“Strikeforce: Nashville” Remaining on April 17; Bobby Lashley Possible for CBS Event
Despite a counter-programming threat from the UFC, “Strikeforce: Nashville,” the promotion’s second CBS-televised event, remains scheduled for April 17 and could feature heavyweight prospect Bobby Lashley.
“We never really planned to move, but we wanted to keep our business options open,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told Sherdog on Friday. “Everything is business as usual (for April 17) and full steam ahead.”
According to the report, Lashley is in talks to appear on the card, though no potential opponents have surfaced yet.
Earlier this week, Coker told MMAjunkie that the CBS broadcast would, time-permitting, feature a preliminary card fight from the event’s preliminary card for the first time in the promotion’s history.
Strikeforce: Nashville is headlined by middleweight champion Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson, and also features light heavyweight title-holder Gegard Mousasi vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki.
For the latest Strikeforce news and Strikeforce rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Bobby Lashley
Tags: Bobby Lashley, Scott Coker
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Head to head with the UFC?
Really?
Best of luck with that…
I don’t they’ll need luck jcohl. They’ve got 3 HUGE fights, maybe a 4th depending on Lashley’s opponent. And they’ve got the whole of the CBS promoting machine. Everyone will know what fights are on April 17th on CBS, and they will be very good fights.
It’s a little over a month from April 17, who are they really going to get in such a short period of time that isn’t already booked to fight real soon?
Plus, are any true hardcore fans going to watch some B- card on Spike that will repeat every other week, or the North American debut of Shinya Aoki?
it will be chuck liddell vs rich franklin on april 17th, according to sources.
I hope you’re right, eldiablo, I really do.
And you should know better, my friend, as should Strikeforce, than to bank on the support of the “true hardcore fans”, like us. The casuals outnumber us maybe 100-1, which is why the UFC is the planet’s top MMA org.
It would be better for the sport, not to mention Strikeforce, if you are right, and overwhelmingly so.
But I could have sworn that the last time the UFC ran something “B” against a SF card, it got killed in the ratings.
I could have that wrong, and if so throw out a preemptive apology.
However if I’m not, and one or more of these crazy rumors floating down from the blogosphere are true about the UFC “springing” some sort of mini-supercard [or -fight] last minute, I don’t like SF’s chances.
But again I hope that I’m wrong…
its now for ufc115
I’m not so sure about Strikeforce having “the whole of the CBS promoting machine,” behind them. The last time there was a Strikeforce event on CBS, there were many that felt that CBS was rather negligent when it came to promoting it.
Imagine if they got Rogers to fight Lashley? Huge fight!!!!
Rodgers if fighting Overeem
Yeah, forgot about that one. It would be a sick fight still.
Lashey won’t fight Rogers, he either wants Fedor/Overeem or a tomato can.
Strikeforce blows, UFC is still gonna blow them away, that the facts, gotta go holla homies….
really? come on now..
For sure the sf card will be awesome,but will Liddells name get the viewers to tune into spike tv? The ufc is going to have to throw something else together to win this one.
keep in mind that the ufc blew sf out of the ratings when sf was on showtime. i dont have showtime but i have cbs. also i think putting lashley on this card is smart hes got a fanbase as is. i think if he fought wes sims again the casuals who dont have showtime would still check it out. i know my tivo will be busy that night though.
Read about it here!
http://mmafrenzy.com/11304/2-million-tune-in-to-ufc-100-replay-strikeforce-carano-vs-cyborg-peaks-with-856000-viewers/
Lashley should fight Brandon Cash. A big tough guy who is a powerful striker. This would be a good test for Lashley.
Not sure I quite understand Bobby Lashley’s “ultimatum” of Fedor or tomato can, but hey whatever.
Maybe Lashley has an inflated sense of his MMA self, or is grossly overestimating his value to SF.
Also, from what I’ve read here and there and heard discussed amongst my hardcore pro wrestler friends, Lashley has sort of burned his TNA Wrestling bridge behind him, so I’m not sure where he gets off being so particular in terms of his next opponent.
He may be getting bad advice from some handler, he may have some network or cable suit in his ear, or maybe he’s just not that astute a businessman, its hard to tell from the outside.
Its also possible that Lashley feels that he can make his paper by doing the two “sport” thing of pro MMA and pro wrestling in Japan if this SF thing falls thru, so, y’know, why play it cool?
I would think that it would be in Lashley’s best interests to work with his promoter to establish himself both in and out of the cage as a creditable MMA fighter, and not some sideshow attraction or pro wrestling circus act.
So far Lashley has looked OK against average competition, so unless he’s either been holding back or has recently exploded in terms of in-cage ability, he should allow Coker’s matchmaker [fr702?] to do his job and get Lashley a sellable fight that he has a good chance of winning, instead of asking for a premature title shot, which makes him look a bit like a douchbag, or asking to get his sh!t pushed in by Fedor on national TV…
The whole UFC counter-programming thing live on Spike is, and has been, a smokescreen probably to push Strikeforce’s sponsors or make SF make a dumb move prematurely. Look at all of the names that have been floated across the card, Kimbo, Toney, Chuck and Franklin. We’ve already been informed that most of these rumors are just that -rumors. These guys all have fight dates set for ppvs in the summer. None of these will turn out to be true bc it’s going to be exceedingly hard to get major-name talent to not only fight on short notice, but without ppv revenue as well. It’s possible, but more likely with mid-range talent that won’t hurt SF any more than a UFC replay would. In other words, the bigger the name, the less likely that it will be.
bobby lashley is scared to fight somebody that can actually beat him. the only way he will get any respect is if he beats somebody like rogers or signs with the ufc and actually fights some real fighters. i do think the ufc is a lot better than strikeforce but i do think ufc is going to have trouble buliding an interesting card on such short notice. i really dont care who they have fighting im not missing hendo vs jake shields
Just as an FYI, and in all fairness to the man, it should be posted that Bobby Lashley is a former member of the armed forces, so I’m pretty sure that “scared to fight” doesn’t really factor into this thing.
And while its true that Lashley can score some short-term respect by beating the sh!t out of some “name” HW, he’ll garner more long-term respect by paying his dues in the sport, working his way up, and eventually signing to fight a tougher opponent than the “Strikeforce HW flavor of the month” Brett Rogers.
As for Lashley signing with the UFC, he’ll need to show Dana and the Fertitas a lot more in-cage than he has to date, and against better opposition than Bob Sapp.
Until that happens, Lashley would do well to concentrate on beating his next opponent as impressively as possible…
Lashley could be the only fighter to beat lesnar
Lashley hasn’t shown anything to indicate that he can beat Lesnar, in my opinion.