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THURSDAY
THROWDOWN!! Vol.
I Salutations
ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first installment of the Thursday
Throwdown. In this column I'll give you my 3-5 cents on the goings ons in
MMA. Got it? Good. I'll be your host, Robert Menn. You may remember me
from such readings as Monday Miyama and....well that's about it.
Nevertheless, I am here, and you are reading. So let's get this thing
started....
Reports
have Andrei signing a 16-month, multi-fight deal with the California based
promotion. His first bout is rumored to be against Antonio Silva on May
15th, 2010. Andrei will be holding a live video chat on his personal
website, arlovski.com, this Friday to discuss the ins and outs of the
deal. My
take: This is a great signing for Strikeforce. As much as Dana would have
you believe that Strikeforce is a tiny promotion, they sure are signing
big name fighters on the regular and putting together big fights. And with
the signing of Arlovski, their Heavyweight Division is getting to be
pretty solid. Fedor, Rogers, Overeem, Werdum, Lashley, Silva, and now
Arlovski. All kinds of interesting matchups there. I know I'll be watching
come May 15th. Alistair
Overeem is fighting Brett Rogers in a NON-title fight Alistair
himself has stated that Strikeforce has put together this fight and that
he can't wait to shut Rogers' mouth. Bout is rumored to take place on the
same card that Arlovski is fighting Silva, May 15th. My
take: Ridiculous. How can Strikeforce do this? Overeem is a paper champion
at best. He hasn't defended his title in over 2 years. And now Brett
Rogers, the man who was just KOed by Fedor, gets a shot at the
"champ", albeit a non-title affair? Ridiculous I say. I really
don't see how this makes sense. What if Brett wins? And he certainly has
the tools to get the job done. Then Overeem is even less of a champion, if
that's possible. The card should read: Arlovski vs Silva, Rogers vs Werdum,
and Fedor vs Overeem for the Heavyweight Title. Strikeforce really dropped
the ball on this one. Normally I wouldn't care who won this fight. Now I
find myself rooting for Rogers. UPDATE:
As I was sending this in, Strikeforce announced that it would be
for the belt. Whatever. So now
the guy who just lost to Fedor gets a chance at being the champion?
Still ridiculous. Even
if Rogers wins that belt will remain tainted as Fedor just showed him the
business end of an overhand right not too long ago.
Maybe there is something to "Fedor wants to leave
Strikeforce" rumor. Gilbert
Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki According
to Loretta Hunt from Sherdog.com, Gilbert has signed on to defend his
Strikeforce Lightweight title against none other than Shinya Aoki.
Strikeforce had been looking to put this fight together ever since they
signed their agreement with DREAM. The fight is to take place April 17th,
2010 on CBS. My
take: This is a tremendous fight. Easily the best Lightweight fight not
involving BJ Penn. Champion vs Champion. You can't get any better than
that. The only thing I see wrong with this is that it's only for Gilbert's
belt and not Aoki's. Kinda diminishes the shine of the fight.
Nevertheless, this should be an exciting and heavily contest matchup. Tim
Sylvia reportedly fighting Worlds Strongest Man competitor, Marius
Pudzianowski
According
to the Boston Herald, this fight is to headline an event at the DCU Center
on April 23rd, 2010. Other notable fighters on this card are, Rich
Clementi, Yves Edwards, and Houston Alexander. My
take: This card is somewhat interesting. This fight, not so much. Tim
Sylvia is on the down slope of his career. He's never been one to be in
shape for a fight and I'm not interested in any of his upcoming fights
until he proves otherwise. His other rumored fight was against Wes Sims.
And maybe a spot in an upcoming DREAM card. I'll pass, thank you. I guess
if Marius wins it'll give him some credit in the eyes of most MMA fans.
How much? I'd say little to very little. It all depends on how good Marius
and Tim look. If the Tim Sylvia that got waxed by Ray Mercer comes to the
cage then I'd lean toward no credit. And
it is all over! Questions? Comments? Don't hesitate to leave your imput.
I'll try to answer any and all. WAR ARLOVSKI!! I'm out.
or Main your comments on this article to Comments@informativesports.com
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