Mike Kyle will return to heavyweight to replace injured newcomer Valentijn Overeem and will face contender Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu” event in St. Louis, Strikeforce announced Monday.
Kyle (18-7-1) has won four-straight, including a first-round TKO victory earlier this month in Australia, while Silva (14-2) rebounded from a November loss to Fabricio Werdum with a unanimous decision over Andrei Arlovski in May.
Saturday’s Showtime-televised card is headlined by a rematch between Dan Henderson and Renato “Babalu” Sobral and also features Scott Smith vs. Paul Daley and Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland.
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Pictured: Mike Kyle
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Not sure Antonio Silva is the easiest opponent to return to HW against.
Best of luck to Kyle, he’s going to need it I think…
Kyle is a game opponent for anyone, he also will just from weight class to weight class just for exciting fights…. I would say “Big Foots” easiest opponent was and imo still is Ruben Villareal, when this bout takes place Kyle would have fought twice in less than a month. Should be an interesting bout Kyle’s last loss came to Fabricio Werdum similar to his opponent BigFoot Silva…
Do you use your old avatar for MMA PROFIGHTER ?If so dude ….. I just totally wiped the floor with ya in the tourney :) I hit you , you hit the ground DING DING hahaha
R u concern about the size? Just wondering since u said “returned to HW”.
It’s always a concern when you face a massive heavyweight(Silva is actually and inch taller and weighs as much as Lesnar) after fighting at light heavyweight but Kyle is a big guy as well. Silva also isn’t a wrestler so the weight isn’t as big of a deal and Silva’s reach advantage is a problem for normal heavyweights. Should be an entertaining striking battle.
I think speed will be a huge factor in this fight, because Kyle is not lacking in the power department
ya don’t really see kyle doin much here
I agree, anything can happen in a fight but this more than likely wont end well for Kyle.
True that Kyle isn’t the favorite, but he does have some options here.
If memory serves the guy trains at AKA, so they should be able to piece together a reasonably successful fightplan.
Kyle also has a lot of power, and if he can catch Bigfoot Silva early and often, it can change the complexion of the fight. What Kyle needs to avoid IMO is the old school “crowd and crush” tactic bigger guys use to smother smaller guys in cages.
Between Kyle’s global experience and AKA training, I’m sure he’s rolled with good submission fighters and strikers.
The size thing is going to be tough to deal with, but AKA helped Cain Velasquez avoid getting silverbacked by Brock Lesnar, so they shouldn’t have too tough a time sussing something workable for Kyle.
The problem as I see it is lack of gym time more than lack of size.
Bas Rutten always likes to say that technique trumps size, but technique development takes time.
Time that Kyle stepping in on short notice doesn’t have…