Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley Pre-Fight Interviews

Fighters Nick Diaz, Paul Daley, Gilbert Melendez, along with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker offer comments on Saturday’s upcoming April 9 event in San Diego, California.

Final press conference comments from champ Nick Diaz and opponent Paul “Semtex” Daley

Pre-fight interviews with Keith Jardine and Lyle Beerbohm after the jump

Keith Jardine talks about taking the fight with Gegard Mousasi on one weeks notice

Lyle Beerbohm jokes about Aoki not being able to submit him Saturday night.

Strikeforce: a Saturday with Nick Diaz, Aoki and Melendez

This Saturday’s Strikeforce card is the promise of plenty of great fights. Fans of Jiu-Jitsu in an MMA context can look forward to wins from Nick Diaz, Shinya Aoki and Gilbert Melendez. Japan’s Aoki will be looking to show off his snazzy ground game, while Diaz will be looking to shut up British brawler Paul Daley.

Check out the complete card of the first Strikeforce event under Zuffa management:

Strikeforce – Diaz vs Daley
Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, California
Saturday, April 9, 2011

Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley
Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Gegard Mousasi vs. Keith Jardine
Shinya Aoki vs. Lyle Beerbohm

Preliminaries

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Robert Peralta
Brett Albee vs. Virgil Zwicker
Joe Duarte vs. Saad Awad
Herman Terrado vs. AJ Matthews
Rolando Perez vs. Edgar Cardenas
Casey Ryan vs. Paul Song

Friday’s “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley” weigh-ins moved to Crowne Plaza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official fighter weigh-ins for “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley” take place Friday, and the public is welcome to attend the free festivities.

However, the ceremony that originally set to take place outside the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, which also hosts Saturday’s Showtime-televised event, has now been moved to the Crowne Plaza San Diego.

The weigh-ins begin at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT local time), and doors open to the public at 4 p.m. PT.

Strikeforce champions Dan Henderson and Marloes Coenen will be on hand to sign autographs, as will heavyweight grand prix participant Josh Barnett.

“Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley” is the organization’s first major event since Strikeforce was purchased by its biggest competitor, the UFC. The show features welterweight champ Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley, as well as lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Other televised fights include Keith Jardine vs. Gegard Mousasi and Shinya Aoki vs. Lyle Beerbohm.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) will be on scene and reporting live from the week’s media and fan events.

The official card includes:

MAIN CARD

• Champ Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley (for welterweight title)
• Champ Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (for lightweight title)
• Keith Jardine vs. Gegard Mousasi
• Shinya Aoki vs. Lyle Beerbohm

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Robert Peralta vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
• Brett Albee vs. Virgil Zwicker
• Saad Awad vs. Joe Duarte
• A.J. Matthews vs. Herman Terrado
• Edgar Cardenas vs. Rolando Perez
• Casey Ryan vs. Paul Song

Strikeforce CEO would like to see “Fight Night” bonuses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the past, Strikeforce fighters had their win bonus, the roar of the crowd and a smiling promoter to look forward to if they gave their all inside the cage.

But that promoter would like to give them a little extra incentive – like extra cash.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he’s lobbying for “Fight Night” bonuses at future events, and the promotion’s new owner, Zuffa, LLC, could make that happen.

“I’m definitely going to talk to (Zuffa co-owner) Lorenzo (Fertitta) about it,” Coker told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “That would be great, wouldn’t it?”

In the UFC, three bonuses are up for grabs: “Fight of the Night,” “Knockout of the Night,” and “Submission of the Night.” Fighters can win anywhere from an extra $10,000 to $100,000 for big-ticket pay-per-view events. The promotion has also been known to award more than one fighter or fight a bonus in the case where both delivered spectacular results.

With more promotional muscle behind the California-based organization following its buyout this past month, Coker said his goal to add incentives might arrive more quickly.

“It’s something that Strikeforce would have done, but it might have been another year or two,” he said.

The UFC’s former sister promotion, WEC, began handing out bonuses at WEC 35, though its payouts were more modest, ranging between $7,500 and $10,000.

Zuffa, LLC is also known to award discretionary bonuses to fighters, though they are not disclosed to state athletic commissions or the public.

In any case, the prospect of an extra check would certainly come as welcome news to Strikeforce fighters.

With Jon Fitch hurt, B.J. Penn won’t fight at UFC 132 in July

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.J. Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) will not fight at UFC 132.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed with sources close to the Hawaiian that the UFC is not currently seeking an opponent for Penn, and “The Prodigy” will instead return to action at a later date.

