UFC Betting Sites – The Best MMA Online Bookies
UFC best betting sites and the best MMA odds and gambling news
Filed under: Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, News, Videos
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Luke Rockhold on Saturday following his Strikeforce middleweight title win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, how he felt after the grueling fight, what he would like to do next and a questionable judge’s scorecard.
Filed under: Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, News, Videos
CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Luke Rockhold on Saturday following his Strikeforce middleweight title win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, how he felt after the grueling fight, what he would like to do next and a questionable judge’s scorecard.
(Dan Cormier does a dead-on impression of how his face is going to look after he gets hit with one of those fists. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)
Tonight, four big-ass dudes become two, and we mean that in the straightest way possible. Strikeforce’s lovably meaningless heavyweight tournament reaches its semi-final phase tonight at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cicinnati, Ohio, supported by a middleweight title fight and a compelling light-heavyweight feature between Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal and Roger Gracie.
Round-by-round results for the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” Showtime main card will be piling up after the jump starting at 10:30 p.m. ET. CagePotato liveblog-mercenary Matt Kaplan will be handling business tonight, so please make him feel welcome, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.
(Dan Cormier does a dead-on impression of how his face is going to look after he gets hit with one of those fists. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)
Tonight, four big-ass dudes become two, and we mean that in the straightest way possible. Strikeforce’s lovably meaningless heavyweight tournament reaches its semi-final phase tonight at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cicinnati, Ohio, supported by a middleweight title fight and a compelling light-heavyweight feature between Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal and Roger Gracie.
Round-by-round results for the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” Showtime main card will be piling up after the jump starting at 10:30 p.m. ET. CagePotato liveblog-mercenary Matt Kaplan will be handling business tonight, so please make him feel welcome, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.
……………..
I’ll take “liveblog-mercenary” over “Shemp Howard” any time, thank you very much.
Here we go. During the opening montage, the four remaining heavies are standing in what looks like a mini glacier forest. In their shorts. Barefoot. Hmm…
Frank Shamrock’s not sweating yet, so that’s good. Miletich says Cormier is a tougher match-up for Bigfoot than Overeem would have been. Interesting enough.
Maximo Blanco vs. Pat Healy: Mauro called Jimmy Lennon, Jr. the “maestro of the microphone.” He loves alliteration. Rd. 1: Healy is a big dude, but Blanco kicks out his back leg and is in half guard. Some short right hands and elbows from Blanco. Action gets back to a stand up, and Blanco connects with a right uppercut. Left head kick, knees and uppercuts from Blanco. Healy is down again and Blanco works from Healy’s open guard. Healy wants an armbar on Blanco’s right arm. Now he angles for a…what the f? Blanco just bitch slapped Healy with his toes. Healy is bleeding and the ref has stopped things for the doctors to take a look. Blanco lost a point. Rd 2: Healy pumps the jab, but Blanco moves his head well and stays safe. Blanco lands a spinning back fist, but Healy connects with harder counter punches. More Healy jabs. Healy slams Blanco to tha mat and works for the RNC, but to no avail. Healy falls, Blanco lands a right, Healy clinches and knees. Healy has Blanco’s back against the cage and looks for wrist control. Healy slams Blanco again, but Blanco is up. And back down once more. healy still wants that rear naked choke, but isn’t in position. Wait, yup he is. Dunzo. Healy wins via submission.
Big Black is sitting behind Rich Franklin ringside, in case anyone’s curious.
King Mo Lawal vs Roger Gracie: King Mo still wears the crown, huh? Oh well. Gracie seems ot be in better shape. Rd 1: I like Gracie’s all black trunks. Very early 90s of him. Mo looks loose and poised. Gracie holds his hands high as both men feel things out with very little action. Mo throws a lead left hook. Gracie jabs. MO hits with a short left as Gracie moves in. The crowd is booing a little already. Mo catches a kick and connects with a right. A push kick from Gracie is followed up by a Gracie flying knee. Gracie jabs. Mo misses a snapping left hook from Mo. More feeling out. Big right from Mo drops Gracie, who doesn’t get back up after two more shots on the ground (that didn’t land clean). Mo put some stank on that right hand! Gracie is out of it.
