Strikeforce: Destruction Preview

While the dust has yet to settle following Brock Lesnar’s thrashing of former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture to steal the title last Saturday at UFC 91, another card compiled by Strikeforce kicks off on Friday, November 21st at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

While Strikeforce has offered less than stellar cards in recent months, especially considering their upper-echelon of competitors, most namely the UFC and Affliction (although Affliction has only held one card to date, they have a decidedly deeper roster than Strikeforce at present) they have managed to put together an interesting group of match-ups for the hardcore MMA fan, even given the unfortunate withdrawal of lightweight champion Josh Thompson from the card.

Headlining the California card is a battle for the Strikeforce heavyweight crown between current title-holder Bobby Southworth (9-5 MMA), perhaps best known for his antics on season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter, and world-class heavyweight contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7 MMA), a tough, gritty veteran with more than half of his career wins coming by way of submission.

While Southworth has looked better in recent months than he did during his time in the UFC—where he holds a pro record of 0-1—he lacks not only the youth and physical prowess of his foe, but also faces a large gap in terms of submission and overall technical fighting skills. Expect “Babalu” to play with Southworth on the feet for the opening stanza before taking him down and submitting him, probably by some form of a choke, relatively early into the fight, marking the end to what really shouldn’t be the main event, given the apparent gap in skill between the two headliners.

Official Prediction: Renato Sobral by Submission (Round 1-2)

One fight down from the main event—along with the lightweight battle between veteran Yves Edwards and Thompson’s replacement, Duane Ludwig—is where the night’s most exciting action promises to take place, as former UFC middleweights Scott Smith (13-5 MMA) and Terry Martin (18-5 MMA) square off for the first time in their careers.

With a combined 22 (T)KOs in their respective careers (ironically 11 a-piece) expect this fight to be explosive from start to—possibly early—finish, as both Smith and Martin have rocks, or steel—if you go by Smith’s moniker—in their fists.

In a battle between two premiere middleweight strikers, I’m going to bet on the one with superior conditioning, speed, and defense. These physical factors, along with what has been, in my opinion, stiffer competition of late in his twin wars with Robbie Lawler in 2008, look for Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith to utilize his superior conditioning as well as his tighter defense and striking versatility to overwhelm Martin—who is prone to gassing and dropping his guard—midway into the fight in what should be an entertaining scrap.

Official Prediction: Scott Smith by KO (Round 3)

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The only other fight of actual interest on this card—at least from a rankings perspective—is the lightweight battle between Duane “Bang” Ludwig and MMA veteran Yves Edwards, both former UFC fighters.

Don’t blink.

While both fighters involved in this contest do possess a wide enough array of technical skills and savvy in all areas of the sport to turn this into a bruising chess match, both of them also possess some of the fastest striking skills in the lightweight division. Both have shined at times, even coming close to cracking prominent “top ten” lists, but something always seems to happen (IE: Edwards’s utter annihilation at the hands of KJ Noons earlier this year) to derail them.

Look for this to be a very technical stand-up war, as Edwards, possessing an edge in the submission department, elects to stand a few seconds to long with “Bang”, resulting in an early night, and possibly a concussion, for the founder of “Thug-Jitsu”.

Official Prediction: Duane Ludwig by TKO (Punches) (Round 1)

Note: Also fighting on the card is Kim Couture (0-1 MMA), who is seemingly being fed an equally inexperienced foe in Lina Kvokov (0-1 MMA), probably in the hopes of getting her into the win column. We’ll see what happens.

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By Steven T. Kelliher
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer