Strikeforce: Rafael Cavalcante vs. Dan Henderson 5 maart (SPOILERS)

[Kemal]

Strikeforce has its sights set on a March 5 date for a light-heavyweight championship bout that would pit current kingpin Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante against challenger Dan Henderson, sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to MMA Fighting.

The event will take place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The fight, however, is not yet signed, with contract negotiations ongoing, though both fighters are training under the assumption they will be competing against each other that night.

According to the sources, both Strikeforce and the prospective fight participants are hopeful that an agreement could be reached, possibly as soon as within the next week.

The powerful Brazilian striker Cavalcante (10-2) captured the championship on August 21, 2010, with a third-round TKO over Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.

Henderson (26-8) became the No. 1 contender when he knocked out Renato "Babalu" Sobral in his Strikeforce light-heavyweight debut on December 4. The former two-division PRIDE champion is already the only man to fight for championships in Strikeforce, PRIDE, and the UFC.

The Cavalcante-Henderson matchup was always the expected direction of the promotion, with the date and location as the only variables. Now, it seems the only question is whether or not Strikeforce can finalize a deal in the time span necessary to make a March 5 fight a reality.

[superfreak]

Dit kan een mooie worden. Cavalcante heeft dan wel heavy hands maar Henderson heeft een kin van graniet.

[Kemal]

Tim Kennedy vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller III slotted for "Strikeforce: Columbus"


A middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy (12-3 MMA, 3-1 SF) and Jason "Mayhem" Miller (24-7 MMA, 1-1 SF) is expected to part of March's "Strikeforce: Columbus" event.

A source close to one of the fighters told MMAjunkie.com bout agreements are being finalized for the potential co-headliner.

The March 5 event takes place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus as part of Strikeforce's Ohio debut.

The night's main card, including an expected championship headliner between light-heavyweight titleholder Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante and Dan Henderson, airs on Showtime.

Kennedy and Miller fight for the the third time. Back in 2003, a little-known Kennedy upset Miller via decision at Extreme Challenge 50 in Utah. But four years later in the second and final HDNet Fights-promoted show, Miller survived a deep rear-naked-choke attempt and ultimately enacted his revenge with a decision victory of his own. The two fighters, who initially was rumored for a Jan. 29 meeting, now meet in the rubber match.

Kennedy, who recently has struggled to get opponents, fights for the first time since an August decision loss to Ronald "Jacare" Souza for the interim middleweight title. Prior to the defeat, the former IFL fighter won four consecutive fights, which included submission victories over Strikeforce's Nick Thompson, Zak Cummings and Trevor Prangley.

Miller, meanwhile, had campaigned for a Jan. 29 grudge match with Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. But with the fighters unable to agree on a catchweight for the fight, Diaz instead was booked for a title defense against Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos at the upcoming event.

Miller, a 10-year vet, made his Strikeforce debut in November 2009 and suffered a decision loss to Shields for the vacant middleweight belt. However, he's since rebounded for a TKO win over Tim Stout at "Strikeforce: Nashville" and a submission victory over Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM.16. The host of MTV's "Bully Beatdown" is now 7-2 (with one no-contest) over the past four years.

[Harrie Nak]

Gevecht is nu min of meer officieel.

[Kemal]

Rafael Cavalcante vs. Dan Henderson title fight set for "Strikeforce: Columbus"


A long-rumored title fight between Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (10-2 MMA, 3-1 SF) and notable Dan Henderson (26-8 MMA, 1-1 SF) is set for March's "Strikeforce: Columbus" event.

MMAjunkie.com first reported the bout in early December, and the organization made it official on Saturday.

The March 5 event takes place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus as part of Strikeforce's Ohio debut.

The night's main card airs on Showtime.

Other expected (but not announced) bouts for the card include women's welterweight champion Marloes Coenen (18-4 MMA, 2-1 SF) vs. Meisha Tate (11-2 MMA, 4-1 SF) and lightweights Billy Evangelista (11-0 MMA, 7-0 SF) vs. Jorge Masvidal (20-6 MMA, 2-0 SF).

Since an upset to Mike Kyle in his 2009 promotional debut, Cavalcante has posted three straight wins in Strikeforce. Most recently in August, he scored a TKO victory over champion Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal to win the title. The former IFL and EliteXC fighter now has won six of his past seven fights.

