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.
Radach (21-5-0, 1 NC), who has competed primarily as a middleweight in recent years, was seen as one of the top contenders in the International Fight League during a six-fight run in 2007. After putting together five knockout victories in a row, Radach was shockingly upset by Matt “Suave” Horwich and his hopes of holding individual IFL gold were dashed. Nearly one year later, Radach got back on the winning track with a stoppage of Murilo “Ninja” Rua and was less than two minutes away from defeating Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith at an April 2009 Strikeforce event before a punch late in the final round knocked Radach out. Saturday’s fight will be Radach’s first in nearly 18 months.
St. Preux (8-4-0), by contrast, has remained very active in fights this year. He has fought 12 times in the past two years including five bouts already in 2010. He most recently earned a competitive decision win over Antwain “The Juggernaut” Britt at Strikeforce Challengers 12 on November 19th. Prior to that, all of the former football player’s victories had come by way of stoppage. St. Preux has developed a reputation for hard-hitting strikes and could engage in a brawl with Radach, who is no stranger to stand-up wars. The fighters hold 22 KO wins between them, but a key factor may be that all five of Radach’s losses have come by a form of knockout.
Also confirmed this week for the card was a heavyweight bout between Antonio Silva (14-2-0) and late replacement Mike Kyle (18-7-1, 1 NC). Silva has won seven of his last eight fights and is currently one of the top heavyweight contenders in Strikeforce, but Kyle has played the role of spoiler before and will look to do so once again. Kyle, the KOTC Light Heavyweight Champion, has only tasted defeat once in his last ten fights and is currently enjoying a career resurgence after being exiled following a 2006 DQ loss. Kyle will set aside his light heavyweight contendership in order to take on Silva on Saturday.
Strikeforce: “Henderson vs Babalu” takes place on December 4th at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former two-division PRIDE champ Dan “Hendo” Henderson and ex-Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral. The card airs live on Showtime and Super Channel.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)