Injuries have led to a pair of late changes for this Saturday’s Strikeforce: “Henderson vs Babalu” event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Former IFL contender Benji “Razor” Radach will return to competition after a lengthy layoff to face Ovince St. Preux in a light heavyweight matchup.
Also confirmed for the card this week is a heavyweight bout between former EliteXC champ Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Mike “Mak” Kyle, who replaces an injured Valentijn Overeem. Herschel Walker will no longer compete on Saturday due to a cut suffered in training, but hopes to return in 2011.
A significant upset and controversial scoring were the two main stories at today’s Greatest Common Multiple “Valkyrie 8” event in Tokyo, Japan. The all-female card featured Valkyrie Featherweight Champion Mei “V Hajime” Yamaguchi battling Kyoko Takabayashi to a Draw in the main event.
Rebounding from losses in Bellator, England’s Rosi “The Surgeon” Sexton and Ireland’s Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly both picked up victories tonight at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 39: “The Uprising” in Cork, Ireland. Sexton stopped “Slick” Sally Krumdiack with punches in round two, while Daly bested Molly “The Maulinator” Helsel via Unanimous Decision.
Jewels has officially announced two more fights for their upcoming “Eleventh Ring” event on December 17th in Tokyo, Japan. In one matchup, promotional postergirl Shizuka Sugiyama will finally take on Mongolian wrestler Esui in an MMA bout. The two were originally set to face each other on July 31st in a shootboxing match, but Sugiyama was forced to withdraw due to injury.
A 135-pound women’s bout between tough veteran Julie “Fireball” Kedzie and unbeaten prospect Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio will now take place at Jackson’s MMA Series 3 on December 18th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The fight, which was originally set to take place in September, was added to the card earlier this month and will serve as the co-main event.
DaMMAge Fight League held its first event tonight with “The Big Bang” at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The solid debut card was co-headlined by a lightweight bout between Ring of Combat veterans Chris “The Story” Liguori and John “Greco” Salgado.
Two-time All-American wrestler and Bellator veteran Carla Esparza has stepped in to face unbeaten prospect Nina Ansaroff at Crowbar MMA: “Winter Brawl” on December 10th. Esparza replaces Patti Lee, who had previously been scheduled to square off with Ansaroff on the card.
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo Jr. will have to wait a little longer to make the first defence of his new UFC title. The Brazilian phenom has been forced out of his January 1, 2011 bout with Josh “The Fluke” Grispi at UFC 125 due to what is reportedly compacted vertebrae in his spine.