Henderson, meanwhile, looks to build off a December knockout win over Renato "Babalu" Sobral that awarded the victor a light-heavyweight title shot. The former UFC and PRIDE fighter made his promotional debut a fight earlier, when he dropped a decision to then-middleweight champ Jake Shields. Prior to joining Strikeforce, Henderson won three straight fights in the UFC but left the organization after being unable to come to terms on a new deal.

[Kemal]

Champion Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate set for "Strikeforce: Columbus"


A 135-pound women's title fight between welterweight champion Marloes Coenen (18-4 MMA, 2-1 SF) and top contender Miesha Tate (11-2 MMA, 4-1 SF) is set for March's "Strikeforce: Columbus" event.

MMAjunkie.com mentioned the likelihood of the fight on Sunday, and Tate recently posted a Twitter message confirming the booking.

The March 5 event takes place at Nationwide Arena as part of Strikeforce's Ohio debut. The night's main card, including a headliner between light-heavyweight champion Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante and Dan Henderson, airs on Showtime.

Coenen vs. Tate is expected to serve as the night's co-headliner.

Coenen is coming off two title fights under the Strikeforce banner. Although she suffered a TKO loss to women's middleweight champ Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos in January 2010, Coenen returned in October, dropped a weight class, and delivered then-women's welterweight champ Sarah Kaufman her first career loss. The third-round submission victory earned the Dutch fighter the belt and her sixth win in her past eight fights.

Tate, meanwhile, earned her title shot by winning Strikeforce's single-night four-woman tournament in August. After a decision victory over Maiju Kujala in the opening round, she bested Hitomi Akano on points in the finale. She's now 10-1 over her past 11 fights, and the lone loss came to Kaufman at Strikeforce Challengers 1 in 2009.

[Kemal]

"Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy III no longer happening at "Strikeforce: Ohio"

[el bastardo]

Hendy ehh Hendo en Marloes FTW!!!

[Baske]

Gaat weer een leuk avondje bankzitten worden

[wrestler_nl]

Hendo via KO
Marloes Via Anything

[Baske]

Marloes Via Anything

Reps

en x2

[Slome]

[Harrie Nak]

[El Bambino]

Cavalcante is een BEEST!.
Cavalcante by KO in de 2e ronde!

[Slome]

Trailer

[kooivechter]

Cavalcante is een BEEST!.
Cavalcante by KO in de 2e ronde!

ja vind ik ook. wat een goede vechter die gast. dat ik nooit eerder wat van die gast heb gehoord. die partij tegen king mo was bruut en van hoog niveau

[marcelt]

Aardige gozer ook en erg goed. Hoop dat hij Miller en Marloes natuurlijk winnen.

[Kemal]

Melvin Manhoef Says MMA Is His Priority, Expects Epic Fight with Tim Kennedy

After years of constant back and forth shuttling between mixed martial arts and kickboxing, Dutch striking powerhouse Melvin Manhoef is committed solely to MMA in 2011. His year kicks off at March 5's Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson event, when he takes on former No. 1 middleweight contender Tim Kennedy.

Speaking on a teleconference, the 34-year-old Manhoef said while he was not retiring from kickboxing, he would shelve his pursuits in that sport for the foreseeable future while working to round out his MMA game, which has been criticized for holes in his ground defense.

"I've made small changes, more on the ground," he said. "In past fights, I was always trying to bang and knock somebody out, but [now] I give more time to my [Brazilian jiu-jitsu], my wrestling. All the things changed."

Manhoef explained that usually when he spends time trying to improve one discipline -- jiu jitsu, for example -- it comes at the expense of training time for his striking.

Because he would often take an MMA fight and K-1 fight within weeks of each other, sometimes he would enter the K-1 fight not feeling as prepared as he could have because of the time he sacrificed to spend on ground skills.

"I'm going to stick only to the MMA game," he said. "I have to work hard on that. Because if you're betting on two horses, if you don't have all your attention on one, your mind's not 100 percent there. This year, I'm only going for MMA fights, and not standup."

Manhoef has lost two straight in the MMA realm, suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Robbie Lawler in Jan. 2010 before losing via submission to Tatsuya Mizuno in July.

