Strikeforce will have the eyes of the MMA world focused on them in San Jose, California, and Pro Fighting Fans and DFN Sports have teamed up to provide our Strikeforce predictions for each of the August 15 event bouts. Check out the fight picks below and be sure to look to ProFighting-fans.com for live coverage of the entire event as well as Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg results.
Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Kyle - Heavyweight Bout
Nearly a month ago, Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1) was supposed to face Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship. Fast forward to present day and Werdum will remain on the card, his original opponent will not, instead fighting journeyman Mike Kyle (12-6-1) for nothing more than some experience. Werdum is itching to get some much-needed action, having not fought in ten months when he lost in brutal fashion via TKO by Junior dos Santos at UFC 90. Kyle fought less than two months ago, upsetting former Elite XC light heavyweight, Rafael Cavalcante with a 2nd round TKO on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields card.
Werdum began his professional career seven years ago, fighting on the English based Millennium Brawl card where he caught Brit, Tenzig Tedoradze with a well executed triangle choke. He followed his rookie victory up with five more victories and a draw, going into his PRIDE 30 bout with Sergei Kharitonov undefeated. Werdum fought the hard-hitting veteran, coming up a little short, losing by a tight split decision. After his first career loss, Werdum continued fighting top fighters, defeating Alistair Overeem and Aleksander Emielianenko and losing to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira over the next year. “Vai Cavalo” joined the UFC ranks in April 2007 at UFC 70, taking on former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski. Arlovski simply got the better of Werdum on his feet and didn’t allow Werdum to utilize his ground game and ultimately earned the unanimous decision victory. Werdum rebounded by stopping Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera in consecutive fights before losing to Junior dos Santos at UFC 90 last October. His loss to dos Santos proved to be deflating in more ways than one, losing by stoppage for the very first time and failing to keep his prestigious job with the UFC.
Mike Kyle is a journeyman fighter who fought in ten different organizations over his eight plus year career. He began his career with two easy stoppages but ran into trouble against two heavy handed fighters in Dan Bobish and Paul Buentello, both on King of the Cage cards. Immediately following the losses, four straight victories with solid organizations earned Kyle a trip into the UFC. A tough KO loss to Justin Eilers sandwiched in between stoppage victories over Wes Sims and James Irvin brought Kyle some much-earned respect. Kyle and the UFC parted ways after his February 2005 UFC 51 victory against James Irvin, hitting several mid level promotions over the next year to try and get back to the top organizations. His next five fights were anything but strong, compiling a 1-3-1 record, all three losses by stoppage. Kyle finally did find his way, beginning in April of last year while fighting on an IFC card. He won via technical knockout against Rudy Martin then followed that win up with two more, the latest for Strikeforce in an upset of former number one Elite XC light heavyweight contender, Rafael Cavalcante.
Prediction – Werdum over Kyle via unanimous decision