Strikeforce Challengers: “Santos vs. Villasenor” Event a Potential Face-Punching Party
Published by Jim Genia on June 17th, 2009 in Current Events

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It may be “Strikeforce Lite”, but Friday night’s installment of Strikeforce Challengers (dubbed “Santos vs. Villasenor”) could be a crowd-pleasing face-punching party. As the moniker implies, the Showtime-broadcast event is headlined by Chute Boxe representative Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and Greg Jackson-trained Joey Villasenor – two men known for their frequent visits to the knuckle buffet. But a closer look at the rest of the card reveals a bevy of competitors who, while at first glance may seem to be grapplers, are really big on throwing leather. Or eating leather.

Canadian dancer-turned-fighter Sarah Kaufman picked apart Miesha Tate in her last trip to the cage, so this time around she gets to put her boxing skills to use against submission specialist Shayna Baszler (note: in lieu of the promotion’s usual three-minute round format used for female MMA bouts, this one will consist of five-minute rounds). Baszler has got more than enough experience and craftiness to tap Kaufman out, but as her destruction at the hands of Cristiane Santos in EliteXC proved, Baszler doesn’t always emerge unscathed. Look for her to get her grill touched at least once before catching Kaufman in something slick.

Jorge Gurgel sports a jiu-jitsu black belt and is credited as the man who taught former UFC champ Rich Franklin how to grapple. But for some odd reason, whenever the cage door swings shut he likes to pretend he’s a kickboxer, which has resulted in a mottled career in the Octagon and getting cut loose from their roster. Meanwhile, Eddie Bravo-student Conor Heun likes to bang, and his bout against Edson Berto at EliteXC’s last outing was an absolute bloodbath. Is this one going to be settled on the ground? Not likely. Watch for Gurgel and Heun to plaster each other bloody with all manner of strikes until either the referee wades in wearing a biohazard suit or the final bell tolls.

Nick Thompson is an attorney and Tim Kennedy is a Special Forces operative recently back from the Middle East, yet when the two meet on Friday it will be one well-rounded fighter against another. How well can they strike? To earn his BodogFIGHT championship belt, Thompson utilized his reach to put down Philly slugger Eddie Alvarez, while Kennedy has dropped bombs on foes in the IFL and Extreme Challenge. With Thompson’s training under Minnesota Martial Arts’ Greg Nelson and Kennedy’s Machado black belt, there’s no question that they’re capable at submissions, but a look into the crystal ball reveals punches to the face aplenty. Expect Thompson’s experience to win the day and leave him the last man standing.

Dennis Hallman-trained Cory Devela and American Kickboxing Academy rep Luke Rockhold are grapplers through and through, so there may not be much by way of fistic fireworks when they meet. But whatever their bout lacks, the Santos/Villasenor marquee match-up should make up for it. As a Chute Boxer, Santos (the husband of Cristiane) made his bones in Brazil’s hardcore vale tudo leagues, soccer kicking his way to bigger bouts in Japan and the UK. And while he hopefully won’t be employing those same techniques against Villasenor (techniques illegal under the Unified Rules), it’s likely he’s going to come out swinging against “Smokin’ Joe”. Look for Villasenor, who’s fallen to flying knees and punches from Robbie Lawler and Murilo Rua but dropped Phil Baroni and Ryan Jensen with his boxing, to swing back with fury. Villasenor should take this one.

It may be short on big names, but this edition of Strikeforce Challengers should provide for some decent fist-in-face action.