Strikeforce Weigh Ins: Marloes Coenen vs. Liz Carmouche

Marloes "Rumina" Coenen vs. Liz "Girl-Rilla" Carmouche weigh-in and face off. The weigh-ins took place at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH on 03/03/2011 for Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson. This womens welterweight fight was for the Strikeforce title.

Strikeforce Weigh Ins: Dan Henderson vs. Rafael Feijao Cavalcante

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante vs. Dan "Hendo" Henderson weigh-in and face off. The weigh-ins took place at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH on 03/03/2011 for Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson.

Dan Henderson Returns to Championship Form With Win Over Feijao in Strikeforce

The last time Dan Henderson fought in Columbus, Ohio was at UFC 82 against Anderson Silva approximately 3 years ago, a fight he lost via rear naked choke. On Saturday he returned to the Buckeye state for another chance at a title against Anderson Silva’s teammate Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.

In the first round, Feijao was able to drop Henderson with a big right hand that sent him to the canvas. Henderson proved once again that his chin may indeed be made of granite and used a powerful takedown to drive Feijao to the canvas and survive on top.

The second round Henderson again used his world class wrestling to grind the champion and it was evident that Feijao was beginning to slow down and fade. Less than a minute into the third round Henderson punched the Brazilian with his classic overhand right that spun Feijao 180 degrees and sent him crashing face first into the canvas. Henderson quickly took back mount and began smashing down right hands until Dan Miragliotta was forced to stop the fight.

At 40 years old, Dan Henderson is the oldest current champion in any of the major organizations but he didn’t look like an old man on Saturday. The biggest question was whom he would face next? It is speculated that he will more than likely face the winner of next month’s Gegard Mousasi vs. Mike Kyle bout but he is open to fighting at middleweight making it entirely possible that he could attempt to win two titles in two different divisions simultaneously, a feat he previously accomplished in Pride.

Marloes Coenen vs. Liz Carmouche

Marloes Coenen came into her title defense on Saturday as a big favorite. A bout with Meisha Tate had to be scrapped due to injury leaving Strikeforce to find a suitable opponent two weeks prior to the bout.

Liz Carmouche took the challenge on short notice and came into the bout with a (5-0) record and less than one years experience. On paper it looked like a serious mismatch as Coenen had over 20 fights and 10 years of experience versus her less experienced opponent. However, Carmouche proved to the world that she deserved to be in the cage with Coenen.

Coenen won the first round but the tables turned quickly in the second round when Carmouche survived a guillotine choke and ended up on top. For two rounds Carmouche used dominant positional grappling to get to full mount and use ground and pound to punish the champion but lacked the ability to finish with a submission or technical knock out. Carmouche again reverted to her wrestling in the fourth round but Coenen was able to slap on a triangle choke on the takedown attempt finishing Carmouche showing that she had the heart of champion.

Tim Kennedy vs. Melvin Manhoef

Coming off a very close decision loss to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in August of last year Tim Kennedy looked to get back on the winning track. Kennedy wanted no part of the Dutch striker’s stand up game and wasted little time exploiting the most obvious of Melvin Manhoef’s weaknesses, his ground game. Once he secured the takedown he gained back mount he locked in a rear naked choke at 3:41 of the first round.

A win in a rubber match between him and Jason “Mayhem” Miller or the dangerous slugger, Robbie Lawler may be in order before Kennedy is given the green light for a rematch with the current Strikeforce middleweight champion, Ronaldo “Jacre” Souza.

Jorge Masvidal vs. Billy Evangelista

Jorge Masvidal used his size and reach advantage to stifle the little offense that Billy Evangelista had to offer. Masvidal stuffed most of Evangelista’s takedown attempts and Evangelista looked sluggish not throwing many punches throughout the first two rounds. It wasn’t until the third round that Evangelista started to get busy on offense realizing that he needed a finish to win the fight. The judges saw the fight (30-27) for Masvidal and Evangelista suffered the first loss of his career. Masvidal is another quality fighter to add to Strikeforce’s already deep lightweight division.

Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson Results

Undercard:
170: John Kuhner def. J.P. Felty – RD 2 – 4:31 – Triangle Choke
185: Mitch Whitesel def. Marc Cofer – RD 1 – 3:55 – Guillotine Choke
185: Brian Rogers def. Ian Rammell – RD 1 – 4:31 – TKO (GNP)
Hwt: Jason Freeman def. Jason Riley – RD 1 – 1:52 - Submission (Strikes)
155: Jorge Gurgel def. Billy Vaughan – RD 1 – 0:44 - Guillotine Choke
170: Roger Bowling def. Josh Thornburg – RD 3 – 5:00 – Unanimous Decision

Main Card:
155: Jorge Masvidal def. Billy Evangelista – RD 3 – 5:00 – Unanimous Decision
185: Tim Kennedy def. Melvin Manhoef – RD 1 – 3:41 – Rear Naked Choke
135: Marloes Coenen def. Liz Carmouche – RD 4 – 1:29 – Triangle Choke
205: Dan Henderson def. Rafael Cavalcante – Rd 3 – TKO (Strikes)

This article first appeared on USCombatSports.com on 03/07/2011.

Andrei Arlovski and Jesse Finney - Strikeforce Post Fight Press Conference

Andrei Arlovski, Jesse Finney, and Scott Coker speaking at the post fight press conference following Strikeforce's Heavy Artillery. This event took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/15/2010. http://www.WisconsinCombatSports.com

Strikeforce Heavy Artillery: Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers weigh in video

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Alistair "The Demolition Man" Overeem vs. Brett "The Grim" Rogers weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio Silva weigh in video

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Joey Villasenor weigh in

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. "Smokin" Joey Villasenor weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Kevin Randleman vs. Roger Gracie weigh in

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Kevin "The Monster" Randleman vs. Roger Gracie weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante vs. Antwain Britt weigh in

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante vs. Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Jesse Finney vs. Justin DeMoney weigh in

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery - Jesse Finney vs. Justin DeMoney weigh-in video. The weigh ins took place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on 05/14/2010.

Strikeforce Heavy Artillery: Overeem vs. Rogers Preview

Strikeforce returns to the Midwest Saturday night with a card that will feature some of the top heavyweight fighters in the world squaring off as well as two of the greatest BJJ players turned mixed martial artists in Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Roger Gracie.

Alistair Overeem will finally return to U.S. soil to defend a belt he earned against Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello approximately three and half years ago in November of 2007. At the time, Strikeforce was still a regional promotion and had not done a show outside the state of California. Since that TKO victory over Buentello and a permanent move to the heavyweight division, Overeem hasn’t lost an MMA fight but he hasn’t exactly been fighting a who’s who list of MMA opponents in Japan and the Netherlands.

While fighting for promotions such as Dream, Ultimate Glory, and K-1, Overeem has racked up MMA wins over fighters such as Kazuyuki Fujita, James Thompson, Gary Goodrich, and Mark Hunt and all of the wins have been first round finishes. The only blemish was a no contest with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic that saw Overeem dominating the aged fighter with takedowns and ground and pound. Multiple groin shots rendered Filipovic unable to continue, and the bout was ruled a no contest.

Overeem has gained more attention for his non-MMA exploits such as racking up wins in K-1 over renown kickboxers such as Badr Hari and Peter Aerts in recent years as well as his noticeably larger physique which he attributes to high protein diet of horse meat and weight lifting.

Brett Rogers grew up in the mean streets of Chicago in the projects known as Caprini Green before relocating to St. Paul, Minnesota. He began his MMA training at Team Bison, now known as Team Ambition, under the tutelage of Mike Reilly and former Chute Boxe coach, Sergio Cunha.

Rogers started his MMA career on a (5-0) run before being signed to EliteXC. He made his debut with the organization in November of 2007 and continued his winning streak in the organization compiling another three victories over Ralph Kelly, James Thompson, and Jon Murphy. After the Murphy bout, which appeared on CBS, Rogers called out the biggest star of the promotion, Kimbo Slice at a post fight press conference. EliteXC wanting to protect it’s top star, opted to have Slice fight Ken Shamrock instead of creating a star in Rogers and the rest his history, for EliteXC at least.

