Strikeforce Challengers: Should I Care?

Did you know that Strike Force is putting on an MMA card this Friday? <crickets> <crickets> To be fair I didn’t know either. Strikeforce Challengers 3: Kennedy Vs. Cummings comes to you from the SpiritBank Event Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma this Friday night on Showtime at 11 P.M.  As Wikipedia tells me: ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers is a mixed martial arts series produced by the mixed martial arts organization Strikeforce and the Showtime cable network. Similar to Showtime’s earlier ShoXC, the purpose of the series is to highlight up and coming MMA fighters. The full card is: -Tim Kennedy (9-0) vs. Zak Cummings (10-0) -Ray Sefo (1-0) vs. Kevin Jordan (11-7) -Tyron Woodley (5-0) vs. Zach Light (4-8) -Travis Calanoc (4-0) vs. Thomas Longacre (4-0) Preliminary Bouts (non-televised): -Lacey Schuckman (2-0) vs. Jeri Sitzes (2-2) -Levi Avera (12-5) vs. Paul Bradley (10-1) -Trey Houston (1-0) vs. Brandon Gaines (4-10) -Kenny Giddens (8-5) vs. John Carson (7-1) -Nick Gibbons (13-0) vs. Josh Pulsifer (11-4) -Lemont Davis (2-3) vs. Dillon Smith (1-0) Now I’m not one to complain about free MMA…but, Tim Kennedy vs. Zack Cummings? What is Strikeforce doing? Who do they honestly expect to watch this card? The causal fan is going to brush it off because they’ve never heard of any of these guys and even the hardcore MMA fan has to cringe at this card. Now I’m aware that; 1) Tim Kennedy is really good.  He beat Nick Thompson in his last fight and holds wins over Dante Rivera and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.  2) Kennedy was originally suppose to fight Cyborg Santos (the dude not his wife.) But is Kennedy/Santos really a significantly better main event? Santos is 16-13 and has lost 4 of his last 5 fights.  Why have Kennedy fight Nick Thompson and then take a fight Continue reading Strikeforce Challengers: Should I Care?