Though Manhoef has a respectable 24-8-1 record, five of his last six losses have come via tapout. That makes his fight with Kennedy a perfect gauge of how far his grappling skills have come. Kennedy (12-3) has six wins via submission and is known for a powerful ground attack from the top position.

That's just the kind of style contrast that Manhoef is looking for. In fact, he expects the result to rival that of his epic 2006 Cage Rage win over Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos;
which is considered by many to be one of the wildest, fiercest, most primal brawls in MMA history.

"He's a tested fighter, an all-around fighter," Manhoef said. "I like when he pushes and comes forward. It's going to be a good fight. I can not predict how I'm going to fight or what I'm going to do. But I think the fight will be so hot that everybody will talk about it like the Cyborg fight again. It's going to be the fight of the night. Or the fight of the year, I think."

It's a strong statement, but one from a fighter at something of a crossroads. He's lost four out of his last six in MMA, and two in a row in K-1. He's a man with something to prove, not just to other fighters or fans, but to himself.

"I want to win, Tim wants to win," he said. "I really want to win. For me it's very important because I want to prove that I'm still here, I'm still strong and I'm still Melvin. For me it has to be a must-win fight."

[Kemal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg7JpDuq4D0

[Kemal]

MARLOES COENEN & LIZ CARMOUCHE MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL HIGHLIGHTS

STRIKEFORCE Women’s World Welterweight Champion Marloes Coenen, undefeated challenger Liz “Girl-Rilla’’ Carmouche
participated in a national media conference call on Thursday to discuss the upcoming STRIKEFORCE World Championship Doubleheader on Saturday, March 5, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

In the opening half of the doubleheader, Marloes Coenen (18-4), of the Netherlands, will risk her lightweight title for a first time when she meets Liz Carmouche (6-0), of San Diego, Calif., a replacement for the injured Miesha Tate.

Coenen captured the STRIKEFORCE crown with a dominant third-round submission (armbar) over defending belt-holder Sarah Kaufman on Oct. 9, 2010, on SHOWTIME. A strikingly attractive submission whiz, Coenen ousted Kaufman one fight after giving STRIKEFORCE 145-pound champ Cris Cyborg one of her toughest tests.

Carmouche is coming off an impressive third-round TKO (punches) over the more-experienced Jan Finney on Nov. 19, 2010. In her outing before last, Carmouche won a unanimous decision over Colleen Schneider on Aug. 13, 2010, in a “reserve bout” in the STRIKEFORCE one night, single-elimination women’s 135-pound tournament.

MARLOES COENEN:

“I’m happy to fight on March 5. I was excited to fight Miesha, but I believe Liz is a very good replacement.

“If you are well rounded in all the areas of the game (it won’t be a problem). But Liz is a different fighter than Miesha is. I believe Liz is very talented and she’ll be a big star in the coming years. Her standup is OK, her wrestling is OK. I believe her standup is a little better than Miesha’s. It will be a fierce fight but there will be no problems for me. I’m looking forward to it and I’m all pumped up.

“Her standup is a little better than Miesha’s, but for the most part I train in every aspect of the game and we tweak it for each opponent we’re fighting.

“I believe when you’re the champion you should fight everyone so it doesn’t matter who the person is in front of me – I’ll fight them. Of course I was preparing for Miesha but I think I’ll get another shot at her again.

“There’s a huge difference (in the acceptance of women’s MMA). When I started out the word MMA wasn’t there yet and females in the cage was a unique thing that never happened. I fought a little in Japan and it was already accepted over there. But then Gina Carano came out and she really made the division grow and I really believe we should thank her a lot for putting up great fights and being so popular. I believe that’s a big part of why we can fight today.

“I wanted to learn to defend myself (that’s why I started fighting). I had to go to school on my bike through the forest and there were all these stories of dirty men doing weird stuff so I wanted to learn to defend myself and I ended up studying martial arts. It was like a 7 miles bike ride.
“I’m very happy with STRIKEFORCE because I believe it’s the leading women’s organization. To be honest, I believe the (men’s) heavyweight division in STRIKEFORCE is stronger than the UFC. I feel very honored to be fighting for STRIKEFORCE. I’m very happy with the organization.”

