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Fantastic news: Bobby Lashley vs. Wes Sims in the works.
- Heavy.com’s Jeremy Botter tweets a new name into the last minute Lashley Sweepstakes
Sims has awful takedown defense and honestly doesn’t pose near the threat that he once did. And even in his best days never really posed much of a threat to a good wrestler. It’s the MMA version of a “get me over fastball.” They want a guy who is kind of a name and absolutely should lose to Lashley.
I guess it’s better than Jimmy Ambriz.
Strikeforce officials on Tuesday afternoon told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that journeyman heavyweight Jimmy Ambriz (14-12-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) is not fighting the former pro wrestler at “Strikeforce: Miami,” despite a seal of approval from the Florida State Boxing Commission. Despite the latest setback, officials said they felt confident a replacement opponent would be found in time for the Jan. 30 event, which features a welterweight title bout between Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis and will be broadcast live on Showtime. … Officials said the promotion was “starting from square one” in the search for a heavyweight to face Lashley.
- MMA Junkie confirms Jimmy Ambriz is out as Bobby Lashley’s Opponent.
Word on the street is that Ambriz was given Strikeforce’s seal of approval, Lashley’s camp was good with the fight, but Showtime turned it down. With Showtime having veto power on these things it left the promotion starting over with ten days to go until the weigh in. Not good news for Strikeforce.
The promotion is currently still exploring options for the Lashley fight with names like John Devine (5-1) being floated.
SBNation.com will have more information once a final opponent is named.
Strikeforce says Jimmy Ambriz “definitely” not fighting Lashley on 1/30. Still no opponent decided. Lashley will be w/ us @siriusfightclub
- The very reliable Ariel Helwani tweets that previously rumored Bobby Lashley opponent Jimmy Ambriz is out.
Ariel did tweet later that some people are insisting that Ambriz is still a possibility but it sounds like it’s anything but a sure thing.
Jimmy Ambriz has been selected to fight Bobby Lashley at the upcoming Strikeforce: Miami show on January 30, 2010.
- Five Ounces of Pain confirms the bout.
Ambriz is a late replacement for Yohan Banks who was denied by the Florida commission for competitive reasons. Ambriz sports a career record of 14-12-1 with multiple fights against tough competition. It’s certainly a step up from Yohan Banks, but does still remain a fight that Lashley should be a very heavy favorite to win.
MMA Junkie with the rather surprising news:
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the event that heavyweight Yohan Banks (2-1 MMA, 2-0 SF) was not approved by the Florida State Boxing Commission as an opponent for Bobby Lashley (4-0 MMA, 0-0 SF), and the former WWE star is still without an opponent for the event.
An FSBC representative said the decision to decline Banks as an opponent for Lashley was made based on a review of the fighters’ records, at which point the commission “determined that the bout was not competitive.”
Banks has been off boxing in 2009 racking up a rather unspectacular 0-2-2 record after getting a win in under 20 seconds in his last MMA bout on a Strikeforce card.
Strikeforce is now scrambling to find an opponent competitive enough for Florida who is going to be willing to face Lashley with less than two weeks in camp. Personally, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Strikeforce try to push Lashley’s bout back to the CBS card and move the Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs bout up to the main card.
Standing in his way is two-time Strikeforce “Young Guns” competitor Yohan Banks.
“The Body Snatcher” hasn’t seen the inside of a cage since knocking out Michael Diaz at “Young Guns 3” back in September 2008; however, Banks has been busy as a pugilistic fighting out of his Undisputed Boxing Gym in California and compiling a 2-3-3 record in the sweet science.
- MMA Mania with some details on the rumored opponent of Bobby Lashley for January 30th
MMA Weekly had the original news of Banks as Lashley’s opponent.
Previous rumors of the possibility of the two fast rising prospects facing off during the card that will take place from Sunrise, Florida were widespread in recent weeks after a big “TBA” was listed as Lashley’s opponent for the upcoming event, but FiveOuncesofPain.com has recently been able to confirm through Del Rosario himself that the bout between the two will in fact, not be happening.
Not on January 30 at least.
However, according to Del Rosario the rumors were much more than pure gossip as the bout was absolutely on the table. As a matter of fact, not only was the match-up on the table, it was actually agreed to by both sides at one point according to Shane.
At this time Lashley’s opponent is still listed as TBA. Del Rosario will fight on the March Strikeforce event.
From a Strikeforce press release in my inbox as of 11:50pm:
NEW YORK (December 10, 2009)-Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) heavyweight champion and undefeated mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter has signed a multi-year agreement with STRIKEFORCE and will make his debut for the world championship MMA promotion at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday, January 30.
The 6 foot 3 inch, 250 pound Lashley, also a former collegiate wrestling star for Missouri Valley College and member of The United States Army, will face an opponent that has not yet been determined during the live, SHOWTIME® telecast of STRIKEFORCE: Miami, the historic, first-ever STRIKEFORCE event in the state of Florida.
In his last MMA start on June 27, 2009, the 33-year-old pulverized and scored a first round (3:17) TKO on 6 foot 5 inch, 350 plus pound goliath Bob "The Beast" Sapp with a barrage of punches in Biloxi, Mississippi. The win brought Lashley's overall MMA record to 4-0.
This signing has been rumored since Strikeforce's Scott Coker promised two new heavyweight signings following their November 7 CBS event. The other rumored heavyweight name was Andrei Arlovski. This move has some parallels to the UFC's move to get Brock Lesnar except that Lashley never managed to hit the levels of stardom that Lesnar did in the WWE despite being a champion and headlining a Wrestlemania event.
Lashley's MMA career has, to this point, been successful but it is hard to really gauge his true progression as fights against guys like Bob Sapp and Jason Guida are far from major tests for someone of Bobby's athletic abilities.
Lashley joins Dan Henderson in being major signings for the promotion this week which is a sign that the somewhat limited success of the CBS show has not slowed down the promotion's willingness to sign names and try to push forward.
More details to come on the event as they emerge.
Wes Sims Confirmed As Bobby Lashley's Opponent At Strikeforce: Miami
Is this whole soap opera finally over? It appears so. MMA Mania has the details:
As we previously mentioned, Sims is not exactly a step up in competition for Lashley. His recent appearance on TUF 10 left a lot to be desired as he was ousted in his opening match against an inexperienced Justin Wren.
Jan 22 3:25p by James Kimball - 0 comments