This Friday, January 7th, Scott Coker and Strikeforce put on their first fight card of the New Year when ShoMMA 13: Woodley vs. Saffiedine comes to you live from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Featured on this card, which has a whopping eighteen fights has a five fight make televised portion that is arguably the most stacked ShoMMA Card ever.
Let’s take a look at how the televised fights break down:
To open up the broadcast, we have a Light Heavyweight battle between Dr. Rhadi Ferguson (2-0) and John Richard (pronounced “ruh-shard”) (3-1). Richard is a late replacement for Canadian Wrestler Ion Cherdivara who was forced off of the card due to visa issues. Dr. Rhadi, a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, is the cousin of former UFC fighter Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. Luckily for Ferguson, Richard is also a wrestler so his strategy didn’t have to change, but he is a good striker who can knock him out or choke him out. Richard, who normally fights at 230lbs, is excited about fighting at 205 and feels that he will be well-prepared come fight time. With both men being good grapplers as well as strikers, this fight could be very interesting.
The second fight of the broadcast is a Women’s Middleweight fight between Julia “The Jewel” Budd (1-0) and Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes (5-1). Both women are predominantly Muay Thai strikers with their wins coming by way of TKO. Nunes is also a Judo and BJJ practitioner, which could really help her get the advantage and take the fight to the ground if need be. Many media sources have labeled Budd as one of few women with a legitimate chance of knocking of current champion Christianne “Cyborg” Santos. Tune in to see if Budd can live up to the hype once again or if Nunes can pull an upset like surname-sharer Diego Nunes did last weekend at UFC 125.
Up next, rising star Ovince St. Preux (9-4) faces off against Abongo Humphrey (7-2) in the Light Heavyweight Division. This fight will be OSP’s third fight in as many months, and a definite step up in competition. Humphrey, who has been fighting since 2003, has yet to have a fight go to the judge’s score cards, let alone the third round. Between OSP’s six-fight win-streak, four of which ended in a first round KO, and Humphrey’s ability to finish a fight at any given moment, you definitely don’t want to look away from your TV as soon as this fight starts
The Co-Main Event of the evening is a Heavyweight showdown between rising prospect Daniel Cormier (6-0) and IFL veteran Devin Cole (18-8-1). Cole, who holds victories over Mike Kyle and Travis Wiuff, will face his toughest competition in a long time when he squares up with DC. Cormier, an Olympic-level wrestler, has power in his hands that could take an opponent out at anytime. A victory for either fighter will greatly improve their stock within the Strikeforce Heavyweight rankings.
The Main Event of the evening is a highly anticipated battle between rising Welterweight stars Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley (7-0) and Tarec “Sponge” Saffiedine (10-2). T-Wood picked up his first career knockout victory in his last fight as he easily disposed of BJJ ace Andre Galvao. Saffiedine is a good striker in his own right, having a Black Belt in Shihaishinkai karate, but the majority of his wins have come by way of submission. With T-Wood being a great wrestler, this fight could go a variety of ways, but the only way to see how it plays out is to tune in and watch.
A card filled with interesting matchups is exactly what Strikeforce needed to put together to start the New Year off right. Make sure to tune in to ShowTime at 10PM ET to watch it all go down. Also, be sure to join in on the MMAValor chat room during the fights for discussions during the broadcast.