LIZ CARMOUCHE:

“I respect Marloes Coenen – she’s the world’s best. This is an opportunity to be the best women fighter in the world and it was an opportunity I just couldn’t refuse. I was excited and I’m still anxious to fight. Just to be around someone at this level and to have an opportunity is something I just couldn’t pass up.

“I think some of the things they (the military and MMA) share in common is the inability to give into the word ‘can’t.’ We kind of push it out of our repertoire in the military and I think that transfers over into our fighting career. If there’s anything in front of us that we feel is a challenge, it pushes us that much further and that much hard to achieve it. At no point will we ever stop.

“I started off being in the military and some of the things they taught me kind of encouraged me to go towards this.

“Absolutely (I get weird looks). I’m a full-time college student and some people think I’m just a normal person and then as the conversation starts to progress and they find out I’m a professional fighter that usually changes their whole perspective on me.

“I was in the Marine Corps for five years and four months. I was an electrician on helicopters. I did three tours in Iraq.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m an adrenalin junkie, more so that I like a challenge. I like pushing myself to see what I can achieve in life and I just want to keep bettering myself as a person. In the military you train so hard and when you work for something and you’re told you can’t do it it’s just a slap in the face because as a women you work just as hard as the men, if not harder. To be told you can’t be on the front line, it’s horrible. It just shuts down everything you work for. So I wanted that and to achieve it was just one more check in the box for me. In MMA it’s the same thing. I don’t ever want to be told I can’t achieve something so I work hard to be the best fighter I can be.

“I had no hesitations. This isn’t something that I could chance or turn up. I try and stay in shape year-round so when they gave the notice I was ready for it.

“Nothing about her game concerns me. I try to stay well rounded and well developed, but she’s the best in the world so of course there’s always that concern but I feel like I’m ready for that challenge.

“I think one thing that goes in my favor is my military experience. Jitters aren’t something that you can have when you’re out in Iraq with your weapon. So that definitely works in my favor.”

[Kemal]

Billy Vaughan Tapped to Face Jorge Gurgel This Saturday at Strikeforce

When Tyler Combs pulled out of his fight with Jorge Gurgel just five days before they were scheduled to meet at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, the promotion was left in a bit of a bind.

But stepping in will be Columbus, Ohio-based fighter Billy Vaughan (9-6) to replace Combs on short notice. Strikeforce officials confirmed the new booking with MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

Vaughan has kicked around Ohio-based promotions for more than five years. He recently had a three-fight winning streak snapped with a submission loss to Donny Walker at a North American Allied Fight Series show in Cleveland. All 15 of Vaughan's pro fights have been finishes.

Gurgel (13-7, 1-2 Strikeforce) looks to snap a two-fight skid that includes a knockout loss to KJ Noons at Strikeforce: Houston in August. That fight was notable for a left hook by Noons after the first-round bell that dropped Gurgel. Though he was able to continue the fight, Noons finished him quickly in the second – and included a knee to the head that looked to be illegal, as well, as the ref was stopping the fight.

Gurgel, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has lived in Ohio for years and trains many pro fighters in jiu-jitsu, is also a veteran of seven UFC fights.

Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson takes place Saturday at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio's capital city, and will be the promotion's debut in the state. The main card, headlined by a light heavyweight title bout between champion Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante and former Pride champion Dan Henderson, airs live on Showtime.

[Harrie Nak]

Gurgel, de man die het van zijn BJJ moet hebben, maar het elke keer alleen met z'n "standup" denkt te kunnen redden.

[Mule-Kick]

War Hendo!!

[Harrie Nak]

Melvin heeft z'n eigen glazen alweer ingegooid. Hoewel niet geheel onverwacht heeft hij tijdens de persconferentie bij voorbaat al aangegeven het staande te houden. Driemaal raden wat Kennedy gaat doen.

[JeIIe]

Melvin heeft z'n eigen glazen alweer ingegooid. Hoewel niet geheel onverwacht heeft hij tijdens de persconferentie bij voorbaat al aangegeven het staande te houden. Driemaal raden wat Kennedy gaat doen.

Ik denk niet dat het als een verrassing komt bij Kennedy dat Manhoef het staande gaat proberen te houden.