Strikeforce Challengers VI (Feb 26th on Showtime)

[Liquidrob]

February 26, 2010
San Jose Civic Auditorium,
San Jose, CA

Matchups:

Sarah Kaufman vs. Takayo Hashi for Women’s 135-Pound Championship
Trevor Prangley vs. Karl Amoussou
Luke Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley
James Terry vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Raul Castillo vs. Yancy Medeiros

 

[Liquidrob]

The women take the featured spot at Friday's Strikeforce Challengers VI event.

Although the Feb. 26 event initially was announced with a headliner of Karl Amoussou vs. Trevor Prangley, Strikeforce officials on Monday told MMAjunkie.com that a fight between Takayo Hashi and Sarah Kaufman instead has taken the main-event slot.

The 135-pound fighters compete for Strikeforce's first-ever female bantamweight title.

Strikeforce Challengers VI takes place at the San Jose Civic Auditorium in San Jose, Calif. A five-fight main card, which features Amoussou vs. Prangley in the co-headliner, airs on Showtime. The night's preliminary card features a middleweight bout of Eric Lawson vs. Wayne Philliips and six amateur bouts.

Strikeforce crowned its first female champ in August when Cristinae "Cyborg" Santos defeated Gina Carano for the promotion's featherweight title. The Brazilian striker became the first female to claim a title in a major U.S. promotion.

Kaufman (10-0 MMA, 2-0 SF) looks to become the organization's second female champ when she puts her undefeated record, which includes eight victories via stoppage, on the line against Hasi (12-1 MMA, 0-0 SF), a Smackgirl vet who has an eight-fight win streak of her own.

Strikeforce officials have hinted at a possible four- or eight-women 135-pound tournament this year that could determine a contender for Friday's winner.

As a reminder, MMAjunkie.com will be on scene and reporting live from this weekend's event, including Thursday's weigh-ins, which take place at the Hilton San Jose (in the Almaden Ballroom) in San Jose. The festivities, which are free and open to the public, begin at 8:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. PT local time).

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wZk2NqPIhg&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Sarah Kauman Highlight by LMW87[/ame]

 

[Liquidrob]

Breakdown of the main event

MATCHMAKER’S BREAKDOWN – SARAH KAUFMAN VS TAKAYO HASHI

The Strikeforce Challengers show on February 26th will feature a very historic main event as Sarah Kaufman (10-0) takes on Takayo Hashi (12-1) for the inaugural Strikeforce Women’s 135 pound title. This bout is scheduled for 5 X 5 minute rounds.

Sarah Kaufman, who hails from Victoria, Canada, is currently the #1-ranked female bantamweight in the world according to the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings. She is a very aggressive striker with solid clinch work, vicious ground and pound, and a great sprawl. Kaufman always looks to finish the fight, 8 of her 10 wins have come by KO/ TKO. Her last 2 fights have been against elite grapplers, the experience gained from those fights will certainly help her against Hashi.

Takayo Hashi is a slick grappler who can scramble with the best of them. She is the #2-ranked female bantamweight in the world according to the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings. The Abu Dhabi medalist from Japan is entering the match on an 8 fight win streak, during which she avenged her only loss. Although the majority of her wins are by submission, she certainly isn’t afraid to mix it up on the feet.

Both women are well rounded fighters that fight at a very high pace. They are fearless and go for it! They have been training very hard and will be prepared to go the distance if they have to. Expect to see the highest level of women’s MMA on display that night!

 

[Liquidrob]

Couldnt find any Prangley highlights, only fights, so here is Karl Amoussou

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSXhIgZ294&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- KARL AMOUSSOU Highlights 2009[/ame]

 

[SHOGUN]

Sarah Kaufman vs. Takayo Hashi for Women’s 135-Pound Championship
Trevor Prangley vs. Karl Amoussou
Luke Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley
James Terry vs. Tarec Saffiedine

Hashi's ground game is top notch, but she has problems with finishing opponents. Kaufman is a quality striker and she's very fun to watch. I think Kaufman is in for a very tough fight, but I think she'll clip Hashi.

Amoussou is that dude, but I think Prangley is a hefty jump in competition for him. Will be interesting to see how he handles it.

LOL. It's the guy with herpes from TUF.

Tarec Saffiedine was very solid in DREAM.

 

[Liquidrob]

LOL. It's the guy with herpes from TUF.

herpes? I thought it was staph, but I could be wrong, it might have been another guy

 

[Liquidrob]

Preview: STRIKEFORCE Challengers

RAUL CASTILLO vs. YANCY MEDEIROS

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE: Neither fighter has gone the distance in his pro career. In fact, both have only gone past the opening round on one occasion so expect nothing to change there. Castillo is a step up in competition for Medeiros and the young Hawaiian is making his STRIKEFORCE debut. Look for fireworks early and someone going to sleep inside of five minutes.

JAMES TERRY vs. TAREC SAFFIEDINE

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE: Terry needs to keep his hands up and get an early takedown to nullify the potent weapons of the Belgian destroyer. The longer it goes, the more likely Terry stays undefeated in his STRIKEFORCE campaign. The problem is that Saffiedine is one of those fighters who does not care where he does his damage. You want to stand and trade? He’ll stand and trade. You want to grapple? He’ll oblige you there too.

LUKE ROCKHOLD vs. PAUL BRADLEY

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE: Bradley has the edge in experience but, as a resident of nearby Santa Cruz, Rockhold has the “home field advantage.” It is unlikely Bradley can show Rockhold much that the AKA student hasn’t seen. If the ever improving Rockhold becomes too confident, however, the streaking Bradley might be able to put his crushing stamp on the STRIKEFORCE middleweight division.

