Posts Tagged ‘strikefore lawler vs shields preview’

Strikeforce Predictions: Robbie Lawler vs Jake Shields

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Two of the best fighters acquired in the Elite XC transaction will headline the June 6th edition for the new-look Strikeforce. H.I.T. Squad’s Robbie Lawler (16-4) has won 5 of his last six – all of which have come by way of TKO or KO. Jake Shields (22-4-1) will make his debut for Strikeforce on the heels of an 11 fight win streak.

“Ruthless” Robbie Lawler last loss came in September of 2006 against Jason Mayhem Miller at an Icon Sport event by way of submission. Since that loss he has rattled off 5 wins and a no contest.

He dug deep into his arsenal for a flying knee to beat Joey Villasenor at Pride 32, and then knocked out Eduardo Pamplona at IFL – Atlanta four months later.

After his only IFL appearance he captured the Icon Sport Middleweight title belt for the second time with a TKO over Frank Trigg in March of 2007. The next two wins all were apart of the Pro Elite’s Elite XC experiment. Murilo Rua and Scott Smith were both stopped by TKO’s – the latter a year ago in July.

Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu’s Jake Shields will put his eleven fight win streak on the line against his toughest opponent in some time. It was over seven months ago that Shields slapped an armbar on Paul Daley for his eleventh straight win. The win was his first and last defense of his Elite XC welterweight belt.

The 30 year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt has also compiled some impressive wins before his Pro Elite days. He holds wins over Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami and Hayato Sakurai – all by decision. His losses occurred early in his career to little known fighters such as Marty Armendarez and Philip Miller.

Prediction: Shields over Lawler – unanimous decision

Find historic Strikeforce results including the Strikeforce Lawler vs Shields results online at ProFighting-fans.com.

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Strikeforce Predictions: Rafeal Cavalcante vs Jared Hamman

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Jared Hamman (10-1) replaces Renato Babalu Sobral against talented Brazilian striker – Rafeal “Feijao” Cavalcante (7-1) in what was originally tapped as a Light Heavyweight title fight. Cavalcante possesses the skills to get that title fight at a later date but Hamman presents a threat of his own – knocking out 8 of 11 opponents he has faced.

Cavalcante trains at Team Nogueira in Brazil and is known mostly as having above average striking skills. He has knocked out seven of his 9 opponents over his three year MMA career.

“Feijao” currently is riding a three fight win streak with wins over John Doyle, Wayne Cole and Travis Galbraith. The IFL and Elite XC veteran only loss was when he was disqualified for kicking Marcio Cruz in the head at IFL – Las Vegas in June of 2007.

Jared Hamman will get his biggest opportunity of his short three-year career. He competed with Strikeforce early in his career on the undercard of Strikeforce: Revenge in June of 2006. He stopped his opponent that night along with eight others before he lost his only fight.

He has also appeared on three Sho XC cards – fighting to a 2-1 record - with the defunct organization. His biggest wins include defeating Travis Wiuff and Strikeforce LHW Aaron Rosa. His only loss was in April 2008 – losing to Poai Suganuma with a flying knee.

Prediction: Hamman over Cavalcante – split decision

Find historic Strikeforce results including the Strikeforce Lawler vs Shields results online at ProFighting-fans.com.

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Strikeforce Predictions: Scott Smith vs Nick Diaz

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

A catch weight bout - featuring two of Strikeforce’s hottest fighters – will serve as the lead-up fight to the main event on June 6th. Scott Smith (16-5) is riding the confidence of a two fight win streak where he has looked very impressive. Just as impressive, Nick Diaz (19-7) has four consecutive TKO/KO wins spanning over almost two years.

Smith, a freestyle fighter, has been competing professionally for nearly 8 years but has gained considerable notoriety recently due to his highlight reel fights.

In his last fight “Hands of Steel” was beat up and battered around the Strikeforce cage for parts of three rounds. Showing excellent toughness and stamina, Smith caught Benji Radach with a hard right hand that earned him an entertaining KO win.

The former “TUF - The Comeback” participant has also fought for the WEC, Elite XC and UFC, where he only recorded one win in four chances. His notable career wins came at the expense of Pete Sell and Terry Martin.

While rumors of a possible fight with boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. run ramped, Nick Diaz will settle on a catch weight of 179 lbs. to try and keep the momentum of a four fight win streak going. Frank Shamrock, Thomas Denny, Mushin Corberry and Katsuya Inoue all have tasted TKO-defeat at the hand of Nick Diaz over the last year.

Experience in all the relevant organizations – Diaz holds big career wins over Koji Oishi, Drew Fickett, Gleison Tibau and Josh Neer. He also has the distinction as being the only person to KO Robbie Lawler.

While Shamrock is feeling his age, Inoue and Denny were simply not that skilled, and Corberry inexperienced, Scott Smith no doubt is toughest test for a streaking Diaz. He shall still hold somewhat of an advantage in the striking department and a distinct advantage in the grappling against Smith but Smith is equally as tough – both mentally and physically.

Prediction: Diaz over Smith – 2nd round submission

Find historic Strikeforce results including the Lawler vs Shields event results online at ProFighting-fans.com.

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Strikeforce Predictions: Andrei Arlovski vs Brett Rogers

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Once rumored to take on Strikeforce Heavyweight champ – Alistair Overeem, Brett “The Grim” Rogers (9-0) will instead face former UFC Heavyweight champion – Andrei “Pit Bull” Arlovski (15-6). Despite rumors that Arlovski would put his MMA career on hold to resume his professional boxing career, he will indeed test the young Rogers in a main card Heavyweight showdown.

