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Round One: Same Fighters, Different Result
Three Strikeforce Challengers Series events have passed since Roger Bowling scored a controversial win over Bobby Voelker. This time around, there was no controversy as Bobby Voelker dominated Roger Bowling on route to a second round TKO victory. Seemingly, Bobby Voelker will be moving up to the bigger Strikeforce cards, while Roger Bowling must re-tool in the Strikeforce Challengers Series. Also, a congratulations must be given to Roger Bowling, who is getting married in the very near future, which was mentioned on the broadcast.
Next Round For Bobby Voelker: Jay Hieron, Joe Riggs or a rubber match with Roger Bowling
Next Round For Roger Bowling: A rubber match with Bobby Voelker
Round Two: A “Big†Victory
Lavar Johnson can easily be coined as the best fighter to come out of the Strikeforce Challengers Series, outside of Tyron Woodley and Tim Kennedy. For the third straight Strikeforce appearance, Lavar Johnson has knocked out an opponent within the fights three rounds. In an ever growing Strikeforce Heavyweight Division, Lavar Johnson could be the next big addition to the group. Lavar Johnson continues to be an inspirational fighter, after surviving a drive by shooting that claimed the life of his cousin, he has now won two straight fights in Strikeforce.
Next Round For Lavar Johnson: Bobby Lashley, Chad Griggs or Shane Del Rosario
Next Round For Virgil Zwicker: Lolohea Mahe or John Devine
Round Three: A Late Fight Of The Year Candidate
After a near year long layoff, Billy Evangelista returned to Strikeforce and put up a “fight of the year†candidate against Waachiim Spirit Wolf. Many people, myself included, didn’t give Waachiim Spirit Wolf much of a chance of beating Billy Evangelista, but we were all nearly wrong. Billy Evangelista is now primed for an opportunity on the bigger Strikeforce cards, where former opponent Jorge Gurgel has already gone to. As for Waachiim Spirit Wolf, it would really be stupid for Strikeforce not to give him another opportunity in the promotion.
Next Round For Billy Evangelista: Another fight with Mike Aina or another bout with KJ Noons
Next Round For Waachiim Spirit Wolf: Luke Rockhold, Rudy Bears or Trevor Prangley
Round Four: Not A Bad Debut
Despite only competing in five professional MMA fights, Shana Olsen was heavily favored to defeat the debuting Julia Budd. The odds were proven incorrect, as Julia Budd show ground dominance over Shana Olsen on route to a second round TKO victory. What was truly shocking is how it seemed that Strikeforce announcer Mauro Ranallo was already pushing for Julia Budd to get a Strikeforce Middleweight Title fight against Cristiane Santos. While she may not be ready for a title opportunity yet, Julia Budd showed on Friday Night that she has a bright future in MMA.
Next Round For Julia Budd: Jan Finney or Gina Carano, who she defeated in a past combat sports activity
Next Round For Shana Olsen: Time away from Strikeforce
Round Five: Strikeforce Forgot About This One
When I take the time to write up my event previews, I always use the promotions website to get the full fight cards for the event. When I wrote up the televised card preview for this event, the fight between John Devine and Brandon Cash was not listed anywhere. If Strikeforce is to be considered one of the top three MMA promotions in North America, its little mistakes like these that cannot be made. For those not in the know, John Devine wound up defeating Brandon Cash with a rear naked choke in the opening round.
Next Round For John Devine: Lolohea Mahe, Virgil Zwicker or Lavar Johnson
Next Round For Brandon Cash: Time outside of Strikeforce
You can contact David Tees at bigteesps3@yahoo.com
