Strikeforce is showing up in Miami on January 30th with a pretty cool schedule of fights, two of which are title fights.
Nick Diaz (20-7-1) vs Marius Zaromskis (13-3) for the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship
Nick Diaz, a former IFC and WEC welterweight champion, is a very dangerous BJJ practitioner who trains out of Stockton CA, under Cesar Gracie. While his submission skills are top notch, Diaz often TKO’s his opponents via punches and can not be underestimated in the stand game. Diaz has been known to train his boxing with Olympic Boxing Gold Medalist Andre Ward. Further more, it is a well know fact that Diaz is a Tri-athlete and has tremendous endurance.
Marius Zaromoskis on the other hand is the inaugural Dream Welterweight Champion and fights with a kickboxing and wrestling background. A dangerous striker, Marius has ended the last three of his last five wins via head kick KO. While Zaromoskis has excellent wrestling skills, a stand up war with Diaz is likely his best bet.
Christiane “Cyborg” Santos (9-1) vs Marloes Coenen (17-3) for the women’s lightweight title
Cyborg, a brutal and barbaric woman slayer is often described as the female Wanderle Silva because of here heavy hitting muay tahi that seems to be too much for most women to handle. While her stand up is down right nasty, Cyborg is no slouch on the ground either. She is a high level BJJ practitioner who often man handles her opponent at will. After recently defeating “the face of women’s MMA” Gina Carano to win the first ever women’s lightweight title, Cyborg will be looking for her first title defense.
Marloes Coenen (17-3) surely has no easy task ahead of her, getting in the cage with Cyborg, but seems to have a pretty positive attitude and confidence about it. In a post fight press conference after the Scott Smith vs Cung Le fight, Coenen stated that she has seen “flaws in Cyborg’s game” and that “she can be beaten”. Coenen, a submission grappling fighter has some pretty nasty ground game herself winning 12 of her 17 wins via submission. A ground war for Coenen just might expose some holes in Cyborg.
Hershel Walker (0-0) vs Greg Nagy (1-1)
NFL superstar and Heisman Trophy winner Hershel Walker will be making his MMA debut. While mostly know for his football abilities, it is documented that not only is Walker a top level athlete, but he has also spent some serious time training with the folks at the American Kick Boxing Academy which is home to some of MMA’s biggest stars such as Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Mike Swick. Walker is a Kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do fighter and will be looking for his first MMA win and is said to be donating his win purse to charity.
Not too much is know about Greg Nagy except for that fact that he has a win against Robert Principato at Rage in The Cage 132 and loss from Francisco Navarro at Rage in The Cage 136. He will surely be looking to make a name for himself with a win over someone famous like Hershel Walker.
Bobby Lashley (4-0) vs TBA
Bobby Lashely is a beast of a man standing at 6′3″, weighing 252 lbs with a full six pack. He is a former WWE wrestler as well as a well decorated collegiate wrestler. So far, Bobby Lashley has shown that he actually has some potential with wins over Joshua Franklin, Jason Guida (brother of Clay Guida), Mike Cook and “The Beast” Bob Sapp. While I am hopeful that Lashely will make a fighting appearance, it is looking like Strikeforce is having a tough time finding an opponent for Lashely. With only 10 days to go until fight day, here is a good chance this fight could drop off the card.