Former Tennessee Vol, Ovince St. Preux, Added to Jan. 7 Strikeforce Challengers Card
Added on Dec 15, 2010 by Brian Blake in
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Last week SportsBettingWorld.com reported that the undefeated Tyron Woodley would be taking on Tarec Saffiedine in the main event of the January 7 Strikeforce: Challengers event in Nashville, Tenn. This week we’ve learned that the former collegiate football player turned mixed martial artist, Ovince St. Preux will be taking on Ron “Abongo” Humphrey on the same card.
St. Preux will make history within the San Jose based organization as he becomes the first fighter to compete on three consecutive Strikeforce events starting with November’s Challengers card in Jackson, Mississippi where the 6-foot-3, 27-year-old Saint Preux walked away with a three round unanimous decision over Antwain Britt.
Next up was a fight he took willingly on short notice just last week in St. Louis against veteran fighter Benji Radach whom was also unanimously outpointed by the former Tennessee Vol after three tough rounds.
“I always thought I was fighting Jan. 7, but when I had a chance to take the fight (with Radach), I took it,” said Saint Preux, a member of Knoxville Martial Arts Academy who passed what most expected to be his toughest test in impressive fashion. “That was a good fight and a hard fight that we both took on short notice but there was no way I could turn down fighting in Tennessee.
“I like to stay busy and I’m in the gym training, working out and trying to improve all the time anyway. So why not fight again? Besides, this is like a home game for me.”
Fighting in Tennessee has proven to be a great thing for St. Preux as he hasn’t lost while competing in his home state, which includes his 47 second win over Chris Hawk in his Strikeforce debut earlier this year. Now he’s looking to make it 4-0 in The Volunteer State.
After getting off to a shaky start by dropping consecutive decisions in his first two fights, St. Preux rebounded with three impressive stoppage wins in a row. The first came in the form of a knockout via head kick which was followed by two submission wins.
However, there was trouble in paradise when Nik Fakete dealt him another decision loss in a bout held in Aruba. Things didn’t get much better in his final bout of 2009 which was held in Puerto Rico where Virgil Zwicker knocked St. Preux out at the 46 second mark of the second round.
2010 was a turning point in the young fighters career as he has seemingly improved leaps and bounds with each of his performances. Since the Zwicker loss St. Preux fought an impressive six times this year and managed to run the table by utilizing size, strength and his improved skill set.
Given his improvement, don’t be too surprised if the red hot prospect pulls off the win on January 7 in Nashville.
Given his dedication, you should be even less surprised if he ends up on the January 29 event in San Jose as well.
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