Posted by Total-MMA Staff on 12th February 2011
Pictured: Fedor Emelialanenko and Antonio Silva square off at the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva weigh ins yesterday.
Tonight, the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey plays host to the Strikeforce World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament and three esteemed members of Total-MMA Daily’s new staff are here to offer our breakdown. This tournament will feature some of the greatest collection of heavyweight talent since the heyday of PRIDE, so don’t miss it. It features the added bonus of being able to catch the fights live on Showtime TV, instead of a scratchy audio broadcast by Japan-based Americans over the internet. (Where are you now, PRIDEcast? I used to love those guys!)
Offering predictions tonight are Total-MMA’s resident Strikeforce columnist Ajit Punj (AP); our man with the Breakdown who’s gutsy enough to pick a 5-1 underdog, Jose Fernandez (JF); and our restless intellectual George Do (GD). Unfortunately we’re out our resident Briton Jacob. Get well soon mate. As always our legal team reminds you that predictions are for entertainment purposes only so any gambling losses you suffer are your own bloody fault, as our resident Briton might say…
On with the show:
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Posted in Ajit Punj, George Do, Jose Fernandez, Strikeforce, Tommy Hackett, Total MMA | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ajit on 10th February 2011
Pictured: The poster for this weekend’s Strikeforce show, featuring Fedor Emilianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Sergei Kharitanov, and Antonio Silva.
There couldn’t be a better week to start off Ajit’s Strikeforce Spotlight here on Total-MMA.
The Strikeforce heavyweight GP, which many are deeming the best tournament in MMA history, kicks off this weekend in New Jersey.
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Posted in Ajit Punj, Andrei Arlovski, Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce | No Comments »
Posted by Tommy Hackett on 9th October 2010
Tonight, a fast-paced MMA autumn continues with the talent-laden and sadly overlooked Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons 2, broadcast on Showtime at 10 pm EST/PST stateside.
KJ Noons looks to live up to the early promise of his somewhat now-stagnant career. Nick Diaz, fresh off a huge win over Hayato Sakurai, comes in ready to prove that his defeat at Noons’ hands in 2008 was an anomaly. Prospects like jiu jitsu luminary Andre Galvao will try to show that his success in the “gentle art” will translate into an MMA career.
But the biggest question may be how much longer can this organization continue to survive as it seems to be overlooked at nearly every turn… even the live gate is down.
On a personal note, for my part, I’d love to see it continue. These are some great fights we’re getting, and without shelling out PPV dough. The MMA world needs competition and not a ZUFFA monopoly.
On another (and less relevant) personal note, tonight’s show is in Strikeforce’s warm weather backyard, my birthplace of San Jose, CA – and its pretty grey out in my hometown of Seattle. So maybe I’m just California dreamin’, and hoping this show ends up more than it should be… but as you can see, I have hopes for it, and Strikeforce’s continued rebound from their primetime disaster earlier this year.
Picks and analysis of the show after the jump….
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Posted in Jacob Lawton, Strikeforce, Tommy Hackett | No Comments »
Posted by Tommy Hackett on 21st August 2010
Pictured: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza weighs in for StrikeForce: Houston yesterday. Photo by Esther Lin courtesy of StrikeForce. Total-MMA staff agrees on the result of every bout but Souza vs. Tim Kennedy!
It hasn’t been all smiles under the warm California sun for our friends at StrikeForce. The San Jose-based promotion has taken a few hits in its recent attempts to go “international” — among them, the defection of middleweight champion Jake Shields, an embarassing showing on national TV, and most recently, injury issues with their newly crowned champion Fabricio Werdum. But as the lineup for tonight’s StrikeForce: Houston show illustrates, they still have the roster to put on a strong show.
A light heavyweight title bout which would be a good offering on any ZUFFA show headlines, while the absence of Shields makes way for two of the game’s grittiest to take center stage, to contest the vacated middleweight crown. A solid undercard airs in a webcast on Sherdog.com, including the sublime jiu-jitsu of world champion Andre Galvao against old favorite Jorge Patino.
So maybe sometimes things fall apart… but they still end up okay, at least for this viewer who just wants to catch some good MMA action on a Saturday night!
Tonight’s show is handicapped by Jacob Lawton (JL) and me (TH). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Jacob Lawton, Strikeforce, Tommy Hackett | 2 Comments »
Posted by Tommy Hackett on 26th June 2010
Tonight, Strikeforce and M-1 Global offer a huge show for any MMA fan — as the greatest of all time, Fedor Emelianenko, takes on one of the world’s top ten heavyweights in Brazilian jiu-jitsu luminary Fabricio Werdum. The bout will be broadcast live 10 pm EST from the HP Pavillion in San Jose, CA on Showtime, delayed on the West Coast, and likely streamed illegally everywhere else.
Earlier this week, I enjoyed a Fedor Emelianenko interview — and yes, I realize there’s nothing unusual about that. He’s had some classics, like earlier this year where he took some of his fellow sportsmen for “forgetting their flags,” describing his religous faith, and more. His quiet integrity is what makes me a Fedor fan, the qualities that Dave Meltzer references when he dubbed the man the “anti-Brock Lesnar” recently.
