SATURDAY SHOW HAS “KING MO”
Las Vegas, NV– Showtime and Strikeforce will be heading down south to Houston, TX for the aptly named Strikeforce-Houston on Saturday night. The card will feature light heavyweight (205 lbs) champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (7-0, 5 KOs) making his first title defense against dangerous Brazilian striker Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (9-2, 8 KOs, 1 SUB). To be quite honest, I was not impressed in the least with how Lawal won the title from a seemingly disinterested Gegard Mousasi (29-3-1, 17 KOs, 10 SUBs) last April.
STRIKEFORCE TRYING TO EXPAND FAN BASE
For the most part, Mousasi let Lawal coast to a decision by letting him gain superior position with takedowns. Lawal appeared hurt and gassed on several occasions but Mousasi acted with no since of urgency and in my eyes, gave the fight away. Until Lawal wins impressively against a quality opponent, I question his true ability. Feijao pulls an upset here and finishes the job Mousasi couldn’t by knocking out “King No Mo” Lawal.
VACANT MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT
The second title bout will be a middleweight (185) showdown for the vacant title of the division that was once ruled by Jake Shields (25-4-1, 3 KOs, 10 SUBs). After surviving a rough first round against Dan Henderson (25-8, 11 KOs, 1 SUB), he went on to dominate the rest of the bout in what was his last outing. Soon after, it was clear that Dana White had snatched up the Strikeforce middleweight kingpin leaving the title without an owner. Looking to fill that void is submission specialist Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (12-2, 10 SUBs) who is set to face off against Tim Kennedy (12-2, 5 KOs, 6 SUBs) to determine the new champ. Kennedy is no pushover and he has never been submitted but he will certainly have his hands full come Saturday night with Souza. On the flip side, Kennedy has five of his 12 victories coming by way of knockout and Souza has been stopped twice. All things considered I still have to side with Jacare by submission as Kennedy has never been in with a submission artist of Jacare’s level.
BOBBY LASHLEY AGAINST A BREATHING FOE?
Also looking to make an impression on the card will be former WWE and TNA pro wrestler Bobby Lashley (5-0, 2 KOs, 2 SUBs) as he takes on Chad Griggs (8-1, 7 KOs, 1 SUB). Not much is known of Griggs but he appears to be a physical specimen much like Lashley, and he has never gone the distance in a fight-win or lose. This could be an interesting match up and we may see Lashley challenged early by the hulking Griggs. My guess is if Lashley survives early, he wins the fight. Kicking off the card will be an excellent lightweight (155) match up between K.J. Noons (9-2, 7 KOs) and Jorge Gurgel (13-6, 9 SUBs). I expect this to be a great fight to start things off and has the potential to end up being the fight of the night. Noons will probably be able to walk out with a decision but you can count on Gurgel to leave it all in the cage while giving Noons everything he can handle. Be sure to check out all the action as the main card kicks off at 10 PM ET live on Showtime Saturday night!
Matt “All Meat” Grizzle