Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani caught up with the winners and losers of last night’s Strikeforce ‘Miami’ event. Also, Showtime and Strikeforce have post-fight interviews to check out on their YouTube channels.
Strikeforce ‘Miami’ Results & Wrap-Up
Strikeforce “Miami” is currently underway at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.
Strikeforce ‘Miami’ Pre-Fight Interviews: Coenen, Lawler, Lashley, Walker & More
Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani caught up with Marloes Coenen, Robbie Lawler, Matt Hughes*, Bobby Lashley, Herschel Walker, Greg Nagy, Jay Hieron and Joe Riggs to talk about their upcoming fights at Strikeforce “Miami.”
* Matt Hughes is cornering Robbie Lawler, but also talked about fighting Renzo Gracie
Jay Hieron Ready For Joe Riggs, See It Live On EASports.com
Jay Hieron tells RawVegas.tv he’s more than ready to get back in the cage this weekend against Joe Riggs at Strikeforce “Miami.” You won’t see it on Showtime, but you can watch it live on EASports.com at 9:00 PM ET.
Jay Hieron Putting Title Aspirations On Hold For Now
“This is still a good fight for me. Riggs has a great name and he’s fought on all the big shows. At this point, all I want to do is fight big-name guys. Riggs qualifies as that. This fight is very important for me and I’m not going to worry about Diaz or the title or anyone else until after this fight is over…There have been no shortcuts for me and it hasn’t been an easy road and I haven’t had a lot of lucky breaks. I’ve had to take the hard road and work my way to this point. There have been a lot of obstacles in my way, but overcoming those obstacles helped me to become who I am…Randy has one of the great mental games in sports. I’ve picked up a lot from him and the one thing I know for sure I have to do is concentrate completely on what is in front of me. Right now, that’s Joe Riggs. If you want to talk to me about title shots or anything else, do it after [my fight with] Riggs. I’m in great shape and in a great frame of mind and I’m 100 percent ready for Joe Riggs and I have no concern about anything else.”
—Jay Hieron telling Kevin Iole he’s putting his promised title shot on the back burner to focus on his upcoming fight against Joe Riggs
There you have it. Jay Hieron isn’t going to bitch and whine about not getting the title shot against Nick Diaz Strikeforce promised him back when he signed with them last summer. He’s putting his head down and concentrating on taking out Joe Riggs so Strikeforce will have no choice but to give him the Diaz-Zaromskis winner. If he beats Riggs, he deserves it. It’s that simple.
Image via Esther Lin for Showtime
Coker Explains Hieron Situation, Thoughts On Aoki’s Antics, More
Looks like we finally have our answer on Jay Hieron’s promised title shot. According to Scott Coker, before they knew Nick Diaz would be fighting on the Strikeforce “Miami” card, they offered Hieron the fight against Marius Zaromskis, but Hieron’s agent, Ken Pavia, turned it down. With their DREAM alliance, they had to put Zaromskis in a title fight since he’s the DREAM welterweight champion, so ultimately Hieron was the odd man out when he turned the Zaromskis fight down and ended up with Joe Riggs instead. If he beats Riggs he’s supposed to get the Diaz-Zaromskis winner.
Strikeforce ‘Carano vs Cyborg’: Overeem-Rogers Now Unlikely, Diaz-Riggs II Possible
MMA Junkie brings us an update today on the highly rumored, but not yet official, Alistair Overeem vs Brett Rogers title fight for Strikeforce “Carano vs Cyborg.” It’s not good news either.
In addition to the above fights, the Aug. 15 Strikeforce fight was expected to feature heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem’s first title defense, possibly against undefeated Brett Rogers. Afromowitz said there are no updates on the potential bout, but sources close to the fight tell MMAjunkie.com the fight is looking “unlikely.”
The report didn’t include any reasons why the fight is all of a sudden “unlikely.” Last I heard, Alistair Overeem was a lock for the card, so if that match-up doesn’t work out, hopefully he still defends his title on August 15. For those keeping score, he won the title in November 2007, and hasn’t defended it since. To say his first title defense is long overdue is an understatement.
In other Strikeforce “Carano vs Cyborg” news, reports surfaced earlier this week suggesting Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs would meet for the second time (or the third if you count that hospital throwdown). However, Mike Afromowitz says those reports are premature, but the fight’s still a possibility.
Image via MMA Weekly




The hits just keep on coming.