But what struck me about this interview, which was sent from Strikeforce’s office and posted on Youtube, was that Fedor Emelianenko, the greatest of all time, appeared almost as burned out as I am about MMA lately. Among other things, he admits he doesn’t enjoy watching MMA fights; and essentially struggles to say anything at all about his opponent.
Still, the fights are on — and they should be well worth watching.
The show will mark the first time the world’s #1 male and female fighters will appear on the same show. There’s still honor in this game.
As Fedor puts it in that very interview, “I do not consider myself to be the strongest fighter or be a very special person… there are a lot of people who pray for me and that’s why I want to be the representative of my country… I just want people to remember me as the honest person, the person who loves his country, his motherland and who glorifies the Orthodox Russia.”
My predictions follow.
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Posted in Strikeforce, Tommy Hackett | 3 Comments »
Posted by Oliver Saenz on 6th June 2010
(Author’s Note: This article had been planned since Strikeforce: “Heavy Artillery” but was pushed back due to scheduling issues.)
It’s a tough time to be a fan of Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski.
Two of his last three fights have seen him on the receiving end of vicious knockouts, with his last fight causing many to wonder just how many years Arlovski has left in a sport that, like so many other former champions, may have finally caught up to his level of skill and, in fact, passed him by. Still, Arlovski remains one of the most popular Mixed Martial Artists actively competing- his ovation at Strikeforce: “Heavy Artillery” easily surpassed any of his fellow fighters. Arlovski also remains one of the most marketable fighters in the sport- as seen during his “Heavy Artillery” entrance, Arlovski may be the first and only fighter to ever land famed clothing company Dolce & Gabbana as a sponsor. So where did it all go wrong, and more importantly, how and why? Does Arlovski still have enough left in him to turn things around in the face of a three-fight losing streak, or will his popularity and marketability truly be put to the test as Arlovski continues his free-fall from the Heavyweight rankings?
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Posted in Andrei Arlovski, Oliver Saenz, Strikeforce, UFC | 2 Comments »
Posted by Bryan Belangia on 17th May 2010
Pictured: Overeem and Rogers square off at the weigh ins.
This card had a decent amount of compelling stories on paper and the finished product as a whole lived up to the billing.
There was an interesting story and angle for every televised fight. In the opener you had two hungry light heavyweights looking to move up the rankings. This was followed by what I called a really irrelevant fight, but the fan in me was still interested to see Gracie and how he would perform in only his third pro fight even if it was up against a one dimensional over the hill Kevin Randleman. The rest of the card featured their top middleweight prospect, one of the biggest heavyweight stars against one of the biggest heavyweights, and the return of the champion against an up and coming dangerous challenger.
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Posted in Bryan Belangia, Strikeforce | No Comments »
Posted by Total-MMA Staff on 15th May 2010
Tonight in St Louis, Strikeforce looks to bounce back from last month’s debacle with a solid card of talent — particularly at heavyweight. Two of the top ten face off in the main for the promotion’s crown, with another longtime contender is featured in the co-main. Roger Gracie, now campaigning at light heavy, is among the featured talent on the undercard, against a former UFC heavyweight champion, no less. So, can they do it? Staff writers Jacob Lawton and Bryan Belangia offer their predictions on each feature bout. Jacob sees only one bout going to the judges’ scorecards, and Bryan doesn’t see any of the bouts going past the second round. We’d guess fireworks are in the air…
We do know the show will kick off 10pm EST from the “Show Me” state, and will be televised live on Showtime.
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Posted in Bryan Belangia, Jacob Lawton, Strikeforce | No Comments »
Posted by Oliver Saenz on 11th May 2010
Pictured: Alistair Overeem, who faces Brett Rogers on Saturday at Strikeforce in St Louis
(Editor’s note: Oliver Saenz is the lead administrator of MMA Figs, the largest website for UFC collectibles and action figures — we’re happy to have him contribute this week. Visit MMAFigs.com for all the latest UFC action figure news, views, previews and reviews. If you’re interested in contributing to Total-MMA, please contact us! — Tommy)
At first glance, the appeal for the upcoming Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers fight for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship is pretty basic: it’s two very large men with four very powerful arms trying to knock each other senseless. But upon closer inspection, this bout has a level of intricacy that few of today’s heavyweight bouts can honestly claim to have.
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Posted in Oliver Saenz, Strikeforce | 4 Comments »
Posted by Bryan Belangia on 23rd April 2010
So Strikeforce has gone from a small to medium sized San Jose based promotion with a lot of local talent and a few big names to network television and cable TV in very quick fashion but you have to wonder are they getting too big too fast.
In Strikeforce’s MMA debut they came out guns blazing with a lineup that included Frank Shamrock, Cesar Gracie, Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson, Clay Guida, and the MMA debut of Cung Le. The event still holds the record for the largest paid attendance for MMA in the United States.
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Posted in Bryan Belangia, Strikeforce | 1 Comment »
