Strikeforce

Evening News and Notes: May 16, 2008

Kimbo Slice. Photo by Esther Lin/EliteXC.

EliteXC heavyweight sensation Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson will serve as one of the presenters at Sunday night’s Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas according to Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated. The event will air on CBS from 8-11 PM ET. Slice’s appearance will likely have him make some kind of mention of EliteXC’s debut on the network next Saturday night.

Report: Moreno to Face Haselrig at EliteXC on CBS

New Jersey-based heavyweight Carlos Moreno will step in to face former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman and NCAA wrestling champion Carlton Haselrig at Elite Xtreme Combat’s upcoming “Primetime” event on May 31st according to Sherdog.com.

Moreno has won two out of his last three fights. He most recently fell to Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Kevin Jordan at a Battle Cage Xtreme event last October. Haselrig was originally slated to take on Fightfest veteran Joe McCall, who will be unable to compete at the event due to family obligations.

Kelly Perdew Resigns as CEO of ProElite.com

EliteXC parent company ProElite announced today that Kelly Perdew, the winner of the second season of NBC’s “The Apprentice”, has resigned as President and CEO of the organization’s official website through the company’s SEC filing.

Perdew filed his resignation on May 9th and it will go into effect next week. According to MMA Junkie, Perdew will now move on to rotohog.com to serve as the fantasy sports company’s CEO. A successor for Perdew has not yet been named.

Donruss to Create Cung Le Trading Card

Popular trading card company Donruss has announced it’s intention to create a trading card featuring the likeness of newly crowned Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, who defeated former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock in March to claim the title.

“We’re excited to be able to include Cung in our program,” said Scott Prusha, Marketing Director for Donruss, said in a press release sent out to the media today. “Cung is an extremely exciting fighter and winning the Strikeforce championship was really a big thing.”

Weekend Recap: April 28, 2008

Carlos Condit. Photo property of World Extreme Cagefighting.

Here’s a little recap of what went on this past weekend, starting with Carlos Condit reportedly signing a contract extension with World Extreme Cagefighting according to USA Today‘s Sergio Non. The new deal comes after Condit’s most recent victory over Carlo Prater in February. The fight against Prater was Condit’s second to last fight on his previous deal. Condit expects the new deal to kick in with a potential fight in August against an opponent yet to be named.

The promotion also confirmed two additional bouts for their next scheduled event on June 1st in Sacramento, California over the weekend via their official website. A rumored bantamweight title bout between champion Miguel Torres and injury replacement Yoshiro Maeda has been made official as well as Mark Munoz’s WEC debut against fellow newcomer Chuck Grigsby.

UFC Releases Travis Lutter

Fresh off of his disappointing loss to former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC 83 last weekend, Travis Lutter, the middleweight winner of the fourth season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, has been released from his contract by the UFC. The news was first reported by Pramit Mohapatra of Fight Ticker and has since been confirmed by Lutter himself, who stated that his agent received a call Sunday morning informing him of his release due to consecutive losses in his last two fights.

Report: Southworth-Ruiz Rematch Possible for June

Bobby Southworth, one of the cast members on the original season of “The Ultimate Fighter” will attempt to avenge a recent loss to Anthony Ruiz at Strikeforce’s upcoming planned event in June according to MMA Mania. The two fought in November - Ruiz scored a TKO win over Southworth after the UFC veteran suffered a fight-ending cut over his left eye early in the second round.

However Southworth remains Strikeforce’s world light heavyweight champion due to the fight being a non-title bout. It’s unknown whether or not the belt will be on the line in June. Southworth has not fought since losing to Ruiz. Meanwhile Ruiz has recorded back-to-back wins over Jimmy Ambriz and Brad Imes since then.

Continue reading "Weekend Recap: April 28, 2008"

Melendez-Thomson Set for June Showdown

Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson. Photo by Jon Swenson.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Following a year of anticipation, Strikeforce World Lightweight (155 lb. limit) Champion, Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (14-1), will put his coveted title on the line against number one contender and Bay Area arch-rival, Josh “The Punk” Thomson (14-2), in the main event of a Strikeforce mixed martial arts mega-card at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on Friday, June 27th.

Originally slated for March 29th, the showdown between the 155 lb. superstars was put on hold after it was learned that Thomson would have to undergo surgery for a left shoulder injury he had sustained on his way to victory over Adam Lynn at Strikeforce’s event at The Playboy Mansion on September 29, 2007.

“This is a very big fight for the fans, for the promotion and for Josh and me,” said the 26-year-old Melendez, who turned in another stellar performance in his last effort, stopping Pat Miletich protégé Gabe Lemley with a brutal ground and pound offensive in the second round of their live Showtime-televised contest at HP Pavilion on Saturday, March 29th.  “Josh is a great fighter, but I’m the champ and I plan on remaining the champ for a long time.”

Unbeaten after his first nine starts, Melendez seized the Strikeforce crown from former junior collegiate wrestling standout, Clay “The Carpenter” Guida, on June 9, 2006, battering Guida with kicks and punches for five rounds before being awarded the title by way of judges’ decision.