In a pre-recorded interview, Barnett says he plans to rank Kharitonv amongst the dead and rip his flesh and drink his blood. The poor interviewer is incredibly uncomfortable right now. Her career plans for broadcast journalism are clearly not working out. Kharitonov’s translator is pretty hot.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Luke Rockhold: Mauro says this fight is “pedigree vs. potential.” Rd 1: Rockhold kicks at the lead leg of the champ. Jacare shoots, but Rockhold sprawls. Big overhand right from Jacare, who drags Rockhold to floor and presses Rockhold’s hips down. Jacare is landing hard ground shots. Rockhold is up. But back down after a second. And back up we are. each man has an underhook. Jacare lands a knee against the fence. Push kick from Rockhold is answered with a right from Jacare. Another body kick from Rockhold and another right from Jacare. Rockhold catches Jacare coming in. Two good kicks from Rockhold! Jacare gets the takedown after two punches from Rockhold, but Rockhold gets right back up. Tough round to score. Rd 2: Spinning back kick and a lead leg kick from Roockhold. He just misses the head kick. More kicks and Jacare looks stymied. Jacare drops Rockhold with a right! Rockhold is back up, though. Here comes Jacare, pressing Rockhold against the fence again. Rockhold lands a straight left through Jacare’s hands. A lead right hook from Jacare lands. Knee from Rockhold in the clinch against the cage. Knee from Jacare. Knees to the thigh from Rockhold. They’re trading putting one another against the fence. And they break. Left from Rockhold. Right from Jacare. Jacare hits with another big overhand right. Rockhold ends the round with a kick. Rd 3: Front kick from Rockhold, who then lands a sharp left. Jacare switches up the stance. Body kick from Luke misses. Jacare’s kicks land. Luke kicks for real now. Jacare is kicked “in the peninsula south of the equator,” as bald Mauro says. After a break, Jacare snatches a single and dumps Luke onto the floor. Jacare is working furiously to finish, but Luke gets back to his feet. Punch-kick combo from Luke. Puch kick from Luke. Jacare blocks a left head kick. Luke kicks the lead leg once more. Jacare needs to get going. Luke is scoring with kicks and fists, high and low. Jacare cracks luke with a short right hook. Luke comes with a straight left and keeps mixing up his punches with kicks (and vice versa). Rd. 4: Three good rights from Jacare early are answered with a left from Luke. Luke charges in with kicks, but Jacare counters with that lead right hook. Jacare presses against the fence and takes some knees from Luke, who’s not got Jacare against the cage. Right hands and a right kick from Jacare have Luke backing up. Jacare drops for a double; Luke stuffs it with his back against the cage. A knee from Jacare; right hook from Luke as they break from the clinch. Good body kick from Luke, who stuffs another takedown and lands a left as Jacare stands back up. Knee from Luke as he muscles Jacare against the fence. Rd. 5: Front kick from Jacare and a body kick from Luke. Luke lands that straight left. Another front body kick from Jacare. Uppercut-left cross combo from Luke connects. Jacare swings and kicks and misses . Luke kicks low. Jacare hits a body kick and a low leg kick. Body shot from Luke is countered with a lead right hand against the cage. Jacare trips Luke and blankets him on the floor. Luke wants to sit up and slips away. They’re up. Left from Luke…and two good rights. Front kick from Jacare, but Luke keeps coming ahead. Jacare clinches but Luke escapes and lands a cool body kick, Right from Jacare. 1-2 from Luke. Left from Luke. Right from the champ. And another as he presses Luke against the fence. That was a good fight. And the winner is… Luke Rockhold by unanimous decision.
Mauro just quoted the WKRP in Cincinnati theme song. Gus Johnson who?
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva vs. Daniel Cormier: Bigfoot is a BJJ blackbelt “phenom”? We call that hyperbole. Miletich thinks Bigfoot Silva should be called “Giant Reach” Silva. (Because he has a big reach advantage, y’see.) Rd. 1: Rich Franklin’s bro is the ref? Head kick from Silva is blocked. Silva rushes in with punches and backs Cormier against the fence. They separate and Cormier lands a big right! Wow. Silva is down, and Cormier is in Silva’s guard. He’s out and lets the big fella back to his feet. Cormier lands a crisp left that stuns the Brazilian. And another. Silva shoots; nope. He’s pulling a Werdum and baiting Cormier into his guard. Silva’s up. Cormier sweeps him down and stays out of the guard. The crowd is restless as Silva remains down for a bit. 1-2 from Silva. Cormier drops Silva with a left jab and a right uppercut, and Silva is done! Cormier is in the finals.
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov:This is the one fight on this card I’m really excited for. Mauro just called Josh “Captain Catch Wrestling.”
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov: This is the one fight on this card I’m really excited for. Mauro just called Josh “Captain Catch Wrestling.” Rd. 1: Punches fly early from both men…and land, for the most part, Josh trips Sergei and is in the mounted position. Elbows, hammer fist. Sergei tries to buck, but in vain. And again. Josh is heavy on top. More gnp from Josh. Sergei strikes from his back. Heavy elbows from Josh. Damn. Josh fires down as Sergei punches up. Josh gets back control as Sergei covers up. Josh throws short uppercuts and hammer fists. Sergei is flattened, pounded some more, and choked out from the side! Josh vs. Cormier in the finals.
Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsRonaldo “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold battled for 25 minutes for the Strikeforce middleweight title on Saturday night, and in the end the judges awarded the hard-fought battle to Rockhold, making him the new middleweigh…
Filed under: Strikeforce, News
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold battled for 25 minutes for the Strikeforce middleweight title on Saturday night, and in the end the judges awarded the hard-fought battle to Rockhold, making him the new middleweight champion.
Jacare was a heavy favorite, but Rockhold fought toe-to-toe with him for five rounds, and in the end all three judges agreed that Rockhold had won it, with one judge scoring it 50-45 and two others scoring it 48-47.
An emotional Rockhold tried his best to thank all his coaches, training partners and sponsors afterward.
“It’s amazing,” Rockhold said through tears. “I couldn’t do it without everybody — so many people to thank, so many.”
“I won the fight in five rounds,” Rockhold said. “I had never been out of the first round.”
The fight was almost entirely standing up, with the two of them on the ground for only about half a round of the five-round affair. That played against the strengths of Jacare, a world-class Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist. Rockhold fought the fight he wanted to fight, and he ended it a champion.
%VIRTUAL-Gallery-133146%
Filed under: Strikeforce
CINCINNATI — This is the Strikeforce live blog for Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Luke Rockhold, a middleweight title bout on tonight’s Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event at the U.S. Bank Arena.
Souza (14-2), coming off a submission win over Robbie Lawler in January, is making his second title defense. Rockhold (7-1) has won six straight fights under the Strikeforce banner.
The live blog is below.
Round 2:
Spinning heel kick to the body by Rockhold to start round two. He opens up with several kicks to the head and legs right afterwards, keeping Souza on the defensive. Huge right hand from Souza wobbles Rockhold. He’s in trouble. Souza goes after him and nails him with a couple more rights, but Rockhold hangs on and recovers with remarkable quickness. Another switch kick from Rockhold is mostly blocked. Souza ducks under a Rockhold punch and grabs a clinch. Rockhold works some knees to the thigh in close before Souza reverses the position. Rockhold comes forward with a nice straight left. Souza answers with another of those nasty looking rights. The horn sounds and MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Souza.Round 3:
Rockhold comes forward with a couple of kicks and Souza backs up to avoid them before firing off one of his own. Rockhold tosses out a left and then a low kick that nails Souza solidly in the groin. Referee Dan Miragliotta pauses it to give Souza a chance to recover. The fight restarts and Souza ducks under a Rockhold punch in search of a takedown, which he eventually gets. Rockhold scrambles up and Souza thinks about a standing kimura, but it was a little ambitious even for him. Rockhold winds up for a couple more kicks, but Souza can see them all coming and covers up to block. Rockhold stings Souza with a left, but Souza comes right back with another right hand that lands behind Rockhold’s ear. Rockhold spins all the way around hoping to surprise Souza with one last kick before the round ends, but no dice. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Souza.Round 4:
Rockhold slams Souza with a kick to the body in the early going of the fourth. ‘That hurt him!’ Rockhold’s corner shouts. Souza fires back with a right hand that shows he’s not too badly damaged. Souza dives in with a hook that misses, then settles for a clinch where he can fire off a nice knee before Rockhold reverses and puts his back against the fence. They separate and Rockhold misses with a hook, leaving an opening for Souza to come in behind a big right that grazes Rockhold. Souza shoots for a double-leg, but Rockhold defends well, even though he seems to be slowing down a little. Rockhold tries a spinning back heel kick and Souza grabs his leg, looking for the takedown. Rockhold defends and lands a knee in the clinch in the final seconds of the round. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Rockhold.Round 5:
Rockhold’s corner warns him that Souza is going to “come on strong” to start the final round, and they send him out with one word of advice: “Keep your hands up.” Souza doesn’t start any more aggressively than usual, however, and it’s Rockhold who’s on offense early. He backs Souza up with those long kicks and lands a nice left on a tired Souza. Souza moves into another clinch behind a right hand, and eventually gets Rockhold down. Rockhold soon works back to his feet without absorbing any damage, then goes on the attack with a couple punch combos that have Souza backing up. Rockhold follows after him and Souza snaps a front kick into his face, sending sweat flying in the final minute. Both men are tired, but Souza presses forward with a looping right and they end the fight leaning on each other in the clinch. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-10.Luke Rockhold def. Ronaldo Souza via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
Well, that’s surprising. Just about every round was close, but I’m not sure how you give Rockhold every one of them.
