StrikeForce Challengers 9 Breakdown: Bobby Lashley Test Coming Soon
By Scott Heritage
The main event of StrikeForce challengers 9 saw unbeaten heavyweight prospect Shane del Rosario move to 10-0 with a win over hard hitting Hawaian Lolohea Mahe. Both fighters were looking to finish from the start, and despite shipping a couple of punches early, Rosario’s speed and power soon proved to be too much for Mahe.
There are rumors of a fight between Rosario and former professional wrestler Bobby Lashley being in the works for later this year, which seems an odd match up for StrikeForce to make. Should Lashley win he gains credibility, but an excellent prospect in Rosario is stunted after being built up for several years. If Rosario were to win, which is a lot more likely, then they diminish one of their biggest draws in Lashley, and Rosario doesn’t really gain very much from the win either. A loss for Lashley now will have fans claiming he was never very good to begin with, meaning a Rosario win over him is essentially meaningless.
Whatever they decide to do with Rosaro though, he should clearly be breaking into the main cards rather than toiling away largely unseen on the challenger circuit at this stage. Pitting him against a famous but faded fighter seems like the most logical thing to do next. Even if it draws criticism for exploiting someone who perhaps shouldn’t still be taking beatings for money, it would serve to expose Rosario to the world and show people that he is for real.
The co main event saw Canadian Sarah Kauffman take on Japan based American Roxanne Modafferi, with Kauffman’s StrikeForce women’s 135lb title on the line. In short, Modafferi needed to get the fight to the ground, where her catch wrestling inspired grappling could wear down on Kauffman and eventually work for a submission. Kauffman on the other hand is by far the better striker, and ideally needed to keep the fight standing.
Despite moments of success for both early on, it was Kauffman who looked stronger as the fight wore on, and in the end the finish came completely out of left field. In the third round as Modafferi worked for a triangle from the bottom, Kauffman lifted her and executed an early Rampage Jackson style slam, knocking Modafferi out and providing the most interesting finish on the card.
In the post fight interview, Kauffman said that she, and by extension the other 135lb female fighters, belonged on the main StrikeForce cards rather than the Challenger series, and with this latest win he might well have gone a long way to proving this. Just how much room the company intends to set aside for women’s MMA going forward isn’t clear although Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos has proven to be a decent draw in the 145lb division.
Kauffman’s next challenger will be decided on August 13th, when a four woman tournament is taking place to decide the number one contender at 135lbs. Meisha Tate meets Hitomi Akano on one side of the tournament while Carina Damm takes on Maiju Kujala on the other.
Interestingly the tournament is also over one night rather than split over multiple events, a rarity in the U.S these days, and even rarer within major promotions. Supposing everything goes off without a hitch though tournaments could be a valuable tool in StrikeForce’s arsenal in differentiating themselves from and competing with the UFC.
Further down the card, once disgraced light heavyweight Mike Kyle continued to reinvigorate his career with a second round submission over Ron “Abongo” Humphrey in what turned out to be one of the most competitive bouts of the event.
Things seemed to be going in Abongo’s favor early on, and he looked to have a couple of submission attempts close to locked in the first. In the second though he began to quickly run out of gas, and better conditioning allowed Kyle to quickly take control and secure the submission finish, extending his unbeaten run to five.
Equally as importantly as beating Abongo, Kyle also holds a win over Rafael Calvacante, who challenges light heavyweight champion King Mo Lawal next month. Meaning that given his unbeaten streak he is probably very close to a title shot himself.
Abongo on the other hand still needs a little work before he challenges for any titles, but on a positive note was in command for large portions of the fight. With better conditioning and a little more refinement, he may still develop into a title worthy fighter eventually.
In further StrikeForce news, it seems there is a bout brewing between Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Nick Diaz, which will presumably happen at a catch weight. The pair have disliked each other since Miller interrupted an interview being given by then newly crowned middleweight champion Jake Shields, and got jumped by several Cesar Gracie fighters including Diaz for his troubles.
Whether StrikeForce will want to reward the type of behavior that occurred at the infamous Nashville event by pitting Miller and Diaz against each other remains to be seen, but it would be a great match.