Wednesday, Jan. 5, at Nashville Mixed Martial Arts, 2 p.m. CT
WHO: Strikeforce Challengers main card fighters
- Undefeated Main Event Fighter and Rising Star Tyron Woodley
- U.S. Olympic Wrestler and Undefeated MMA Heavyweight Daniel Cormier
- U.S. Olympic Judo Player and Unbeaten MMA Light Heavyweight Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
- Former Vols Star Linebacker Ovince Saint Preux
- Women’s Middleweight Prospect Julia Budd
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 5, at 2 p.m. CT
WHERE: Nashville Mixed Martial Arts, 490 Allied Drive, Suite C, Nashville, Tenn., 37211 — Phone: 615-297-4430
WHAT: The fighters who will compete on a STRIKEFORCE Challengers Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event Friday, Jan. 7, live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast)) from Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., will participate in an open workout in Nashville just two days before the eagerly awaited event.
The 28-year-old Woodley (7-0), a two-time All-American NCAA wrestler for the University of Missouri and St. Louis native, will take on fellow fast-rising star Tarec “The Sponge” Saffiedine (10-2), of Temecula, Calif., in the main event.
Cormier (6-0), a 31-year-old, two-time U.S. Olympic wrestling team member who placed fourth in the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece, will face Devin Cole (18-8-1) of Medford, Ore. The ambitious Cormier competed successfully five times in 2010.
Ferguson (2-0), the only athlete to compete in the Olympic Games, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) World Championships and the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships, was a three-sport star at Howard University in the mid-90s competing in football, wrestling and track & field. While training for the Olympics, he furthered his schooling and received a doctorate in education in ’09 from Capella University. The 35-year-old will face undefeated Ion Cherdivara (1-0), of Montreal, Canada, on Friday.
Saint Preux (9-4), who’ll take on “Abongo” Humphrey (7-2), of Atlanta, played for the Vols from 2001-2004. After graduating with a degree in Sociology in ’04, he went on to compete in Tennessee’s first sanctioned MMA event on Feb. 20, 2009. On Friday, the 27-year-old will become the first fighter in history to compete in three consecutive STRIKEFORCE events. He has won six in a row.
The promising, 27-year-old Budd (1-0), a chiseled athletic specimen from British Columbia, Canada, will face Amanda “Lioness Of The Ring’’ Nunes (5-1), of Patterson, N.J., by way of Salvador, Brazil, in a women’s middleweight (145 pounds) match. Budd, a seasoned kickboxer, recorded her first pro MMA victory, a second round TKO over Shana Olsen in STRIKEFORCE Challengers competition last Oct. 22.
Tickets are on sale at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium ticket office, all Ticketmaster locations (800) 745-3000 including Kroger and FYE, Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com) and STRIKEFORCE’s official website (www.strikeforce.com).