%VIRTUAL-Gallery-133146%
Filed under: Strikeforce
CINCINNATI — This is the Strikeforce live blog for Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Luke Rockhold, a middleweight title bout on tonight’s Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event at the U.S. Bank Arena.
Souza (14-2), coming off a submission win over Robbie Lawler in January, is making his second title defense. Rockhold (7-1) has won six straight fights under the Strikeforce banner.
The live blog is below.
Round 2:
Spinning heel kick to the body by Rockhold to start round two. He opens up with several kicks to the head and legs right afterwards, keeping Souza on the defensive. Huge right hand from Souza wobbles Rockhold. He’s in trouble. Souza goes after him and nails him with a couple more rights, but Rockhold hangs on and recovers with remarkable quickness. Another switch kick from Rockhold is mostly blocked. Souza ducks under a Rockhold punch and grabs a clinch. Rockhold works some knees to the thigh in close before Souza reverses the position. Rockhold comes forward with a nice straight left. Souza answers with another of those nasty looking rights. The horn sounds and MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Souza.Round 3:
Rockhold comes forward with a couple of kicks and Souza backs up to avoid them before firing off one of his own. Rockhold tosses out a left and then a low kick that nails Souza solidly in the groin. Referee Dan Miragliotta pauses it to give Souza a chance to recover. The fight restarts and Souza ducks under a Rockhold punch in search of a takedown, which he eventually gets. Rockhold scrambles up and Souza thinks about a standing kimura, but it was a little ambitious even for him. Rockhold winds up for a couple more kicks, but Souza can see them all coming and covers up to block. Rockhold stings Souza with a left, but Souza comes right back with another right hand that lands behind Rockhold’s ear. Rockhold spins all the way around hoping to surprise Souza with one last kick before the round ends, but no dice. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Souza.Round 4:
Rockhold slams Souza with a kick to the body in the early going of the fourth. ‘That hurt him!’ Rockhold’s corner shouts. Souza fires back with a right hand that shows he’s not too badly damaged. Souza dives in with a hook that misses, then settles for a clinch where he can fire off a nice knee before Rockhold reverses and puts his back against the fence. They separate and Rockhold misses with a hook, leaving an opening for Souza to come in behind a big right that grazes Rockhold. Souza shoots for a double-leg, but Rockhold defends well, even though he seems to be slowing down a little. Rockhold tries a spinning back heel kick and Souza grabs his leg, looking for the takedown. Rockhold defends and lands a knee in the clinch in the final seconds of the round. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Rockhold.Round 5:
Rockhold’s corner warns him that Souza is going to “come on strong” to start the final round, and they send him out with one word of advice: “Keep your hands up.” Souza doesn’t start any more aggressively than usual, however, and it’s Rockhold who’s on offense early. He backs Souza up with those long kicks and lands a nice left on a tired Souza. Souza moves into another clinch behind a right hand, and eventually gets Rockhold down. Rockhold soon works back to his feet without absorbing any damage, then goes on the attack with a couple punch combos that have Souza backing up. Rockhold follows after him and Souza snaps a front kick into his face, sending sweat flying in the final minute. Both men are tired, but Souza presses forward with a looping right and they end the fight leaning on each other in the clinch. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-10.Luke Rockhold def. Ronaldo Souza via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
Well, that’s surprising. Just about every round was close, but I’m not sure how you give Rockhold every one of them.