TREVOR PRANGLEY vs. KARL AMOUSSOU

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE: Prangley must weather the proverbial storm because it sure as heck is coming. If he can wait for the rabid piranha to slow down to, say Autobahn speed, he’ll be able to catch his breath and counter attack. Coming out of the blocks, though, fighting Amoussou will be like taking on one of the zombies in Quarantine. Prangley is a seasoned veteran and has faced the onslaught of other fireballs before ,so he’ll need to maintain his composure and wait for the 24-year-old to make a mistake. Amoussou has more than “a striker’s chance” but he’ll need to pace himself when facing the most seasoned opponent of his MMA career.

SARAH KAUFMAN vs. TAKAYO HASHI

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE: The power of Kaufman’s punches may come as a surprise to Hashi. There are also some holes in her stand-up game that the Canadian may exploit. Hashi’s submission application and avoidance ability ranks as some of the best Kaufman will have seen. The longer the bout goes, the more likely Hashi will control the pace and work toward a decision victory. It will be up to Kaufman to evade the pitfalls of the Japanese grappler’s tactics and try to finish her opponent on the feet.

 

[Liquidrob]

for are non-USA based fans

Strikefroce challengers vi airs bravo in the UK
As part of Bravo TV’s recent deal with Strikeforce, more events than ever from the promotion will be available to air on the UK based station, including this weekend’s Strikeforce Challengers VI card.

The event, which airs live on Showtime on Friday night (26th February) in the U.S, will be shown in the UK two days later on Sunday night at 10pm.

The Challengers series is Strikeforce’s platform for showcasing up and coming talent, and on this occasion will be headlined by a woman’s welterweight title fight between Sarah Kaufman (10-0) and Takayo Hashi (12-1).

The card also features the veteran fighter Trevor Prangley taking on Karl Amoussou, while highly touted prospect Luke Rockhold faces former TUF competitor Paul Bradley.

STRIKEFORCE on canada's tv and interactive on fios
On the eve of its sixth Challengers event on Showtime, Strikeforce has announced a pair of media deals that continue to expand its global reach and multimedia offerings.

Canadian Sarah Kaufman face Japan’s Takayo Hashi in a main event battle for the first Strikeforce women’s welterweight (135-pound) championship. The fight will now be available in Kaufman’s home country on Super Channel, Canada’s only national pay television network.

Another interesting addition to Strikeforce’s multimedia offerings is being part of the new Showtime Sports Interactive offering. Part of Verizon’s FiOS TV, Showtime Sports Interactive will offer Strikeforce Challengers 6 at 11 p.m. ET on Friday night, which includes voting and polling functionality and fighter profiles. All FiOS TV customers with a high-definition set-top box who subscribe to Showtime will have access to the interactive experience.

“Showtime has been leading the industry with digital enhancements and Interactive TV for over a decade. With the launch of Showtime Sports Interactive, we are excited to be joining Verizon at the forefront, bringing this state-of-the-art feature to Showtime HD,” said Robert Hayes, senior vice president and general manager of digital media at Showtime Networks.

“Showtime continues to innovate and provide value-added features to our subscribers and our sports programming provides the perfect setting for the ‘lean forward’ experience that is now possible with Interactive TV.”

Strikeforce Challengers 6 airs live in the United States on Showtime at 8 p.m. PT / 11 p.m. ET.

 

[Liquidrob]

Weigh in pictures

http://www.punchdrunkgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6062

 

[Liquidrob]

doesnt seem like many people will be watching, some good fights IMO

join the new Strikeforce forum, still a work is progress, its vBullentin now so thats good, we need 'Shamrocks Stability Balls' to be a member!

Strikeforce Community

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

doesnt seem like many people will be watching, some good fights IMO

join the new Strikeforce forum, still a work is progress, its vBullentin now so thats good, we need 'Shamrocks Stability Balls' to be a member!

Strikeforce Community

signed up!

edit - the forum still stinks lol (though a lot better than the old one). cant edit your avatar and i guess there no sigs. cmon strikeforce, get it together

 

[Liquidrob]

signed up!

edit - the forum still stinks lol (though a lot better than the old one). cant edit your avatar and i guess there no sigs. cmon strikeforce, get it together

it just launched the other day, just a beta version or whatever they call it until everyone migrates over

 

[SHOGUN]

LOL @ such shitty referee work so far. Medeiros got a hard knee to the balls and the ref wouldn't even give him some time to recover. He just kept telling him "You're alright. You're alright."

Medeiros did work. Looked smooth and had Castillo helpless for the most part.

 

[SHOGUN]

Tarec Saffiedine looked good. Great use of the Brazil kick.

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

Saffiedine looked hella good

 

[SHOGUN]

Rockhold made light work of Herpes guy.

 

[SHOGUN]

Prangley, you bum.

edro:

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Show was a bust.

 

[SHOGUN]

Hashi/Kaufman was an overall snoozer, but I'm glad Kaufman won. Maybe they'll use her to actually push the women's division.

All in all, disappointed with this Challengers card. That Amoussou fight really took the wind of the sails because that was IMO, the best matchup on the card. Good news is that Tarec looked awesome. He's gonna be a problem in a couple of years.

 

[calgaryballer]

Hashi/Kaufman was an overall snoozer, but I'm glad Kaufman won. Maybe they'll use her to actually push the women's division.

All in all, disappointed with this Challengers card. That Amoussou fight really took the wind of the sails because that was IMO, the best matchup on the card. Good news is that Tarec looked awesome. He's gonna be a problem in a couple of years.

Apparently the arena was half empty by the time the fight was done. Not exactly the easiest sell for women's MMA