Wes Sims Likely To Fight Bobby Lashley at “Strikeforce: Miami”
Veteran Wes Sims, a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 10, will likely step in on short notice and fight heavyweight prospect Bobby Lashley on January 30 at “Strikeforce: Miami” in Sunrise, Florida, according to Sirius Fight Club’s Chris Thomas.
Strikeforce sources told MMAFrenzy.com that the fight was “not confirmed,” but the bout is believed to be in the process of being finalized for the Showtime-televised event.
The Florida State Boxing Commission likely still needs to approve the matchup, but there’s no reason to believe the 37-fight veteran Sims wouldn’t be cleared for the contest. The FSBC last week declined Yohan Banks (2-1) as an opponent for Lashley, saying the fight “wouldn’t be competitive,” then approved Jimmy Ambriz (14-12-1), but that matchup has been scrapped for unknown reasons.
Sims (22-12-1) has won three-straight officially, but hasn’t fought since an 18-second knockout in November 2008. In an exhibition bout on The Ultimate Fighter 10, he suffered a first-round submission to Justin Wren in the opening round of the heavyweight tournament.
Lashley (4-0) made his MMA debut in late-2008 with a first-round TKO of Joshua Franklin, then improved to 4-0 in 2009 with wins over Jason Guida, Mike Cook, and Bob Sapp.
If finalized, the matchup completes the fight card for “Strikeforce: Miami,” which is headlined by Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis for the Strikeforce welterweight title and also features 145-pound women’s champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos vs. Marloes Coenen.
For the latest Strikeforce news and Strikeforce rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Wes Sims
Tags: Bobby Lashley, Wes Sims
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Do you mean fight because from what I have seen from Wes Sims on the show he has no chance of winning.
Wow.
Maybe Scott Coker does read the forum.
Either that or fr702 hit up Coker’s cell and said, “I’m reading a frenZy forum post and one of the guys jcohl thinks you should sign to fight Lashley is Wes Sims…
;)
I don’t think it’s fair for a fighter to take a fight with less than two weeks to prepare. So can someone please explain how the FSBC can approve this but not approve his previous scheduled opponent because they claim the fight would not be competitive?
Guys take fights on short notice all the time, it’s a fact of the fight game. Besides that, Sims is actually a dangerous veteran. This is a much better fight than either of the previous potential opponents.
I like the idea that the FSBC denied someone by saying the bout wouldn’t be competitive. Strikeforce has a habit (other than champ bouts and Fedor) of pinning their up and coming stars against people with horrible records or on a losing streak. That’s fine for minor leagues, but if you want to be a premier organization you have to be willing to risk your draws for fights that actually mean something. That’s the only way to stay legitimate and contend with the UFC. Especially if they’re trying to bank off the fact that Bobby Lashley is their “Brock Lesnar” why not pin him against Arlofski or Silva (even though i just contradiction because their both on losing streaks) but at least they have some credibility, and any fight against those two would actually mean something in the MMA world. But right now Wes Sims is legitimate because he is a last seconded replacement, but if Bobby runs through Sims, lets see him fight Rogers next to actually raise himself in the MMA heavyweight ladder.
its like boxing or so it seems.. set up a future star with a 40-0 record then let him get crushed by a real figher
Bobby Lashley 5-0 now plan & simple. I wonder how it would be if he fouhgt a top contender? 5-1 maybe!
At least make sure your numbers add up to the same thing…
The truth is after all of this FSBC/Strikeforce drama, I’d probably need a shot of asthma medicine because I’d be breathless from laughing so hard if Sims knocked Lashley stupid…
hope the ninja wes sims fights (haha) – bobby lashley is over rated he struggled with jason guida – not to say he wont beat sims but ……. brett roger would murder lashley – would have liked to see him fight bigfoot
wes sims might stomp lashley literaly like he did mir – hes got some screws loose
I guess Tank Abbott wasn’t available…
I made similiar snarky comments on the other Lashley thread for the last couple days, but I’m thinking that all snark aside the FSBC would have probably waved off Abbott as a potential Lashley opponent on the same grounds that they’ve waved off Banks and Ambriz…
FSBC approved Ambriz, Lashley and Strikeforce called that one off, though.
They approved Ambriz?
Yikes.
I guess I must have missed that bit.
Nonetheless, I think Sims is probably about at the right level for a part-time, novice MMA fighter like Lashley…
they should have put a lashley rogers fight
exactly jcohl, i dont know what the hell people want out of a fighter like lashely, the guy in a prospect…it seems like some dont want anything to do with a fight/fighter if it has nothing to do with a belt or a number 1 contender spot
Part of the problem is, people seem to think that Lashley is as good as Lesnar, and he’s not even close. To draw a comparison from other sports, Lashley is still be playing AAA ball, while Lesnar is winning championships in the majors.
Lashley just stepped up from Tball to underhand pitch.
He’s better than that. T-ball and underhand pitch would be amateur level, and he has shown that he is at least a pro.
Nobody wants to see the birth, they only want to see the baby.
I’m thinking that part of the Lashley “identity crisis” with MMA fans is that they are drawing the wrong conclusion from the fact that both Lashley and Lesnar were former collegiate wrestling champions and both earned their paper in the world of professional wrestling [and Lashley apparently still does].
While its true that Lashley has potential and talent, as well as a solid wrestling base just like Lesnar, thats pretty much where the comparisons should end.
Lesnar had by far the more successful college wrestling career, by far [to date] the more successful pro wretling career from what I’ve read and have been told, not to mention that Lesnar has an almost inhuman level of athleticism and speed for a man his size, something I have yet to see from Lashley.
Brock Lesnar is also with a trainer [Greg Nelson] that seems almost obsessed with first turning him and then keeping him a champion. Nelson then brought in Erik Paulson to supplement Lesnar’s already over-the-top physical skills and wrestling ability with a tailored catch-wrestling ability that we saw Lesnar drop with such devastating effect on Frank Mir at 100.
I’m pretty sure that Bobby Lashley is well-coached, but nothing like on the level that Lesnar has gone thru, again, to date.
Also, Lesnar’s swagger and aggressive nature really serve him well in MMA, and Lashley strikes me as a more low key individual.
Lashley may develop, or he may get his sh!t pushed in by Wes Sims or another mid-tier HW, and decide back in the dressing room, “Fu<k this, I make more money fake fighting and no one beats the living He11 out of me. I'm out…"
Glad to see Strikeforce is feeding Lashley a can (granted Sims has had some awesome fights, nothing lately though), but then again you have to protect your investment.
i wouldnt say sims is a can, this is a good peice of buisness by strikeforce sims shouldnt give lashly to much to worry about, but he will hype the fight and does have a bit of a name to casual fans off the back of tuf 10.
Well I think this is a good fight, Lashley is just starting off, what more you people want? if they put him against a top fighter, everyone would complain, saying he dosn’t deserve the fight, but sense he’s against someone he has a chance to have a fight with, people bust his balls… I don’t understand that…