While the majority of the fights on last night’s Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine card appeared one-sided on paper, the middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy and Trevor Smith wasn’t one of them. Sure Kennedy had the name recognition and betting line behind him but his opponent was not push over and he proved that during their bout.
The final Strikeforce event started off without any big surprises but would end with a new welterweight champion being crowned. The promotion last upset saw Tarec Saffiedine grind and leg kick his way to a unanimous decision over champion Nate Marquardt.
As the finals days dwindle for Strikeforce, you cannot help but head down memory lane. We’ve already taken a look at the future and the present so now it’s time to past of Strikeforce and what they did good, bad and the things we all want to forget.
It was fun while it lasted! While I’m sad to see Strikeforce ride off into the sunset, I’m happy to see they managed to hold their final card together long enough to give everyone a great send-off. With the winners being assured a place in the UFC, we can expect some tooth-and-nail encounters on Saturday.
The time has come to say goodbye to the former #2 MMA promotion in the US this Saturday as the promotion holds their final event, Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine. When first announced this final event was to be a night of champions, a way to go out with a bang. The end result though albeit is still pretty stacked, lacks the championship bouts it once thought to have.
In 1967, Murray Woroner had an idea for a program, where the greatest heavyweight boxers in history would fight each other to the delight of radio audiences. Considering boxing had been around, in various forms of rule-sets and legality, for a hundred years, this was a colossal undertaking. With the aid of 250 boxing experts, sixteen of the greatest pugilists in history were selected and given scores in 128 attributes ranging from punching power, to footwork, to confidence. These numbers were then fed into a state-of-the-art computer, very similar to the Spike TV series The Deadliest Warrior, and each fight was virtually simulated. When the dust settled at the end of several weeks of prime time programming, Rocky Marciano defeated Muhammad Ali to become the Greatest Heavyweight Boxer Ever. The problem was, basically no one, including the boxing experts involved in the project, agreed with this.
The rumored to be last Strikeforce event once titled Strikeforce: Champions has seen its fight card rearranged and renamed to Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine. What was originally suppose to have three title fights now only has one and with a month and a half remaining until the January 12th fight day, you might want to keep your fingers crossed.
After losing half of its main event earlier this week, Strikeforce has added a middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy and Trevor Smith to their November 3rd fight card. On Tuesday it was announced that former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir was injured and was out against the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion Daniel Cormier. The addition of a top ranking fighter like Kennedy lessens the sting of losing a fighter such as Mir.
Bellator 100 Weigh-in Pictures
Last night the fighters for tonight’s Bellator 100 stepped onto the scales with all 24 fighters making weight. The historic 100th event for Bellator takes places tonight from the Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, Arizona and features an all welterweight main card on Spike TV.
UFC on FOX 7: Henderson vs. Melendez Weigh-in Pictures
Due to a previously scheduled Arena Football game at the HP Pavilion, today’s UFC on FOX 7 weigh-ins were held less than a mile away at the California Theater. The small theater was completely filled with cheering fans and all the fighters they came to see made weight.
The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale Weigh-in Pictures
Amidst everything else going on, the UFC has themselves a busy day today with the UFC on FX 6 taking place in Australia and The Ultimate Fighter 16 finale weigh-ins. All 24 fighters made weight today for tomorrow’s event that will crown The Ultimate Fighter 16 welterweight winner.
UFC on FUEL TV 4 Weigh-in Results and Photos
SAN JOSE, Cal. – Still recovering from Saturday’s UFC 148, MMAValor.com was inside the HP Pavilion for today’s UFC on FUEL TV 4 weigh-ins. A few of the fighters would need to step onto the scale behind a towel but all 22 fighters on the UFC on FUEL TV 4 fight card made weight.
TUF Live Finale Live Results and Event Pictures
The long grind of the first live version of The Ultimate Fighter ends tonight at the TUF Live Finale in Las Vegas. Featuring 12 of the 16 TUF Live contestants, the 10 bout card will be headlined by an important match-up in the welterweight division between Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann.