%VIRTUAL-Gallery-133146%
Filed under: MMA Videos, Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, Videos
MMA Fighting followed Strkeforce heavyweight GP semifinalist Daniel Cormier and middleweight title challenger Luke Rockhold days away from their
fights against Antonio Silva and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, respectively, on the Sept. 10 Strikeforce card in Cincinnati.
Watch the video below of a day in the life of Cormier and Rockhold, shot and edited by E. Casey Leydon.
Filed under: MMA Videos, Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, Videos
MMA Fighting followed Strkeforce heavyweight GP semifinalist Daniel Cormier and middleweight title challenger Luke Rockhold days away from their
fights against Antonio Silva and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, respectively, on the Sept. 10 Strikeforce card in Cincinnati.
Watch the video below of a day in the life of Cormier and Rockhold, shot and edited by E. Casey Leydon.
Filed under: Strikeforce
CINCINNATI — He couldn’t have been the only one who was thinking it, but “King” Mo Lawal was the first to say it at the Strikeforce pre-fight press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“I was hoping there would be more people out here, more media, more questions, but really I guess ya’ll don’t care about us that much,” Lawal said. In his eyes, Saturday’s Strikeforce event on Showtime looks to be a strong card that many fans will likely miss “because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend — I’m just being real.”
Looking around at the sparsely attended presser — as well as at the frenzy of online attention being paid to the Nick Diaz fiasco in the UFC — you have to admit that he has a point.
At least on paper, this may be one of the best Strikeforce cards in recent memory. But is anybody paying attention? And if not, is Zuffa, the parent company of both Strikeforce and the UFC, planning to do anything to change that?
“It’s disappointing,” said Josh Barnett, one of the four Grand Prix semifinalists on the card. “I’d really like it if we could get a little bit of back-up from the UFC on this. Just a blurb. I’ve talked to some of the fighters and the conversation has come up, why can’t Dana [White] do one little video blog, one little piece saying, please come watch these fights because they’re good fights? I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t think they’re good fights.”
On some level, the drop-off is understandable. With Diaz bailing on this week’s UFC 137 press conference and being pulled from the title fight with Georges St. Pierre, UFC president Dana White has had his share of fires to put out.
Then again, the UFC did schedule several media events during the same week as the Strikeforce Grand Prix, but all of them were to promote a UFC fight card that’s still more than a month away. If you take that as an indicator of where Zuffa’s priorities lie, it’s not a good sign for Strikeforce.
As Lawal sees it, the lack of attention from both the media and Strikeforce’s parent company is an insult to the heavyweights in the Grand Prix, as well as to “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold, who will vie for the Strikeforce middleweight title at the U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night.
“[Rockhold]’s fighting for a title, you got two fights in the heavyweight tournament. …It’s not to me, but it’s a slap in the face to them,” Lawal said.
Of course, calling out the Zuffa brass right now seems like a risky proposition, since it’s still unclear what White and company plan to do with Strikeforce or its fighters. This is the same organization that just snatched a title shot away from Diaz for the kind of antics he used to regularly get away with in Strikeforce, after all.
Criticizing them could have its risks, though Lawal said he refuses to be swayed from calling it as he sees it, regardless of what happened to someone who simply failed to live up to his promotional responsibilities.
“I don’t give a [expletive],” he said. “I’m going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say ‘Respect the organization or you’re going to be out forever?’ Get the [expletive] out of here with that [expletive]. I’m just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there.”
Diaz no-showing a press conference, however, that’s a different story, Lawal said.
“I don’t know what happened, but it’s not like he was speaking his mind, saying ‘I think this press conference is dumb.’ He just didn’t show up. Now, speaking out and telling the truth is a different story than not doing something that helps the fight. That’s on Diaz. I think he’s a hell of a fighter, but like I said, here we are talking about Diaz instead of this event.”
As for Rockhold, he didn’t expect to get much press for his middleweight title fight to begin with, he said. As he put it, “People don’t know who I am. They’re going to find out, though.”
And sure, this weekend’s event was being buried in the headlines by Diaz and other UFC news, but he’s finding a way to stay optimistic.
“Yeah, it’s being overshadowed, but at least it’s overshadowed by Strikeforce guys,” Rockhold said. “Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem — at least we’re being overshadowed by our own people.”
