFC Heavyweights say that it is not a joke, unless we see him use those boxing skills in an MMA setting successfully and compete as a true athlete, then I posit that it is indeed worthy of ridicule.
Stephan Bonnar will be filling in for Frank Mir in commentating at WEC 47 as Mir has temporarily stepped down from his duties so he may more heavily focus on his training for his upcoming bout with Shane Carwin. Many sources say this has nothing to do with the death-wishes he has spoken against Brock Lesnar in past weeks, but many remain unconvinced.
WEC 49 has all but been confirmed to take place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on June 20. The promotion will be making its Canadian debut at that time if the event does in fact take place in Calgary.
Alistair Overeem will FINALLY be defending his title! Hooray! He recently confirmed that he will be facing Brett Rogers in his first title defense on the Strikeforce card following Strikeforce: Nashville. The fight is expected to be on Showtime. In totally unrelated talk, what's the over/under on him injuring his hand between now and then?
Thanks for reading again, hope to see you all sometime in the future!!
