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Round One: And The New Top Contender Is….
Renato “Babalu†Sobral, who defeated Robbie Lawler with a series of good boxing skills and a series of good takedown attempts. However, one would believe that Renato Sobral would be ready to cash in his title opportunity, but you would be wrong. Renato Sobral instead would like to have another battle with UFC veteran Dan Henderson, who defeated him more than a decade ago. The reason that Renato Sobral doesn’t want to challenge for the belt is because Mohammed “King Mo†Lawal, the current champion, is a training partner of Renato Sobral.
Next Round For Renato Sobral: Dan Henderson or Gegard Mousasi would be good rematches, but he will eventually need to face King Mo.
Next Round For Robbie Lawler: Tim Kennedy would be a challenge, but a battle with Trevor Prangley, who was scheduled to face Robbie Lawler a few months back could be good.
Round Two: DREAM Champion In Strikeforce = 0-2
Many MMA columnist, myself included, thought that DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius Zaromskis would destroy Evangelista Santos. We were very wrong however, as Evangelista Santos dominated the DREAM Champion on route to getting a first round TKO victory. Marius Zaromskis joins Melvin Manhoef, Shinya Aoki and other DREAM fighters who walked into the cage and were defeated by their Strikeforce brethren. After the battle concluded, Evangelista Santos declared that he is ready to face current Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz.
Next Round For Evangelista Santos: A battle with Jay Hieron in a top contenders battle would be good.
Next Round For Marius Zaromskis: A return to DREAM.
Round Three: Its High Noon In Strikeforce
After a very long layoff from MMA competition, the final Elite XC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons returned to action in Strikeforce. Following the self imposed layoff, KJ Noons returned to form and fought Conor Heun in an exciting brawl to open up the broadcast. Both fighters leveled each other with strikes, but KJ Noons did enough to walk away with a unanimous decision victory. KJ Noons could easily find himself a few victories away from challenging Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce Lightweight Title or Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce Welterweight Title.
Next Round For KJ Noons: Jorge Gurgel or the Josh Thomson/Pat Healy winner.
Next Round For Conor Heun: A return to the Strikeforce Challengers Series.
Round Four: Where Were The Preliminary Fights?
When it comes to giving young fighters an opportunity on a big time MMA stage, Strikeforce is easily one of the best promotions out there that does that. However, on Wednesday Night, Strikeforce failed to give young fighters an opportunity to shine on their usual local fighter filled preliminary card. Instead of the usual preliminary card filled with many fights, Strikeforce gave just two fights to those in attendance who came early to see the action. In those two preliminary card fights, Hugo Sandoval defeated Marcus Kowal and Jeremy Umphries defeated RJ Clifford. Hopefully at future Strikeforce events, they will return to the position of giving young talent an opportunity to shine in the under card.
Next Round For Hugo Sandoval/Jeremy Umphries: Strikeforce Challengers Series
Next Round For Marcus Kowal/RJ Clifford: Non-Strikeforce MMA events.
Round Five: UFC Undisputed 2010 Isn’t The Only MMA Game Out This Year
One of the main reasons that Strikeforce held an event during the E3 Convention is to give some hype to the upcoming EA Sports MMA video game. In between the action, various Strikeforce fighters were interviewed, giving positive impressions on the upcoming video game. Also, in a segment that aired the next day on ESPN MMA Live, Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion King Mo defeated Gegard Mousasi in a video game battle on the E3 floor. For those not in the know, EA Sports MMA hit’s the store shelves this coming October, order your copy at the PWInsider Store (cheap plug).
Next Round For EA Sports MMA Fans: Waiting in line at the local Gamestop midnight opening.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
