By Brian Hemminger

Believe it or not, there are other mixed martial arts promotions out there other than the UFC.  The top rival promotion at the moment happens to be Strikeforce, which is based out of California but has been growing steadily and currently possesses the best fighting talent outside of the UFC.

Their latest fight card, which will be broadcast for free on CBS this Saturday November 7^th has some serious appeal.  In my opinion, their four main card fights rival just about anything the UFC has put out on PPV in a long time.  There will be two title fights, as well as non-title fight with their current light heavyweight champion.  What they don’t have, is a solid undercard.  No one outside the most hardcore MMA fans knows much about the undercard fights, and most likely we won’t be seeing any of them unless they finish spectacularly. 

Kicking off the main card is a heavyweight showdown between former UFC contender Fabricio Werdum and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.  Werdum was cut from of the UFC after a surprise TKO loss to Junior Dos Santos where he looked slow and flabby but he looked very good in his last fight, a submission victory over Mike Kyle.  Antonio Silva is currently on a six fight winning streak, but he is trying to redeem himself from a positive steroid test when he won the EliteXC heavyweight title last year.  Silva should have a slight striking advantage over Werdum, although both are well versed in Muay Thai.  Werdum most definitely will have the grappling advantage, he won the 2009 ADCC heavyweight tournament this year and he has proven he has the best jiu jitsu of any heavyweight.  The winner of this fight will most likely face the winner of the Fedor/Rogers main event.

Another intriguing bout will be between rising superstar and current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi and former UFC fighter “The African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.  At only 24 years old, Mousasi is already believed to be the best light heavyweight MMA fighter outside of the UFC.  A strong performance will further cement that status.  Soukoudjou made waves coming out of Pride with big victories over Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira with his solid kickboxing skills but he came back down to Earth fast in the UFC going 1-2 before being cut.  Mousasi is 26-2, dynamic, and has some of the best ground and pound skills in mixed martial arts.  I expect a dominant victory in a fight that does not last very long and would be surprised by anything else.

In a fight that could possibly eclipse the main event in terms of excitement, Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Jake Shields will duke it out for the middleweight title which was vacated when Cung Le decided making movies were more important than defending his belt.  Jake Shields has quietly become one of the top welterweight/middleweight fighters in the world with a very strong wrestling background and elite jiu jitsu skills.  Mayhem Miller is known more for his dynamic personality than his actual fighting skills, but he has also amassed a 22-6 fighting record and he has avenged his losses to all but elite fighters Chael Sonnen, Frank Trigg (in his prime) and Georges St. Pierre.  Neither fighter possesses a ton of knockout power so I expect this fight to go to the ground, where Shields has better wrestling and submission skills.  Miller has proven in the past that he is nearly impossible to submit so I feel whoever has more heart will end up champion.

Lastly, the world will finally be introduced to Fedor Emelianenko as he faces off against undefeated heavyweight Brett “The Grim” Rogers.  Fedor is highly regarded as not only the best heavyweight in the world, but also the best pound for pound fighter.  Emelianenko is undefeated in his last 25 fights and is coming off back to back dominant first round finishes against former UFC champions Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.  Needless to say, Rogers will have his hands full.  Rogers skyrocketed into stardom after a vicious first round KO of Arlovski this past June and, while he has some serious power in his hands, I don’t think he is even close to Emelianenko’s caliber in the striking game.  Fedor has won fights nearly every way possible with his dominant sambo, judo, and submission skills and I don’t expect anything less here.  What I find more intriguing is if Fedor can finally break through and become a ratings hit.  His extremely high fighting salary, doubled with a difficult management team has been a part of the downfall of multiple fighting promotions Pride, Bodog Fights and Affliction.  Will the Fedor curse continue with Strikeforce?  They have a lot riding on this fight and I’m very interested in how everything turns out.