| Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Strikeforce | |||
| Date | December 4, 2010 | |||
| Venue | Scottrade Center | |||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri, United States | |||
| Attendance | 7,146 [1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II, was a mixed martial arts event that was held by Strikeforce on December 4, 2010 at the Scottrade Center in St Louis, Missouri, United States. [2]
The winner of the Sobral-Henderson bout was promised the next shot at Rafael Cavalcante's Light Heavyweight Championship. [3]
Undercard matches featured four protegees from Strikeforce's Fighter Exchange Program. The Fighter Exchange Program is intended to be a tie-in to the Career Mode of the EA Sports MMA game, and features multimedia documentation of four young prospects (Bettega, Cummins, Martytniuok, Phillips) traveling, learning, and training with four established veterans (Jacare Souza, Jason Miller, Gegard Mousasi, Luke Rockhold). [4] These matches were streamed live at Sherdog.com. [4]
Herschel Walker pulled out of his fight with Scott Carson due to a cut under his left eye. [5] The bout was moved to January's Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg card, where Walker defeated Carson by first round TKO.
Scott Smith was originally slated to take on Jesse Finney at this event, but would instead face the debuting Paul Daley on this same card. Before a replacement opponent could be named, Finney withdrew from the card himself due to an eye injury. [6]
Valentijn Overeem also pulled out of a bout with Antônio Silva after suffering an elbow injury. [7] Mike Kyle stepped in to replace Overeem. [8]
This was the first Strikeforce event where 4 main card fights ended in a knockout.
The event drew an estimated 341,000 viewers, with a peak at 465,000 on Showtime. [9]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Dan Henderson | def. | Renato Sobral | KO (punches) | 1 | 1:53 | |
| Welterweight | Paul Daley | def. | Scott Smith | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:09 | |
| Heavyweight | Antônio Silva | def. | Mike Kyle | TKO (punches) | 2 | 2:49 | |
| Middleweight | Robbie Lawler | def. | Matt Lindland | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:50 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Ovince St. Preux | def. | Benji Radach | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–26, 30–25) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card | |||||||
| Catchweight (130 lb) | J.W. Wright | def. | Josh Epps | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 1:29 | |
| Middleweight | Booker DeRousse | def. | Coltin Cole | TKO (strikes) | 2 | 3:04 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Mike Glenn | def. | Lee Brousseau | TKO (strikes) | 1 | 2:00 | |
| Lightweight | Matt Ricehouse | def. | Tom Aaron | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Cortez Coleman | def. | Lucas Lopes | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 2:04 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Patrick Cummins | def. | Terrell Brown | TKO (strikes) | 1 | 2:44 | |
| Lightweight | Justin Lawrence | def. | Max Martyniouk | Decision (technical) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27). | 3 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Welterweight | Wayne Phillips | def. | Fernando Bettega | Decision (split) (29–28, 29–28, 28–29) | 3 | 5:00 | |
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Daniel Jeffery Henderson is an American retired mixed martial artist and Olympic wrestler, who last competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the last Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and was the last Welterweight and Middleweight champion of Pride Fighting Championships. He was the only double champion in the history of Pride FC. Henderson was the Brazil Open '97 Tournament Champion, the UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Champion, the Rings: King of Kings 1999 Tournament Champion and the Pride Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. Henderson also challenged for the UFC Middleweight Championship (2x), the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Henderson was the first mixed martial artist to hold two titles in two different weight classes concurrently in a major MMA promotion. At the time of his retirement after UFC 204, he was the oldest fighter on the UFC roster.
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