HOUSTON (July 13, 2010) – After weeks of speculation, Strikeforce formally announced that they are indeed coming to Houston.  They will be having a World Championship Doubleheader at the Toyota Center on Saturday, Aug. 21, that will also be aired live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).

King Mo

STRIKEFORCE World Light Heavyweight (205 pounds) Champion “King Mo” Lawal (7-0) will make the first defense of his belt against devastating striker Rafael “Feijao’’ Cavalcante (9-2) in the main event. The semi-main will match Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (12-2-1) and Tim Kennedy (12-2) in a clash for the vacant STRIKEFORCE Middleweight (185 pounds) crown.

“Feijao likes to bang so this is going to be an exciting fight.  I’m going to show you all some new things I’ve been working on.” Lawal said of his opponent and strategy.

When asked if he was going to change up his normal routine for his first challenge defense, King Mo responded “The approach doesn’t change.  Going into every fight, I feel like both a champion and a challenger because I challenge myself in training, but I’m always champion in my mind.   So nothing is going to change for this fight.”

Kennedy said he’s a proud Texan having recently moved to Austin, and he’s glad to be fighting here in the lone star state.

“I’m proud to say that I’m a Texan now.  I live in Austin.  I hope that all of Texas will come out to support me as I fight to win the belt.”

Tim Kennedy

When asked how his military experience has prepared him mentally and physically for MMA fights, the former Army special forces sniper said, “This is just fighting.  (In the cage), there’s a guy in a black shirt wearing latex gloves who’s going to protect me.  It’s much different than battling a guy who’s hiding behind a rock with a cell phone, waiting to blow me up.  So, this is fun.  I love fighting.  It’s a huge sport and I’m a huge fan of it.  It’s totally different.”

Undefeated heavyweight and form WWE star Bobby Lashley (5-0), will return to the cage against an opponent to be announced.  However, Jeremy Botter of Heavy.com reported on his Twitter that Lashley could be facing either Lavar Johnson or Chad Griggs.

Lashley spoke of his progression after moving from WWE to MMA.

“I think I’ve progressed well.  The Bobby Lashley who fought my first fight is completely different from Bobby Lashley now.   I’m anxious to get back out there.   I had a little setback and when I finally got cleared. I called (STRIKEFORCE CEO Scott) Coker and begged him to be on this card.”

Bobby Lashley

At one point, King Mo put on his press credentials and asked Lashley if he would take a fight with form WWE Alum Batista.

Lashley replied, “lets make it happen. But then I have bigger fish to fry.”

Also on the televised portion of the card is former world champion and Clements High School graduate (class of 2001) KJ Noons (11-2).  Noons will be facing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt Jorge Gurgel (13-6) in a lightweight (155 pounds) match up.

Noons reminisced about his high school days here in Houston.

KJ Noons

“I’m very excited to come back to Texas.  I finished high school here.  My mom and my dad are here.  The fans are awesome here.  I did open-hand Pancrase down the street from here eight years ago before MMA was even big, so I know how it was back then so I’m super excited to be back here.”

He added that he didn’t want to take full credit for getting Strikeforce to come to Houston, but he defiantly planted the bug in Strikeforce CEO Scott Cokers ear.

Game plan wise, it seems to be business as usual for the exciting Noons.

“I think I’m going to keep the fight standing and keep it exciting.  Whether you want to call it a war or whatever, it’s going to be like all my other fights.  I’m going to pick him apart and take him out.”

The undercard is stacked with local Houston fighters.  Matchups singed thus far (but still pending TDLR approval) are:

Chad “Robo” Robichaux (8-0) vs Humberto Deleon (5-3)

Kierre Gooch (2-5) vs Adam Schindler (7-1)

Artenas Young (2-1) vs Chad Cook (8-8)

and famed BJJ instructor Draculino vs Houston MMA legend Rocky Long.  There is also a rumored (but as of now unconfirmed) fight between Rey Trujillo and Jose Santibanez.  This could be a very interesting fight if it happensbecause Trujillo is set to square of against Santibanez’s brother Daniel Pindeda at Legacy FC on July 31.

A special pre-sale ticket purchase opportunity for the event is available for “STRIKEFORCE Insider” e-newsletter subscribers (http://STRIKEFORCE.com/insider.html) until 10 p.m. CT this Thursday, July 15.  STRIKEFORCE Insiders receive a special e-newsletter with the pre-sale code.

Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, July 16, at 10 a.m. CT at www.ToyotaCenterTix.com, by phone at 1-866-4-HOU-TIX, at select Houston area Randalls locations, and at www.strikeforce.com. Tickets will be available at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 19, at Toyota Center Box Office.

VIDEO INTERVIEWS

PICTURES

(Click to enlarge)

TWEETS

Here is some of the stuff we tweeted from the press conference, that we didn’t mention in the write up.  You can follow us at http://twitter.com/TheCageDoor:

• Strikeforce says the are partnering with EA sports to produce a new MMA vid game.
• KJ Noons says he’s working on his “spandex guard”
• King Mo says he’d “wear out” Rampage Jackson
• Tickets for the card start at $35
• Tim Kennedy’s suits are money
• Noons, “if you don’t respect the sport, it won’t respect you”
• Noons says he will fight Diaz again…and take his belt.

Enjoy.

Second guessing is part of our sport. Many times we will watch a fight as fans and second guess the decisions a fighter made. We don’t truly understand what’s going through their minds during the fight. “Looking Back” is a way of letting the fighters explain to the fans why they did what they did or what they might have done differently.

Enjoy.

(PS – If you’re listening at work, you might want to get some headphones…some language is NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

Akira Smith

Alex Black

Alex Morono

Craig Gardner

Cody Phillips

John Malbrough

Mike Jackson

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Just a little something to wet your appetite and get you ready for Friday, June 11.

Enjoy!

Sponsored By:

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In just under 3 hours, these 15 individuals managed to make and distribute over 200 lunches to the homeless population in Houston.  Rich and I could not be more proud to be associated with such an outstanding group of people.

A very special thank you to all of the businesses that helped us out. With out them, none of this would have been possible. If you have the chance, please visit them.  They are good people doing great things, and have been very supportive of the Houston community and the MMA scene.

Calliope’s Po Boy – 2130 Jefferson Street – (713) 222-8333 - Lisa and crew donated ALL of the bread, cheese and wraps. Not to mention her and her team stayed light Friday night cutting up the bread into indiviual portions so it would be ready for us on Saturday.  If you are near downtown, do yourself a favor and pay them a visit.  I recommend the grilled shrimp po-boy and shrimp chips myself!

Kroger - The good folks at Kroger donated bagels for us to include in the lunches as well as giving us the plastic bags to put the lunches in.  Thanks Kroger!

Logan Farms – 10560 Westheimer Road – (713) 781-4335 – They stepped up and donated 2 hams to use.  When the holiday’s rolls around and you need a Honey Glazed ham, head on over and pick one up from them, you’ll be glad you did.

The Mezzanine Lounge – 2200 Southwest Freeway #150 – (713) 528-6399 - You can’t make lunches if you don’t have a place to do it, and that is exactly what the great folks at The mezzanine Lounge provided us.  I sent a message to Tonya asking if it would be possible to use her place to meet and make lunches and within 5 minutes she had responded with a resounding yes.  Not only did she open up on a Saturday morning for us, but she provided so much of the little things that we didn’t have to make this all happen (like knives, gloves, cutting boards etc..).  If you are looking for a place to watch the UFC, Strikeforce or WEC pay per views, PLEASE head on over and grab a table.  Tonya and staff are great, and you’ll have a blast, I promise!

Noah’s Kitchen – Amber and Noah’s Kitchen provided something invaluable to us – INSPIRATION!  After spending a Sunday with them making and delivering lunches, we knew this was what we wanted to do with the MMA community.  Not only did we get the ideas and methods on how to pull this off from them, but Amber and Noah actually came out and helped us!  Do yourself (and the community) a favor and join Noah’s Kitchen on Facebook.  They meet every other Sunday to make lunches and pass them out, and they always need help.  You can find out when the next event is by following them HERE.

Also a very special thank you to Mike Calimbas of DNC Worldwide.  Mike was instrumental in putting this event together and making it happen.  He’s a good friend and even better person who continues to give back and help others. Thanks Mike!

Click on a thumbnail to view the full size image:

Second guessing is part of our sport. Many times we will watch a fight as fans and second guess the decisions a fighter made. We don’t truly understand what’s going through their minds during the fight. “Looking Back” is a way of letting the fighters explain to the fans why they did what they did or what they might have done differently.

This time around, we though we’d mix it up and asked the fighters to do their post fight interviews on video.

Enjoy.

Ola Siyanbola

Alex Morono

John Malbrough

Drew Ratichek

We are proud to bring you all 7 matches in HD!

Enjoy the video!

Enjoy!

We caught up with Urijah at Pardigm Training Center after his MMA seminar and talked with him about his upcoming fight with Jose Aldo and what it means to be the headliner for the first ever WEC pay-per-view. Rich also talked with Urijah about the the differences in pay between the weight classes, his wrestling background and more. Enjoy.

Enjoy the videos fight fans.

If you want to share this page with friends you can copy and paste this shortened link:

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or use the “Share and Enjoy” options at the end of this page. Options include Facebook, Digg, Twitter, Email, MySpace, and more!

After 72 hours, we’ll add the ability to share and embed the videos individually as well as upload them to YouTube.

Sam Hoger vs Patrick Miller

Nick Mitchell vs Derrick Lewis

Josh Lee vs Ken Battle

Kenny Burke vs Kierre Gooch

James Hall vs Artenas Young

Joshua Foster vs Jonathan Mack

Jon Kirk vs Larry Hopkins

Nate Garza vs Humberto DeLeon

Miguel Guerra vs Larry Crowe