Following the collapse of EliteXC, Strikeforce purchased select assets and contracts of the organization. Nearly eleven months after the 61 second knockout of Jon Murphy, Brett Rogers would make his Strikeforce debut against another undefeated fighter in Ron “Abongo” Humphrey. Rogers walked away with a second round TKO and kept his undefeated record intact at (9-0).

Rogers was called upon to take what was, by far, the biggest fight of his career to date against a top five heavyweight and former UFC champion in Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski. That fight allowed him to quit his full time job as a tire technician at Sam’s Club and focus on MMA full time. Arlovski vs. Rogers was a fight that many considered to be a tune up fight for Arlovski who was coming off a first round KO loss at the hands of the greatest fighter of our time, Fedor Emelianenko, and Rogers came in as a heavy underdog. Rogers defeated Arlovski with a 22 second KO that changed the careers of both fighters dramatically. Arlovski was labeled as washed up by many fans, and Rogers became an instant star and top 10 ranked heavyweight in MMA. He also earned a chance to test his skills against Fedor Emelianenko on CBS in front of a nationally televised audience of millions and a soldout crowd at the Sears Center just northwest of Chicago where he had originally grown up.

Rogers had a few glimmering moments in the Fedor fight including breaking Emelianenko’s nose early on. He scrambled well to survive multiple times and ended up once in top position raining down strikes. Rogers survived the round, a feat that no fighter had done in over three years since Mark Coleman at Pride 32. Early in the second round, Rogers again used his size to push Emelianenko against the cage, controlling him and landing knees while tied up. Rogers then gave up the underhooks and moved to the center of the cage to restart. It would prove to be his biggest mistake as with one punch, “The Emperor” would throw his patented overhand right and send Rogers crashing to the canvas for the KO win.

By the numbers, Overeem has four times the MMA experience of Rogers with an MMA record of (32-11) with 1 no contest. All of Rogers’ 10 wins in his (10-1) record have come by way of strikes. Overeem has a more diverse and mixed bag of victories and is well versed both on the ground as well as on the feet. Most of his wins (19) have come by way of submission with 8 of those being the guillotine choke. Overeem is currently ranked at #9 in the world at heavyweight by both USA Today and Sherdog while Rogers is ranked one spot higher at #8.

While this fight is being contended for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship it only serves as a precursor for a fight against the #1 ranked heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko later this year should Emelianenko be able to defeat #10 ranked heavyweight, Fabricio Werdum in June.

Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery will appear on Showtime at 9pm on Saturday. The televised card is as follows:

Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery
St. Louis, MO
Scottrade Center

Main Card

Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship
Alsitair “Demolition Man” Overeem vs. Brett “The Grim” Rogers
Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. “Smokin” Joey Villasenor
Roger Gracie vs. Kevin “The Monster” Randleman
Antwain “The Juggernaut” Britt vs. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante


This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Combat Sports on 05/14/2010.

Rick “The Jet” Roufus Loses His MMA Debut

Former Milwaukee resident, Rick “The Jet” Roufus lost his MMA debut last night to Maurice Smith. The fight was shown live on HDNet Fights and was part of a Strikeforce card entitled Strikeforce at the Dome, which took place in the Tacoma Dome.

Fighting in front of his hometown crowd, it took less than two minutes for the former UFC Heavyweight Champion to submit Roufus with a Kimura. Here is the play-by-play accrording to Sherdog:

”Roufus gave up a takedown in the opening minute. Smith went to half-guard and mount, where he looked for a Kimura. Roufus fought off the technique for several seconds, but tapped at 1:53 of the first when his arm was semi-straightened.”

In interviews leading up to the fight, Roufus stated that he had traveled to Greg Jackson’s camp to train with MMA fighter and wrestler, Mike Van Arsdale for the bout and had worked his Jiu-Jitsu extensively under his instructor Heath Wiggington. Undoubtedly, the Van Arsdale training was to learn takedown defense as Roufus stated he belived Smith would be looking to take the fight to the ground.

