Strikeforce picks, Vegas-style: Kawajiri and Daley look to steal title belts

Both are decided underdogs, but they do have quick strike ability on their side. Tatsuya Kawajiri, challenging for the Strikeforce lightweight belt, and Paul Daley, battling for the promotion's welterweight crown, may have one path to pulling the upset and that's heavy hands.

Kawajiri's posted 11 knockouts during his career. A plus-200 underdog, he'll need to do something special to derail Gilbert Melendez, a complete fighter who's out-strategized everyone he's faced recently in Strikeforce.

Frankly, the Japanese veteran probably has a better shot than Daley does against Nick Diaz. Yet because Daley is a more familiar face to many American fans, he's actually fetching a slightly smaller underdog prize at plus-190.

Yahoo!'s lead MMA writer Kevin Iole makes his picks using the Las Vegas odds and surprised us by picking the longest dog on the board as a potential upset winner. Will any of the underdogs cash? If so, who's your picks?

Strikeforce odds (Courtesy Lagasse's Stadium Las Vegas):

Nick Diaz (-240) vs. Paul Daley (+190) - Welterweight

Tatsuya Kawajiri (+200) vs. Gilbert Melendez (-250) - Lightweight

Lyle Beerbohm (+210) vs. Shinya Aoki (-270) - Lightweight

Keith Jardine (+325) vs. Gegard Mousasi (-450) -Light heavyweight

Nuvo Gene Tea
Boresha Bsweet
B Latte
Boresha Argmatrix
Boresha Comp Plan

Brian Stann on Facing Santiago Instead of Silva: 'I Got a Better Fight'

Filed under: , ,

Brian Stann said he wanted to fight Wanderlei Silva after his win over Chris Leben at UFC 125.

The UFC liked that idea and booked the fight for UFC 130 in May.

One problem: Silva didn't want to take the fight.

Whether it was because Silva had still not healed up from knee surgery or didn't want to fight Stann because, as he tweeted, "I respect so much ... army guys," remains unclear. What we do know is Stann (10-3) is now fighting Jorge Santiago (23-8) at UFC 130, while Silva got his original wish of fighting Leben at UFC 132.

"I buy his reason because I don't see Wanderlei ever having to lie to anybody about anything," Stann said when asked on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour if he believed Silva didn't want to fight simply because he didn't want to get booed. "He's got nothing to prove for the rest of his life, as far as I'm concerned, especially in this sport.

Nuvo Gene Tea
Boresha Bsweet
B Latte
Boresha Argmatrix
Boresha Comp Plan

Rossi?s opinion of the Lorenzo negotiations

This quote comes from the Spanish language website elmundodeportivo.es. The message and the sentiment are clear: “You aren’t worth what I get paid Jorge”. From elmundodeportive.es, translation by Fans.Moto.GP (Thanks!): What Jorge is looking for seems presumptuous to me: Arrive at Yamaha, and in his second year ask that he be given the same treatment as me. [...]

Blatte
Bskinny Coffee
Argmatrix
Boresha
Boresha International

DREAM Announces Bantamweight Grand Prix to Begin on May 29

Filed under: , ,

In an event that will be held in part to benefit its ravaged home country of Japan, DREAM on Friday announced its first major show since New Year's Eve. The promotion will host a bantamweight tournament, scheduled to take place on May 29 at Saitama Super Arena.

The tourney, titled the "Fight for Japan DREAM Grand Prix," will feature the first- and second-round matchups of an eight man field. The participants will be Hideo Tokoro, Masakazu Imanari, Yoshiro Maeda, Keisuke Fujiwara, Darren Uyenoyama, Kenji Osawa, Takafumi Otsuka and Atsushi Yamamoto.

Blatte
Bskinny Coffee
Argmatrix
Boresha
Boresha International