Penn had been expected to take part in a rematch at the July 2 event with Jon Fitch (23-3-1 MMA, 13-1-1 UFC), but the perennial welterweight contender in March was forced to withdraw from the bout with a shoulder injury.

Sources indicated while the UFC was actively seeking a new opponent, Penn preferred to reschedule his next contest.

Featuring UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz looking to defend his title for the first time in a rematch with former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber, “UFC 132: Faber vs. Cruz II” takes place July 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view.

Fitch and Penn were hoping to settle the score from their February meeting at UFC 127, in which the two fought for three rounds only to have the bout declared a majority draw. The winner would likely be in the driver’s seat for a potential shot at the winner of April’s UFC 129 bout between current Georges St-Pierre and top challenger Jake Shields. If St-Pierre wins and elects to take a superfight with middleweight champ Anderson Silva, the Fitch vs. Penn II winner would have been almost guaranteed a spot in a bout to determine the division’s newest champion.

After earning eight-straight wins to open his octagon career, Fitch was granted a title shot against St-Pierre in August 2008, and he was defeated via unanimous decision. The bout remains Fitch’s lone loss in the past eight years.

Meanwhile, Penn recently returned to the welterweight division after losing his lightweight belt and an immediate rematch to Frankie Edgar. Although he briefly considered retirement, Penn instead returned to 170 pounds and posted a quick, 21-second knockout of Matt Hughes to set up the first Fitch meeting.

“UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields” weigh-ins set for April 29 at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official fighter weigh-ins for this month’s “UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields” event are set for April 29.

Toronto’s 9,000-seat Ricoh Coliseum plays host to the ceremony, and the nearby Rogers Centre houses the next day’s sold-out pay-per-view fight card.

Doors for the weigh-ins open to the general public at 3 p.m. ET and the first fighter hits the scale at 4 p.m. ET.

Members of the UFC’s official fan club, the UFC Fight Club, can enter at 2 p.m. ET.

As always MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) will be on scene and providing a live video stream of the festivities.

Featuring a welterweight title fight between current champion Georges St-Pierre and top challenger Jake Shields, UFC 129 is expecting to set new North American records in attendance and gate for an MMA event with all 55,000 tickets for the event already sold out.

The official UFC 129 card includes:

MAIN CARD

• Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields (for welterweight title)
• Champ Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (for featherweight title)
• Jason Brilz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
• Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
• Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
• Brian Foster vs. Sean Pierson

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts
• Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia
• Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen
• John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson
• Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin

Thiago Silva Has License Revoked, Gets Fined, and UFC 125 a No Contest

UFC fighter Thiago Silva won’t be seeing the inside of the Octagon for until at least 2012. That was part of the decision rendered on Thursday by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for Silva submitting a urine sample “inconsistent with human urine.”

The drug test in reference was for Silva’s fight against Brandon Vera at UFC 125 on Jan. 1 in Las Vegas. Silva won the fight, but the result of that fight was also part of the NSAC ruling and punishment doled out on Thursday.

When all was said and done, the NSAC ruling stated that Silva’s license was revoked for one year with a start date of Jan. 1, he was fined 25 percent of his $55,000 purse, fined $20,000 of his $55,000 win bonus, would have to submit a clean drug test before reapplying on or after Jan. 2, 2012, and the result of the fight was changed to a “no contest.”

The total of the fines comes to $33,750, when both the percentage of his fight purse and win bonus are combined.

NSAC executive director Keith Kizer lobbied the commission for a start date of April 7 for the license revocation, which basically would have added three months to the penalty, due to Silva not “coming clean” on the test result until after the second sample was tested. Kizer felt that Silva should have come forth following his original notification of the failed test result on Feb. 7, but instead waited out the B sample testing in hopes of getting off “scott free.”

The commission weighed the merits of Kizer’s request, but seemed to feel that over the last “three or four years” the precedent, regardless of the motives of the accused parties, was to begin the revocation on the date of the contest in question.

Silva detailed how he was able to provide the fake sample. He said he purchased it off the Internet, hid a vial of the sample in his shorts, and then poured it into the collection cup, while the Nevada inspector stood behind him.

Aside from assigning blame and punishment to Silva for his actions, the commission also accepted some responsibility for the situation. The commission indicated that had the inspector fulfilled his duties to the “letter of the law” laid out by Nevada’s regulations, Silva would not have gotten away with submitting a fake sample, and called for a stern review of its own procedures.