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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With Strikeforce booking a Middleweight Title bout between Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza for their August 21 show, it appears Strikeforce's plans for a tournament in the division have been scrapped.
But apparently it's not for a lack of trying.
According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Strikeforce initially planned to put on a four man, one-night tournament on the show, coming to the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Slated to feature Kennedy, Souza, Robbie Lawler and Matt Lindland, the tournament Champion would have then been crowned the new Middleweight Champion.
But the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which oversees MMA in the state, put the kibosh on those plans.
Per Greg Alvarez, the administrator of the department, said "They asked if it was possible and I told them that when Tough Man was outlawed, the state also did away with tournaments back in 2001."
So with tournaments not allowed in the state, Strikeforce opted for the single title fight. That will take place on Showtime as the co-main event under a Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante.
Strikeforce is planning on running a four woman one-night-only tournament in Pheonix in August on the August 13 Challengers card, as Arizona does not have a provision banning tournaments.
Penick's Analysis: A one night tournament in the US would be interesting to see. Bellator's got their tournaments running over several events, but apparently there were contract issues that could have snagged doing this tournament over more events. Still, they ended up with the best possible title fight they could have put together at this point, and they can still match up Lindland and Lawler to determine the next challenger if they can get that set up.
RELATED STORY: STRIKEFORCE NEWS: "Jacare" Souza vs. Tim Kennedy on August 21 for Strikeforce Middleweight Championship: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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