Bang for Your Buck
Most of you at home who may be reading this might not be able to appreciate the gravity of this situation. Some fight-fans are already conscious of two things: WEC and Strikeforce put on excellent shows each time out. And second, two of the respective promotions biggest cards are both being held on December 19th; WEC in Vegas, Strikeforce in San Jose, Cali.
WEC 45 is bringing a solid card, featuring a few oldies and goldies with the recent acquisition of former IFL lightweight title challenger locking horns with fellow banger Anthony Njokuani, serving as the co-main event of the evening under a sure crowd-pleaser between perennial contender Donald Cerrone and sharpshooter, “9MM” Ed Ratcliff whom will each share main-event honors.
Strikeforce—oh man. Former Middleweight champion Cung Le will make his much anticipated return to the promotion that began his rise to stardom. The recent fighter-turned actor has spent an 18-month layoff from the fighting world in order to pursue his cinematic career, completing five movie roles in post-production, with much more on the horizon.
Having had relinquished his belt due to inactivity, Le will be facing UFC veteran Scott Smith in a fight that is all-but guaranteed to remain standing as both are known for their penchant for punching people in the face.
Also completing the card is a who’s who of middleweight fighters not in the UFC, with Robbie Lawler, “Jacare” Souza and Matt Lindland. Cristiane Santos will also be in action in defense of her belt against an unnamed opponent and finally Josh Thomson and Gilbert Milendez will meet in a rematch in the works for the better part of two-years, in order to unify the titles and lay claim to an undisputed champion in the lightweight division.
Folks, before I had actually begun going through the motions on the specifics of the fights on the 19th, I was seriously contemplating my options. Be in Vegas see what is always a great night of fights within the WEC, have my chance to interview the big boys under the Zuffa banner—did I mention it was in Vegas?
On the other hand, Strikeforce’s lineup on the 19th seems to have the zest--more depth, which is something that Scott Coker has eagerly strived for. His model has proven effective, first with building his San Jose audience with crowd favorites Frank Shamrock and Cung Le, as well as with the aid of local boys Nick Diaz, Benji Radach and Scott Smith.
Rather than putting together the 2 or 3 shows that the UFC consistently put together in order to remain relevant, Strikeforce puts together one solid card every 2-3 months and this one is no exception.
So folks whom will remain home will have the benefit of watching both Versus and Strikeforce.
If you have Direct TV, you might not be so lucky when it comes to WEC programming and if you haven’t already subscribed to Showtime, than your worse off.
But what I’m willing to do, should I be paying for my air fair and stay, the show that’s going to produce the real bang for my buck is Strikeforce.
Let me know what you think, feel free to email me with any questions, comments, feedback to brian.mma.writer@gmail.com
