Strikeforce Targeting Robbie Lawler vs. Ronaldo Souza in Fall

Strikeforce is looking to book a middleweight match-up between Robbie Lawler and Ronaldo Souza on the same card that will feature the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers bout later this year on Showtime. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker informed FanHouse of the news at the Emelianenko public workout at the FightHouse gym in New York City on Wednesday.

Coker said that he has yet to talk to Lawler's manager, Monte Cox, about the fight, but is hopeful a deal can be reached.

Cox told FanHouse on Wednesday that he would prefer to see Lawler fight a striker, but would be open to the bout.

"[Coker] hasn't spoke to me about it at all," Cox said. "Robbie is going to fight top people. I would rather Robbie fight a striker. We would like to find Robbie someone that would stand up and throw punches with us, but they have to do what they have to do.

"We wanted to fight on the last show. we're certainly ready to fight on this one."

Coker also said that Matt Lindland is expected to make his Strikeforce debut on the same card, but no decision has been made on whether the Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Jake Shields interim middleweight title bout will also take place on the same card.

Strikeforce is looking to hold their next major Showtime event towards the end of October or early November. No final decision has been on the location, however, Minnesota is one of the leading candidates to host it.

Lawler made his Strikeforce debut in June, losing to Shields via first-round guillotine submission. This would mark Souza's first Strikeforce fight. The Brazilian's last fight against Miller at DREAM.9 ended in a no contest when Miller landed an illegal kick, which open a large cut on his forehead.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-26-2009 @ 7:48PM

gillygodfried said...

fedor is "the best" but he's not fighting the champ, hmmmm...........

(eat it rj)

8-26-2009 @ 9:02PM

RJ said...

That's because Overeem's hand isn't healed yet moron.

If you don't know what's going on stay out of the discussion.

I also don't appreciate being called out by people I don't even know.

As for this fight I agree with Monte Cox I'd rather see Lawler matched up with another slugger like Benji Radach or Melvin Manhoef.
Why have Robbie fight another jui-jitsu specialist who's going to spend the whole fight not wanting to engage when he could fight another guy who would make for an exciting brawl.

8-26-2009 @ 10:20PM

johnnynumber5 said...

@Gilly

Stop trolling and get a life. Quit stalking RJ because he has a different opinion. Grow up already.

8-27-2009 @ 2:42PM

Turkish said...

Actually Alistair Overeem has a K-1 fight scheduled for the end of September the 26th I believe with Peter Aerts.

I imagine that Strikeforce doesn't want to have to wait until the end of the year to have Fedor fight so the next best thing is to have him fight Rogers who's undefeated and fresh off his KO of Arlovski.

8-26-2009 @ 8:59PM

jmend25 said...

Nice fight here. This or against Lindland would be pretty good.

Fedor vs Rogers
Shields vs Mayhem
Jacare vs Lawler
Lindland vs TBA

Wow!

8-26-2009 @ 10:28PM

Looks like Lindland will meet Frank Shamrock on that card if reports are to be believed.

8-26-2009 @ 10:27PM

I like Ronaldo Souza a lot and I think he is one of the better middleweights in the world of MMA. I think he would give Lawler a good challenge which is why Cox isn't excited about the prospects of this fights. It's kind of disrespectful for Cox to imply he may not want his guy to fight Souza because he is a BJJ guy. This is MMA and I would hope the best fight it out without respect to styles. Lawler needs to prove he can handle a BJJ guy otherwise he has a big hole in his game.

No one can say that Strikeforce isn't putting on great cards. The last card was stacked from top to bottom with exciting fights and this one with Fedor is also shaping up to be a great alternative to paying $60 for a PPV event.

I've heard rumors that Shamrock could fight Lindland on this card as well. Hopefully we get the Diaz vs Hieron fight as well that was taken from us when Diaz got stoned and forgot he had a drug test ... twice!

Lawler vs Manhoef would also be one hell of a fight ... Strikeforce is putting it's best foot forward thats for sure. I like getting a card with more than one or two compelling fights. *cough* UFC 101 *cough*

8-27-2009 @ 11:51AM

neozoo said...

hey johnny,
what was so great and exciting about sf's last card, other than main event.
i am going to basically reprint what i wrote to you as a reply from after watching that card....
i'm curious on your opinion in response to my thoughts, because we've seen things differently in the past and probably will in the future as well, har har.

1st - mousasi looked awesome. he definately looks like the real deal.
however, here's the problem for him, even more so than fedor. there is absolutely no real competition for him in sf. sf's lhw division is basically non-existant. sobral, won the championship by beating bobby southworth. and don't try telling me that southworth is really a challenge. also ufc unleashed just showed sobral getting knocked out by a fat looking jason lambert.
it seems mousasi's only real test in sf might be at hw. watching mousasi only makes me wish he was in ufc and mark my words he will end up there.

2nd - i thought the main event was really good and fun to watch.

3rd - i thought the first two fights were kind of lame and predictable.
werdum beating mike kyle...mike kyle? mousasi looks like he could beat both of them at the same time.
melendez/ishida...melendez looked okay, but he was fighting a guy that really can't hit. if thats top of the food chain for sf and dream, i'm sorry it just didn't impress me. it looked like sean sherk could've easily beat either one

4th - to say that overall this card was great is imo an overstatement. and yes, this card was better than ufc 101. but that's not saying much, considering ufc 101 was one of the worst cards i've ever seen. wec's card was more intriguing and better than either one of these cards.
yes, the main event was good.
but watching mousasi destroy sobral was no different than watching silva destroy griffin.
and to say otherwise is just being biased one way or the other.
so yes, sf's card was better than ufc 101, but only because of the main event.
look, that's just my opinion and the way i saw it. it doesn't make me right or wrong.

5th - mousasi also really impressed me with his sportsmanship and ability to recognize a defenseless opponent. something i wish hendo would have done and still to this day disappoints me. that kind of karma is good one way (mousasi) and bad the other way (hendo).

lastly, some observations...
yes, i ragged on mike kyle, but really he weighed in at 219lbs and that's really light for a hw...
anyone to watch a taped event over a live event is just not a true mma fan.....
and for whatever reason the ufc is the only mma right now to be able to realistically offer ppv.

i think i'm being pretty objective here, however, i am really curious your response to my thoughts.