But then, if this is all the attention even a stacked Strikeforce card can muster from fans and its own parent company, what does that say about the future for these fighters? If a former Strikeforce employee’s antics garner more attention than actual fights by the current employees, how much longer until there is no Strikeforce at all? And what then?
“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions here, but we might be looking at the end of something,” said Rockhold. “We’re going to have to perform and go out with a bang, and I think this is a good opportunity.”
As for Lawal, he just shrugged when asked what lay ahead for himself and the other fighters on the Strikeforce roster.
“I have no idea,” he said. “No one does. Do you?”
Filed under: Strikeforce
CINCINNATI — He couldn’t have been the only one who was thinking it, but “King” Mo Lawal was the first to say it at the Strikeforce pre-fight press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“I was hoping there would be more people out here, more media, more questions, but really I guess ya’ll don’t care about us that much,” Lawal said. In his eyes, Saturday’s Strikeforce event on Showtime looks to be a strong card that many fans will likely miss “because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend — I’m just being real.”
Looking around at the sparsely attended presser — as well as at the frenzy of online attention being paid to the Nick Diaz fiasco in the UFC — you have to admit that he has a point.
At least on paper, this may be one of the best Strikeforce cards in recent memory. But is anybody paying attention? And if not, is Zuffa, the parent company of both Strikeforce and the UFC, planning to do anything to change that?
“It’s disappointing,” said Josh Barnett, one of the four Grand Prix semifinalists on the card. “I’d really like it if we could get a little bit of back-up from the UFC on this. Just a blurb. I’ve talked to some of the fighters and the conversation has come up, why can’t Dana [White] do one little video blog, one little piece saying, please come watch these fights because they’re good fights? I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t think they’re good fights.”
Then again, the UFC did schedule several media events during the same week as the Strikeforce Grand Prix, but all of them were to promote a UFC fight card that’s still more than a month away. If you take that as an indicator of where Zuffa’s priorities lie, it’s not a good sign for Strikeforce.
As Lawal sees it, the lack of attention from both the media and Strikeforce’s parent company is an insult to the heavyweights in the Grand Prix, as well as to “Jacare” Souza and Luke Rockhold, who will vie for the Strikeforce middleweight title at the U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night.
“[Rockhold]’s fighting for a title, you got two fights in the heavyweight tournament. …It’s not to me, but it’s a slap in the face to them,” Lawal said.
Of course, calling out the Zuffa brass right now seems like a risky proposition, since it’s still unclear what White and company plan to do with Strikeforce or its fighters. This is the same organization that just snatched a title shot away from Diaz for the kind of antics he used to regularly get away with in Strikeforce, after all.
Criticizing them could have its risks, though Lawal said he refuses to be swayed from calling it as he sees it, regardless of what happened to someone who simply failed to live up to his promotional responsibilities.
“I don’t give a [expletive],” he said. “I’m going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say ‘Respect the organization or you’re going to be out forever?’ Get the [expletive] out of here with that [expletive]. I’m just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there.”
Diaz no-showing a press conference, however, that’s a different story, Lawal said.
“I don’t know what happened, but it’s not like he was speaking his mind, saying ‘I think this press conference is dumb.’ He just didn’t show up. Now, speaking out and telling the truth is a different story than not doing something that helps the fight. That’s on Diaz. I think he’s a hell of a fighter, but like I said, here we are talking about Diaz instead of this event.”
As for Rockhold, he didn’t expect to get much press for his middleweight title fight to begin with, he said. As he put it, “People don’t know who I am. They’re going to find out, though.”
And sure, this weekend’s event was being buried in the headlines by Diaz and other UFC news, but he’s finding a way to stay optimistic.
“Yeah, it’s being overshadowed, but at least it’s overshadowed by Strikeforce guys,” Rockhold said. “Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem — at least we’re being overshadowed by our own people.”
But then, if this is all the attention even a stacked Strikeforce card can muster from fans and its own parent company, what does that say about the future for these fighters? If a former Strikeforce employee’s antics garner more attention than actual fights by the current employees, how much longer until there is no Strikeforce at all? And what then?
“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions here, but we might be looking at the end of something,” said Rockhold. “We’re going to have to perform and go out with a bang, and I think this is a good opportunity.”
As for Lawal, he just shrugged when asked what lay ahead for himself and the other fighters on the Strikeforce roster.
“I have no idea,” he said. “No one does. Do you?”