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Filed under: MMA Videos, Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, Videos
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- MMA Fighting spoke with Bobby Green about his split decision loss to Gesias Cavalcante at Saturday's Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson. In the interview below, Green firmly expressed his belief that he deserved the win and claimed he did not submit to a rear-naked choke in the second round.
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Zak Jensen and Neil Grove opened Bellator 47 with a bang. The heavyweights, who both reside just under the 265 pound limit, collided from the opening seconds like brahma bulls. Grove was rocked just five seconds in, but recovered to gain top control and smash out Jensen in exactly minutes in Rama, Canada.
Grove (11-3-1) showed he's tough. From the opening bell, the bulky big guys threw like wild men and Jensen clipped Grove with a right hand that dropped him. In the past, the South African fighting out of England with no formal wrestling training when he entered the sport, may have panicked and bailed mentally. With better training under his belt, Grove grabbed a leg and eventually flipped to work for a kneebar or heel hook.
Then both fighters sat up on the rear ends and wailed away at each other. Jensen couldn't keep pace and dropped back where Grove jumped into his guard. The 6-foot-6, 264 pounder got off six hammerfists and referee Yves Lavigne jumped in to save the American.
"He hit me with a couple of hard shots. I'm happy that I took them and because I've been spending so much time in America training some wrestling, I've been learning what to do when I'm on the ground. I made use of it," Grove told Bellator's Jimmy Smith. "When I was on the ground I just knew I had to let my hands go. The man can take a punch!"
Grove, 40, has been working on his grappling and ground work. It's always been the big hole is his game. It was exploited during Bellator's Season 3 Heavyweight tournament by former Div. 1 NCAA wrestling champion Cole Konrad. Konrad scored an early takedown and eventually got a first round win via keylock at Bellator 32 back in October.
"My loss against Cole Konrad is something of the past. I've been training everyday since that fight to get back into the heavyweight tournament," Grove said as he held up his fists. "And Cole you're going to say hello to goodnight and sleep tight when we meet next."
This was the ninth first round KO of Grove's brief career. The loss was the third in four fight for Jensen, a Season 10 "Ultimate Fighter" alum.
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This is a bizarre position for Scott Coker. The Strikeforce CEO is technically under the umbrella of Zuffa. In a recent interview with SI.com, Dana White swore up and down that he has absolutely no hand in decisions with Strikeforce. Yet when you watch or listen to Coker talking about the future of his fighters and future cards, there seems to be a hesitance about answering questions. That could be the nature of the business or he simply can't promise anything because its out of his hands.
Coker did a 12-minute interview with AOL.com and had some interesting takes on what comes down the road for Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko. A small part of the convo revolved around Alistair Overeem and his future with Strikeforce.
"I mean that's something we're going to sit down with his manager Bas [Boon] and have a conversation about," said Coker (8:00 mark).
That's not a yes or a no, but it seemed pretty curt. White recently said Overeem is definitely sticking around so it was odd for Coker to ride the fence on the question.
Coker also explained that Overeem sort of forced the bold move in the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix. When the Strikeforce heavyweight champ and tourney favorite said he was out for a fight on Sept. 10, Strikeforce had no choice but to replace him.
"We've been very good to Alistair. We've been very patient. It just didn't work out," Coker said. "If we could've took this fight to October or November we definitely would've done it."
Coker said between the busy UFC schedule, Showtime's boxing slate, the Floyd Mayweather fight in November and MLB's World Series, there weren't many dates that made sense.
On other matters, Coker said Fedor vs. Hendo is not a make or break fight for either fighter's future with Strikeforce. Even with a Henderson loss, he definitely wants to keep Henderson around. He's jazzed about Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate being the first female title fight under the Zuffa banner. Coenen was a no-show at the Thursday press conference. Coker joked that he had no idea what happened calling it a "makeup issue or breakfast issue or wardrobe malfunction."
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