“The Grim” will look to continue his roll of nine straight wins – eight of the wins via TKO. He is taking a huge step up in competition against the Belarusian. To date – his toughest opponent was James Thompson, who he defeated in February 2008 at Elite XC: Street Certified with a 1st round KO.

Team Bison’s Rogers last time out was a little more than one month ago when he stopped Ron Humphrey with a series of strikes that led to an eventual TKO. The win over Humphrey was the first time that Rogers had to go past the 1st round.

Andrei Arlovski is making his first appearance since the brutal 1st round KO at the hands of Fedor. The former champ got off to a quick start against Fedor but got too aggressive and was knocked out with a hard right hand 3:14 into the 1st round. The loss snapped a five fight win streak.

Already skilled in the striking department, Arlovski has improved that part of his game by working with boxing trainer – Freddie Roach. The results are hard to argue with, prior to losing to Fedor, the “Pit Bull” knocked out both Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Ben Rothwell via punches within the last year.

Since his departure from the UFC in early March 2008, Strikeforce will be the third different organization that Arlovski will compete in. He has also been involved with Elite XC, going 1-0, and Affliction where he is 1-1.

Prediction: Arlovski over Rogers – 3rd round submission

After the fights are complete on June 6, 2009, look to Pro Fighting Fans for the Strikeforce results for this event and other Strikeforce MMA events.

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Strikeforce Predictions: Kevin Randleman vs Mike Whitehead

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Strikeforce Predictions: Kevin Randleman vs. Mike Whitehead

Kevin “Monster” Randleman (17-12) will make his much-anticipated return to the cage against submission specialist and former TUF 2 participant – Mike Whitehead (23-6).

Randleman has only fought once in the last 2½ years due to serious kidney injury and a suspension for submitting fake urine sample to the NSAC. His most recent fight was a unanimous decision victory at Sengoku 2 over Ryo Kawamura last May. He was consistent in taking Kawamura to the canvas and successful in not allowing him back to his feet.

Randleman has had an up and down MMA career that has spanned over the last 12½ years. He has fought for MMA royalty - UFC (4-3) and PRIDE FC (4-7). Although not stellar records, he has had some impressive accomplishments including winning the UFC Heavyweight championship and being one of the only fighters to stop Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic in PRIDE.

The former two time NCAA wrestling champ was a fixture for the Team Hammer House camp for many years. Recently he has switched gears - concentrating on striking - in Las Vegas with XTreme Couture. The 37 year-old will try and rejuvenate his once blossoming career with an all around MMA skill set.

Whitehead has been idle for some time, last fighting over seven months ago, at M-1 Challenge against Leo Pla. He wasted little time in forcing a stoppage when he choked out Pla with a 1st round guillotine.

Before his most recent win at M-1 Challenge, Whitehead had a 13 fight win streak snapped by Renato Sobral at Affliction: Banned. He lost a unanimous decision to Sobral after three tough rounds.

The 27 year-old veteran has impressive wins over Vernon White, Mark Kerr and Krzysztof Soszynski. He has also a handful of tough losses on his record including twice to former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera and Keith Jardine.

Prediction: Whitehead over Randleman – 1st round TKO

For the entire Strikeforce Lawler vs Shields fight card & results for the June 6, 2009 event, look to ProFighting-fans.com.

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Strikeforce Predictions: Phil Baroni vs Joe Riggs

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Phil Baroni will try and earn the respect of his younger opponent, Joe “Diesel” Riggs when the two meet in St. Louis on June 6th. Riggs has been somewhat vocal in believing he deserves a high-profile opponent, ala Nick Diaz. With all the chatter aside, Baroni can present a difficult challenge for Riggs with his powerful punching ability.

Baroni (13-10) is a true veteran in every sense of the word. The 33 year-old has been competing in professional MMA since 2000 when he stepped inside the UFC octagon with only one fight under his belt. He didn’t produce the best UFC record (3-5) but did open some eyes with his aggressive style and willingness to trade.

After the UFC, “New York Bad Ass” fought for PRIDE (4-2), Icon Sport (1-1) and Elite XC (0-1) among others.

Baroni has recently rattled off three consecutive wins, albeit in small organizations and against little-known opponents like Scott Jensen, Ron Verdadero and Olaf Alfonso. He hasn’t fought since his unanimous decision win over Alfonso at Palace FC 10 in September 2008.

Riggs (29-10) has fought in basically every major weight division excluding lightweight. The 26 year-old has been fighting professionally since he was a 19 years-old competing for the Arizona based – Rage in the Cage.

Riggs also made a name for himself in the UFC, where he fought eight times, and produced a 4-4 record. Some of his best career wins happened in the UFC. He earned organizational wins over Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle, Joe Doerkson and Jason Von Flue.

Riggs has been inactive since November 2008 when he stopped Luke Stewart in the 2nd round with a TKO at Strikeforce - Destruction. His 2-2 Strikeforce record also includes a win over Eugene Jackson and losses to Kazuo Misaki and Cory Devala.

Prediction: Baroni over Riggs – 1st round KO

For all of the Strikeforce Lawler vs Shields results for the June 6, 2009 event, look to ProFighting-fans.com.

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