Continue reading "Melendez-Thomson Set for June Showdown"

Video: Strikeforce on NBC Premiere

Here’s the opening segment of this past weekend’s “Strikeforce on NBC” debut. Le’s decision to enter mixed martial arts is discussed in the video above. His fight against Brian Warren and a welterweight clash between longtime veterans Duane Ludwig and Tony Fryklund can been seen after the jump.

The show was put together well in my opinion. Having Lon McEachern and Ken Shamrock re-dub the commentary during the fights was pretty cool as well. The only downside to Strikeforce’s big debut on network television was the fact that many local affiliates decided too run something else or nothing at all. (The show was blacked-out in New York City and Houston decided to air a repeat of “Without a Trace” instead.)

HT: Bloody Elbow

Continue reading "Video: Strikeforce on NBC Premiere"

“Strikeforce on NBC” Premieres Tonight

Photo by Jon Swenson.

Strikeforce, will take the leap from San Jose and Showtime to national television when the organization’s new weekly highlight show premieres late tonight on NBC.

“Strikeforce on NBC” will air tonight (tomorrow morning) at 2:00 AM ET, right after “Poker After Dark”.

Tonight’s half-hour show will focus around newly crowned Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion, Cung Le, who is coming off of arguably the biggest win of his career, a stoppage of former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock two weeks ago.

Le’s life inside and outside of the cage will be profiled and his TKO win over Brian Warren in June 2006 will also be shown. A welterweight clash between longtime veterans Duane Ludwig and Tony Fryklund will be seen as well.

After years of promoting strictly kickboxing, Strikeforce began to focus on mixed martial arts in 2006 and hired Frank Shamrock and Scott Coker to oversee their new venture. The organization put on the first-ever MMA event sanctioned by the state of California in the same year and also broke the North American attendance record for an MMA event at the same time.

“Shamrock vs. Cung Le” Does $1.1 Million Gate

Photo by Jon Swenson.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A crowd of 16,326 generated over $1.1 million of live gate revenue for the “Shamrock vs. Cung Le” mixed martial arts mega-event at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on Saturday, March 29th.

“It was an incredible night all around,” said Scott Coker, CEO, Strikeforce, which co-promoted the event with EliteXC. “Our main event between Frank Shamrock and Cung Le was an epic battle that lived up to, if not exceeded, everyone’s expectations. The energy in the arena was as electric and intense as that at a Superbowl. You could really sense the magnitude of the fight and what was at stake in it through the emotions each fighter’s thousands of fans were expressing.”

In the main event, Le was crowned the new Strikeforce world middleweight (185 lb. limit) champion after a broken right wrist forced Shamrock to retire between rounds three and four.

Prior to the stoppage, Le was imposing his will with repeated round kicks to the body and side of Shamrock’s head as well as quick hands that found their mark on Shamrock’s face.

In the second half of the third round, though, Shamrock made a bold stand, backing Le into one side of the cage and tagging him with several punch combinations that appeared to put Le in trouble.

Two days prior to the event, NBC and Strikeforce announced that their two entities had entered a partnership agreement to produce the first-ever 52 week mixed martial arts series for a major TV network.  “Strikeforce on NBC” will air every Saturday from 2-2:30 am ET, beginning on April 12th.  Each show will be comprised of fighter profiles as well as Strikeforce mixed martial arts fights and highlights.

Before the close of 2008, three Strikeforce events will be distributed live on the Mark Cuban-owned HDNet.  Strikeforce programming is also available in 22.5 million homes across Europe, The Middle East, and parts of Africa courtesy of Extreme Sports Channel.

Cung Le Sweeps Shamrock

A highlight posted to Youtube by ShoSports:

“Shamrock vs Le” Fighter Salaries

Frank Shamrock and Cung Le pose at a press conference for Elite Xtreme Combat and Strikeforce co-promoted “Shamrock vs Cung Le”. Photo by Jon Swenson.

The California State Athletic Commission has released the official list of fighter salaries stemming from this past weekend’s Elite Xtreme Combat and Strikeforce co-promoted “Shamrock vs Cung Le” show, which took place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

The event featured a total of nine fights and was highlighted by a main event showdown between Former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock and undefeated former Sanshou kickboxer Cung Le. Le defeated Shamrock by TKO after Shamrock broke his left arm at the end of the fourth round.

Remember that this is only the base salary that a fighter received. Bonuses, deductions, and other undisclosed fees are not included.

