Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Strikeforce News and Notes: Cung Le Getting Married And Overeem Injured

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker recently was interviewed by Ariel Helwani of Fanhouse.com and Coker said that he plans on signing a lot of women fighters for their 135-pound and 145-pound divisions. He mentioned a fighter from Belgium with a judo background that they are looking at.

Coker also stated to Helwani that he wants to have stacked cards for every show and that he plans on having tournaments for the women in order to crown a champion in the 135 pound division.

He wants to have five good fights for the fans each time instead of just having a good main event and a co-main event like how the UFC usually does with their pay-per-view shows.

Cung Le is getting married on Aug. 8 to his girlfriend and should be fighting by the end of the year, according to Coker. He wants to have a match with Jake Shields and another opponent for the interim middleweight title and the winner of that fight would go on to fight Le.

Nick Diaz wanted the fight against Joe Riggs on Aug. 15 to be a title fight, and he got his wish.

Coker also said that he has interacted with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in the past and that he is a very nice guy who was probably just caught up in the moment when he went on his tirade after his UFC 100 victory over Frank Mir.

Strikeforce heavyweight fighter Levar Johnson was shot on July 4 at a family party and is recovering from his injuries.

There will only be three title fights on Aug. 15 on the Showtime event in San Jose because Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem still has not recovered fully from a hand injury suffered in a brawl a few months ago. Overeem was scheduled to fight Fabricio Werdum.

MMAjunkie.com has reported that Jorge Gurgel will take on Billy Evangelista in a lightweight fight on Oct. 25 in Fresno, CA. This show will be a Strikeforce Challengers show which highlights up-and-coming fighters.

MMAjunkie.com also reported that former UFC fighter Jason Von Flue might be taking on Cung Le student, James Terry, on Aug. 15 as part of the undercard. Strikeforce will probably announce more undercard fights soon.

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