Since the UFC has decided to bypass a card in upstate Ohio this year, on comes the promotions competition, Strikeforce, like an ugly stepsister and upstage their rival with a card in Columbus on Saturday, airing on Showtime in the United States (and Super Channel in Canada). Not much on the whole scale of things card wise, so we'll just pick the main event fights :
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalante vs. Dan Henderson - The main event features Brazilian product "Feijao" as he takes on UFCer and former 2 class division Pride champion Dan Henderson. This will be Feijao's first fight since dethroning King Mo Lawal for the Strikeforce 205 lb. World Championship last August. Henderson earned his title shot with a 1st round dismantling of fellow former UFCer Renato "Babalu" Sobral in December.
I expect Henderson to throw heavy hands early on and often. Look for him to try to press Calavante against the cage and try to use his wrestling to force a takedown. However, Calavante has trained with the likes of Anderson Silva, and I expect him to able to stuff takedowns left and right much like he did with Lawal, before punishing Henderson with elbows and hammerfist that will send Henderson to the ground. Expect it to finish in a very similar position that the UFC champion, Silva, finished Henderson off in their encounter back in 2008.
The Pick : Feijao by submission.
The other title shot features Marloes Coenen defend her newly won 135 lb. women's title taking on American Liz Carmouche. Coenen won her title by defeating Canadian Sarah Kaufmann on the same "Babalu vs. Henderson" card last December, where Carmouche is a late replacement for Miesha Tate, who pulled out with an injury during training.
I don't expect this fight to last long, but I expect it to end with an armbar.
The Pick : Coenen by submission.
- In other Strikeforce news, Scott Coker announced that the second stage of the opening round of the Grand Prix, originally slated to be April 9th in Japan, has been moved to June at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. MMAJunkie also reported that the April card will now feature Nick Diaz defend his 170 lb. title against Paul "The Semtex" Daley, who earned his shot with a victory in the BAMMA 5 card from England last weekend, as well as Gilbert Melendez defending his 155 lb. title against Japanese fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri.
Hopefully, he puts up more of a fight than Shinya Aoki.
Well, agree or disagree? Want to get back to me? feel free to leave a comment at the bottom or email me at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com
Until next time, fight fans!
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