THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
At least one Strikeforce Title bout is set for April now, according to one of its competitors, as Jake Shields told MMAWeekly.com that he and Dan Henderson have agreed to face each other at the as of yet unannounced April event.
"It's a go now. We finally worked it out a few days ago," said Shields. "It's a done deal, it's been agreed upon by both parties as far as I know, and I think it's set to go."
Though he says he's been given a date and venue, he's been asked to hold off on announcing it. On top of that, he dropped the bomb that there is a possibility the event takes place on Showtime instead of being the second CBS event, as he said it's something they're still working out.
The bout marks Henderson's first in Strikeforce after leaving the UFC late last year. The Strikeforce Middleweight Title will be on the line at the event in this one, though it's still yet to be seen whether or not Fedor fights on this card.
Penick's Analysis: Shields may know the date and location, but with this event now possibly not coming to CBS it just adds to the confusion of what's going on here. It's going to be tough for Strikeforce to sell this as the main event on CBS as well, as though Henderson increased his drawing power last year with TUF and UFC 100, Strikeforce doesn't have access to any of his relevant fight footage, and Shields' last bout on CBS was a near snoozefest through five rounds. They'll need to get creative, and they'll need to get on the ball quick here because it's getting ever closer to April as each day passes, and the longer they go without any official information the less in the consciousness of fight fans it will be.
[Dan Henderson art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP