Published on various sites, November 2010
California's contribution to the MMA world have branched out to various parts of the United States. Cards in Chicago, Miami and more proved popular, and it is St Louis that shall host the Henderson vs Babalu II card; one that features talent that all have something to prove, both to themselves and to the fans.
The last time Strikeforce ventured away from the West Coast to St Louis, its heavyweight kingpin Alistair Overeem lived up to his nickname and DEMOLISHED his huge challenger, Brett "The Grim" Rogers. On this card it is not champions in the limelight, but the classic combination of former titlists wishing to return to glory, and younger contenders who've never tasted the forbidden fruit, in the process of trying to reach those heights.
The main event pits a two-weight Pride champion against a Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight title holder, when Dan Henderson meets Renato "Babalu" Sobral in an interesting rematch. Interesting was the backdrop of the first; the final of the 1999 King of Kings tournament in the RINGS promotion, which "Hollywood" Henderson won with a majority decision.
This bout too has implications; the winner earns the right to fight for the Strikeforce 205lbs championship belt, which Sobral lost to Gegard Mousasi back in 2009. Henderson last won honours in USMMA back in 1997 when he earned a questionable decision over welterweight Carlos Newton in the UFC 17 tournament final, and he must be hungry to add to his list of accomplishments. Sobral too fell out of the rankings with the crushing loss to Mousasi, and getting the title back around his waist will be a huge motivation for this high profile fight with an old foe.
Supporting at the top end of the card will be power punching Robbie Lawler taking on perennial middleweight contender Matt Lindland, the Olympic Silver Medallist. Lawler is fresh from losing to Babalu in a catchweight fight, after knocking out Melvin Manhoef (for which I will never forgive him) in a bout in which he was utterly dominated and dissected until the surprise blow landed on Manhoef's oft-embattled jaw; removing my favourite thai-boxer from his consciousness in the process (thanks Robbie... grrr). However the fight went down, its climax served as an emphatic reminder of his power - such men are dangerous until the final bell. Lindland though is a different animal; if the "Ruthless" one cannot land his trademark power right, he is in danger of being grapple-f*cked and pounded out. Though talented, Lawler has a history of losing to chokes, though only to extremely capable grapplers such as Jake Shields, Evan Tanner and Jason "Mayhem" Miller. However, Lindland has been caught and knocked cold before, as recently as at Affliction: Day of Reckoning when Vitor Belfort turned his lights off. As such, this fight is intriguing as the classic "striker vs grappler" match.
Two more strikers are pitted against each other on the main card, this time at welterweight. England's Paul "Semtex" Daley meets durable American, Scott Smith from Sacramento (at least, fighting OUT of. I just like the alliteration of that sentence). Smith loves fighting in zombie mode, walking through punishment to kill, and Semtex is certainly capable of putting him exactly in that zone. The Nottingham based Muay Thai specialist may have the takedown defence of a girl (sorry mate) but he is an absolute beast on his feet, and with the distinction of fighting out of Mike's Gym in Amsterdam (along with K-1 legends Badr Hari and Melvin Manhoef) along with the Rough House camp; UK based, but internationally recognised and respected. This is a potential Fight of the Night on ANY card going, and if I were to deviate from professionalism and neutrality and all that pesky journalistic bollocks, I'd pick my fellow Englishman to win in an absolute barn-burner.
The unfortunate Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva was scheduled to duel Valentijn Overeem (mixed record, but a win over Randy Couture) until the Dutchman pulled out. Todd Duffee was reportedly offered the gig at short notice, but he declined. Mike Kyle has agreed to step in.
Bigfoot's luck is not in. First he was suspended for testing positive for supplements he was taking in accordance with the treatment of his acromegaly, or "gigantism".... then two orgs whose titles he held, in Elite XC and Cage Rage, both collapsed in the Pro Elite scandals... then he lost a questionable decision to Fabricio Werdum, who went on to get a shot at Fedor and won! Finally, his opponent pulls out of a main-card fight, and Bigfoot is once more unable to do anything to further advance his career and rankings. Poor lad. Keep going, Silva!
Starting the main card will be Benji Radach, and Ovince St Preux.
All the fighters on the main card have something to prove. After losing to Jake Shields down at middleweight, have Dan Henderson's title chasing days officially over, or does he have one last title run left in him? Or is Babalu destined to reclaim the title he was so demoralisingly deprived of by the mercurial Mr Mousasi? How about Paul Daley; is Strikeforce and a showdown with Diaz for the strap his road to redemption, or will Scott Smith wreck his plans and put his own name back in the hat? Will this win move Antonio Silva any closer to the big fight he has craved since 2008, or will his career be derailed by the latecomer to the St Louis party in Kyle? And will Lindland move any closer to what must surely be one final shot at the big one, or will another power puncher put his lights out as Vitor did in Affliction, and condemn him to forever be known primarily for his Olympic accomplishments rather than an MMA championship?
Many questions, all of which will be answered on Saturday night; early hours of Sunday morning for us folk in Great Britain.
The officially announced card is as follows:
Dan Henderson vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland
Antonio Silva vs. Mike Kyle
Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith
Benji Radach vs. Ovince St. Preux
Fernando Bettega vs. Wayne Phillips
Max Martyniouk vs. Justin Lawrence
Patrick Durkin Cummins vs. Terrell Brown
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