SHAMROCK SETS SIGHTS ON MIDDLEWEIGHT TOURNEY
November 15, 2007
Michael Afromowitz (Muaythaimes@aol.com)
While he won’t step in the cage Friday night for California’s first sanctioned mixed martial arts tournament, Strikeforce World Middleweight (185 lb. limit) Champion, Frank Shamrock, will be closely studying the action from cageside with the understanding that the winner of the four-man elimination event may very well be his next opponent.
“I’ll be paying attention to the fights, of course, but the truth is I’ll be happy to step in there with any one of these guys,” said Shamrock, who was crowned the first Strikeforce middleweight champion in history on June 22nd after he choked knockout artist, “The New York Badass” Phil Baroni, unconscious in the second round of their main event showdown during the first-ever SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event. “Anyone who knows me knows that Frank Shamrock will step up and fight anyone, anytime. I’ve been in there with the best and I’ve beaten the best so, at the end of the day, this tournament will provide me with another option for my next fight.”
Of the talent lined up for battle in the tournament, Shamrock acknowledged that all are strong competitors, worthy of a place in the elimination contest and claimed that making a prediction about the outcome is difficult. “It’s a tough call, really. All I can say is may the best man win and I’ll be watching.”
Official weigh-ins for Friday’s star-studded Strikeforce card will take place at the HP Pavilion’s restaurant, The Grill, tomorrow at 6 PM PST, After they step off the scales, tournament competitors Trevor Prangley (16-4), Falaniko “Niko” Vitale (24-7), Yuki Sasaki (21-13-1), and Jorge Santiago (14-7) will participate in a lottery ball drawing that will determine the brackets for the four-man playoff. Each tournament bout will consist of two, five-minute rounds.
In the event that one of the winners of the first two tournament bouts sustains an injury that renders him unable to re-enter the cage for the event’s championship fight, the winner of a tournament reserve contest between Dennis “Superman” Hallman (37-12-2) and Sean Salmon (14-4) will replace the hurt competitor. In other action on the Strikeforce mixed martial arts mega-card presented by BodogFIGHT, heavyweight superstars Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello (23-9) and Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem (25-11) will battle to become the first Strikeforce world heavyweight mixed martial arts champion in history.
Unbeaten world kickboxing champion and mixed martial artist Cung Le (20-0) will make his highly-anticipated return to the cage for a middleweight (185 lb. limit) showdown with The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 star Sam “The Squeeze” Morgan (19-8).
Strikeforce World Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth (8-4) will collide with Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz (17-10) in a non-title bout. Luke Stewart (3-0) will take on Bryson “Kamaka” Monterde (5-8) in a 170 lb. limit fight. World Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion Brian “The Mad Stork” Schwartz (18-0) will step in the cage for the first time in his 16-year professional fighting career to face Lemont Davis (8-4) in a 175 lb. limit matchup. Tickets for the Strikeforce extravaganza are on sale at Ticketmaster (408-998-TIXS) and Ticketmaster online (
www.ticketmaster.com) as well as at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070). Ticket prices range from $30 to $200.
HP Pavilion doors will open for Strikeforce “Four Men Enter, One Man Survives” at 5:30 PM PST on Friday, November 16th. The first preliminary bout will begin at 6 PM and the first tournament bout will commence at 7:30 PM.
Strikeforce will stream the event’s main card live on Yahoo! Sports (
www.sports.yahoo.com), beginning at 8 PM PST (11 PM EST). The stream will be available to all internet users located beyond a 150 mile radius of San Jose.
Strikeforce - Shamrock Sets Sights On Middleweight Tourney
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