Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson Championship Double-Header Preview and Betting Lines

Added on Mar 05, 2011 by Brian Blake in

UFC & MMA

Tonight Showtime Sports presents a world championship double-header as Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael “Feijao” Calvacante puts his coveted title on the line against former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson.

In the co-main event of the evening women’s welterweight queen Marloes Coenen of the Netherlands defends her crown against undefeated Liz Carmouche. Prior to the championship clashes Tim Kennedy and Melvin Manhoef will square off in a middleweight clash along with lightweights Billy Evangelista and Jorge Masvidal squaring off in the televised opening bout.

The event will mark the first time that the Strikeforce organization has held an event in the state of Ohio as the Nationwide Arena in Columbus plays host to the anticipated night of fights.

Light Heavyweight Championship: (+145) Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. (-175) Dan “Hendo” Henderson

Tomorrow night “Feijao” undoubtedly heads into the toughest fight of his career. In Henderson’s nearly 14 years in the sport the Temecula resident has faced some of the very best in the business. His experience gives him not just the edge in the quality of opposition, but also in regards to him having proved himself capable of making it through a five round bout. Cavalcante, on the other hand, has yet to see the final bell in one of his fights and has only made it to the third round on two occasions.

Despite Cavalcante being a member of Team Blackhouse and training with the likes of Anderson Silva and the Noguiera Brothers, he’s still has quite a bit to learn. The strongest aspect of his game is without a doubt his stand up, while other aspects, like his wrestling for example, need improvement if he wants to contend with the sport’s elite.

Considering that between the two of them they only have three wins via submission I fully expect this bout to be heavily geared towards striking. One thing that the underdog champion has to be very cautious of is Henderson’s huge advantage in wrestling. The former Olympic and collegiate standout has the ability to take Cavalcante down, gain the dominant position and then ground and pound his way to a win. Cavalcante is going to have to accurately time Henderson on his way in to avoid the takedown. Despite having some highlight reel knockouts while on his feet, it is in Henderson’s best interest to take this fight to the ground and exchange strikes from there.

When it’s all said and done, I’m going to have to lean towards the 40 year old Henderson with his experience as well as being the more well rounded fighter to win this one and add the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship to his already impressive MMA list of achievements. Henderson uses all five rounds to wear down Cavalcante and takes a one sided unanimous decision.

Women’s Welterweight Championship: (-400) Marloes Coenen vs. (+300) Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche

After originally signing to fight and spending countless hours preparing to face Meisha Tate, Marloes was thrown a curveball after it was announced that Tate had suffered a knee injury while training and that Liz Carmouche would serve as her replacement.

Other than her last outing against Jan Finney which was televised by Showtime, there’s not a ton of footage out there in order to properly scout Carmouche. Having only five career fights with a variety of finishes it’s tough to accurately gauge what to expect from the challenger tonight.

That being said, Coenen is going to have to utilize her vast experience advantage to do what she does and that’s to take the fight to the ground and look for the submission as that’s how 13 of her 18 wins have come by. Matter of fact, her last bout in which she took the title from then champion Sarah Kaufman came by way of a third round armbar.

On the other hand, in addition to two losses via decision, Coenen has been knocked out on two occasions. Carmouche’s best chance might be to stop the champion with her stand up game.

I think the champion, Coenen, retains her title in this one as she becomes the first woman to beat and ultimately stop Carmouche with a third round submission in her first title defense.

The rest of the betting lines (provided by our friends at BetUS.com) are as follows:

Middleweights: (-300) Tim Kennedy vs. (+220) Melvin Manhoef
Lightweights: (+110) Billy Evangelista vs. (-140) Jorge Masvidal
Welterweights: (-280) Roger Bowling vs. (+210) Josh Thornburg
Lightweights: (-450) Jorge Gurgel vs. (+325) Billy Vaughan
Middleweights: (+275) Ian Rammel vs. (-375) Brian Rodgers