With the win, Maurice Smith is able to avenge a 2003 kickboxing loss he suffered to Roufus. It is unclear what the future holds for Rick Roufus in MMA since he is relatively inexperienced in MMA fighting and is very old to begin learning the many skillsets necessary to compete at such a high level including wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Rick "The Jet" Roufus to fight tonight on HDNet Fights vs. Maurice Smith

Former Milwaukee resident, Rick “The Jet” Roufus will fight Maurice “Mo” Smith on the Strikeforce card tonight on HDNet Fights. The card is to be headlined by Bob “The Beast” Sapp. Roufus was originally slated to make his MMA debut in January against Mark Kerr on a WCO card. Roufus was not cleared by the California State Athletic Commission to fight Kerr due to his paperwork missing the deadline. Had Roufus made the deadline the fight would not have occurred anyway due to the CSAC forcing WCO to cancel the event due to not having the funding for fighter purses. Roufus will be the smaller man in this fight having only weighed in at 207lbs vs. 235lbs for Maurice Smith. For a recap of my previous article on Rick Roufus click read more.

Roufus is a former world champion kickboxer in the IKF or International Kickboxing Federation in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. In the 1990’s he gave up kickboxing for a short time to focus on traditional boxing and compiled a record of (13-5-1) according to www.boxrec.com. Roufus’ boxing career was highlighted by winning the WBC’s Continental America’s Cruiserweight title. In September of 2003, he retired from kickboxing due to an ACL injury with a record of (61-7) with 41 knockouts according to www.ikfkickboxing.com.

In early 2004, Roufus opened a gym in Tempe, Arizona and made headlines that year when it was reported that he had signed a contract to fight former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson in K-1. The Mike Tyson fight never ended up happening.

Since then, the 41 year old, Roufus has come out of retirement and has fought in various organizations. This fight however will mark the first MMA fight of his career. Roufus does hold a kickboxing win over his opponent Maurice Smith.

Maurice “Mo” Smith is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and holds a (10-10) MMA record. Last May, Smith made his MMA return against Marco Ruas in the IFL, winning via TKO – Corner Stoppage. His last fight had been in November of 2000 when he lost to Renato Sobral at UFC 28 via decision. Despite his mediocre record, he has fought a list of who’s who in MMA, fighting in organizations such as the UFC, Pancrase, Rings, and the IFL. He won the UFC Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mark Coleman. Smith had one successful title defense against Dave “Tank” Abbott before losing to Randy Couture in 1997.

Rick Roufus to make his MMA debut vs. Maurice Smith

Earlier this week Sherdog.com reported that Rick “The Jet” Roufus has signed to fight Maurice Smith on the Strikeforce show on February 23, 2008. The card is to be headlined by Bob Sapp.

Roufus is a former Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident and former world champion kickboxer in the IKF or International Kickboxing Federation in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. In the 1990’s he gave up kickboxing for a short time to focus on traditional boxing and compiled a record of (13-5-1) according to www.boxrec.com. Roufus’ boxing career was highlighted by winning the WBC’s Continental America’s Cruiserweight title. In September of 2003, he retired from kickboxing due to an ACL injury with a record of (61-7) with 41 knockouts according to www.ikfkickboxing.com.

In early 2004, Roufus opened a gym in Tempe, Arizona and made headlines that year when it was reported that he had signed a contract to fight former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson in K-1. The Mike Tyson fight never ended up happening.

Since then, the 41 year old, Roufus has come out of retirement and has fought in various organizations. This fight however will mark the first MMA fight of his career. Roufus does hold a kickboxing win over his opponent Maurice Smith.

Maurice “Mo” Smith is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and holds a (10-10) MMA record. Last May, Smith made his MMA return against Marco Ruas in the IFL, winning via TKO – Corner Stoppage. His last fight had been in November of 2000 when he lost to Renato Sobral at UFC 28 via decision. Despite his mediocre record, he has fought a list of who’s who in MMA, fighting in organizations such as the UFC, Pancrase, Rings, and the IFL. He won the UFC Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mark Coleman. Smith had one successful title defense against Dave “Tank” Abbott before losing to Randy Couture in 1997.

This article was originally posted on http://www.wicombatsports.com/ on 12-14-07.