Cung Le ($200,000) def. Frank Shamrock ($300,000)
Gilbert Melendez ($50,000) def. Gabe Lemley ($7,000)
Drew Fickett ($10,000) def. Jae Suk Lim ($3,000)
Wayne Cole ($10,000) def. Mike Kyle ($10,000)
Joey Villasenor ($36,000) def. Ryan Jensen ($6,000)
Tiki Ghosn ($8,000) def. Luke Stewart ($6,000)
Billy Evangelista ($10,000) def Marlon Sims ($2,500)
Darren Uyenoyama ($4,000) def. Anthony Figueroa ($2,000)
Jesse Jones ($2,150) def. Jesse Gillespie ($1,200)

Le Breaks Shamrock in Instant Classic

In a fantastic third round to an exceptionally exciting, give-and-take slugfest Saturday on Showtime, Cung Le delivers the kick that may have broken Frank Shamrock’s arm. Le captured the Strikeforce middleweight title when defending champion Shamrock could not continue after the third round.

SAN JOSE – In a bruising battle of Bay Area rivals, undefeated Cung Le broke the right arm of defending champion Frank Shamrock en route to capturing the Strikeforce middleweight title with a thrilling, give-and-take, crowd-pleasing third-round TKO Saturday on Showtime.

The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated mixed martial arts event, presented by EliteXC and Strikeforce, attracted an enthusiastic, well-behaved crowd of 16,326 at the HP Pavilion that produced a gate of more than $1 million. Those in attendance included EliteXC standouts Kimbo Slice, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz and Phil Baroni.

The fight card aired on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Gilbert Melendez (14-1) of San Francisco successfully defended his Strikeforce lightweight belt with a second-round knockout over hard-trying but outclassed Gabe Lemley (11-7) of New London, Iowa, in a second world title match on a five-bout telecast.

In other televised scraps, Drew Fickett (32-5) of Tucson, Ariz., earned a shot at the vacant EliteXC welterweight crown against Jake Shields by submitting Korea’s Jae Suk Lim (9-4) in the first round; super heavyweight Wayne Cole (11-6) of Oklahoma City, Okla., submitted (armbar) Mike Kyle (9-6-1) of San Jose in the first round and EliteXC standout Joey Villasenor (25-6) of Albuquerque, N.M., knocked out Ryan Jensen (11-4) of Omaha, Neb., in the first round.

In the top non-televised fight, Tiki Ghosn (10-7) of Huntington Beach, Calif., registered an upset three-round decision over previously undefeated welter Luke Stewart (5-1) of San Francisco by the scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice. 

Continue reading "Le Breaks Shamrock in Instant Classic"

Tap Selections: Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le

Photo by Jon Swenson, Sharkspage.

Here’s our take on the main event of Elite Xtreme Combat and Strikeforce’s co-promoted show later tonight where former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock will defend his Strikeforce title against undefeated former Sanshou kickboxer Cung Le in a battle of supremacy between San Jose residents.

“Shamrock vs Cung Le” will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. Showtime will begin airing the televised portion of the card starting at 9 PM ET.

Bill Reger: For the last year plus, Cung Le has been calling out Frank Shamrock. For his part, Shamrock continually ducked him and said Cung was not ready for him. Well, Scott Coker got the signed names on the contract and here we go. During all the pre-fight hype, Shamrock has repeatedly said he sees a bunch of weaknesses in Le’s standup and he plans on exposing that standup.

Everyone is in agreement that Frank holds the decided advantage on the ground, so Shamrock may be taking a big chance keeping this fight on the feet. But if one watches the Shamrock’s fights over the last 8 years, he never goes for the takedown. He has even stated that he has done little wrestling training in preparation for this fight. This fight will remain standing and give Cung Le a legitimate chance at the upset.

Stylistically, Le’s striking is absolutely beautiful to watch. But up until this point, his opposition has been extremely weak. This is a huge step up in opposition. That being said, I’ll let the fan in me make a prediction and say Cung Le will win. Le is going to catch Frank with a nasty kick that stuns him and will go on to finish him. Cung Le by TKO in the 2nd round

Jamie Fitzgerald: Whenever you pick a guy using your heart rather than your head, it rarely works out. My heart is telling me that Shamrock will stand with Cung Le, and we’ll get to see Le display his diverse striking. My brain is telling me that Frank will take this fight to the ground and finally test Le’s ground game in an MMA event. Frank’s talking a big game about standing with Le. I really don’t believe him but if he does, we’ll see a game plan change.

Le’s stand-up will keep Shamrock guessing, but if Frank can stay calm, wait for his opportunities to take him down, he’ll win this with a late round submission. Otherwise, I think we’ll see Le with a 3rd round TKO. I’m pulling for Le, but think Frank will take it. This is a huge step up in competition for Le and there’s no doubt Shamrock experience will play a big part in the fight.

John Chandler: While Le’s unorthodox striking should be able to give Shamrock fits on the feet, I’m not seeing Frank keeping this fight standing for very long, despite what he has been continually saying about wanting to out-strike Le in the media. Shamrock can hold his own with almost anybody standing, but he’s definitely outclassed in this one. I’m sure he knows it too.

With that said, Shamrock should be able to dominate the fight if he’s able to take it to the ground. He’s been widely regarded as a submission wizard for years and he’s certainly going to look the part if he’s able to take Le out of his element and to the mat. I definitely don’t see this fight going the distance. Shamrock wins via armbar in the second round.