If you’re an MMA fan, Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine will be held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, tonight, January 7, 2012. If you can make the event live, then you're in luck: as part of Showtime’s free preview weekend, fans can watch the prelims bouts at 8pm ET/PT.
Knoxville MMA fight fans: to see if you've got the Showtime Networks Free Preview Weekend so you can Strikeforce tonight, click HERE and you'll see if your cable provider is participating.
This is the first time Strikeforce will air the preliminary matches live on the Showtime Extreme channel prior to the main card airing on Showtime.
Initially, women’s MMA fans were in for a treat, as Miesha Tate was expected to defend her Women's Bantamweight Championship against Sarah Kaufman on this card, but the bout never materialized. There are now reports that Tate will instead fight Ronda Rousey in March, but so far Tate has stated that she has not been officially offered the fight, nor has she signed any contract to that affect, so female fight fans will have to wait a bit more.
Luke Rockhold was expected to fight Tim Kennedy, but an injury left Kennedy unable to compete at this event, so Keith Jardine stepped in to take the bout. Rockhold, the current Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, trains with American Kickboxing Academy and is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He initially began training in wrestling, but switched to BJJ; 6 of his 8 wins were via submission.
Keith Jardine is known for his time spent on The Ultimate Fighter, and for his, well…beard. A black belt in Gaidojutsu, Jardine fights out of Jackson's Submission Fighting camp. Known as a striker, with a record of 18-9-2 and 5 of those wins via knockout (KO), there’s no question Jardine will do what he can to avoid being taken down by Rockhold, and knock him out for the win to become the new Strikeforce Middleweight Champion!
Main card (Showtime)
- Middleweight Championship bout: Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine
- Middleweight bout: Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov
- Light Heavyweight bout: Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin
- Welterweight bout: Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein
- Welterweight bout: Tyler Stinson vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Preliminary card (Showtime Extreme)
- Welterweight bout: Nah-Shon Burrell vs. James Terry
- Light Heavyweight bout: Gian Villante vs. Trevor Smith
- Lightweight bout: Ricky Legere vs. Chris Spang
- Catchweight bout (160-lbs): Estevan Payan vs. Alonzo Martinez
Comments