Roger Gracie vs. Kevin Randleman May 15th

Sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman (17-14 MMA, 0-1 SF) is the leading candidate to face the grappling ace at the as-yet-unannounced show, which is likely to be hosted by the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., and air live on Showtime.

Randleman, however, is not confirmed as an opponent, and PRIDE and UFC veteran Rameau Thierry Sokodjou (7-6 MMA, 0-1 SF) is also under consideration should the original matchup fizzle.

Gracie, a second-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu under Carlos Gracie Jr., announced he had signed with Strikeforce this past December at "Strikeforce: Evolution," though his promotional debut was rumored and did not materialize on two fall 2009 cards.

Gracie, 28, is one of the most decorated grapplers to transition into MMA and made his fighting debut in December 2006 with a submission victory over Ron Waterman. He has appeared only once since then and posted a submission victory over Japanese veteran Yuki Kondo in May 2008 at World Victory Road's Sengoku Second Battle.

Randleman returned to active competition in May 2008 after a year-plus layoff due to injuries and personal problems. He fell short in his two most recent appearances: a unanimous-decision loss to Mike Whitehead this past June at "Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields" and a split0decision loss to Stanislav Nedkov at Sengoku 11th Battle this past November.

Sokodjou, meanwhile, is also on a two-fight slide with TKO losses to Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi (in a non-title fight) at at "Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers" and Ikuhisa Minowa at "K-1 Dynamite!! 2009."

The May 15 Strikeforce event is expected to feature the return of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem as he takes on the hard-hitting Brett Rogers. Another heavyweight match-up pitting Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is also expected for the card.

Gracie’s debut is slated for the televised portion of the May 15 event.

I'd prefer Sokoudjou

Hopefully this Gracie has more than 3 minutes of cardio to him.

sounds good, overeem vs rogers and big foot vs sndrei sounds fun also

LudoCain wrote:

Hopefully this Gracie has more than 3 minutes of cardio to him.

This is the bad ass Gracie lol. Way better then that scrub that fought in the UFC.

muayjitsu wrote:

LudoCain wrote:

Hopefully this Gracie has more than 3 minutes of cardio to him.

This is the bad ass Gracie lol. Way better then that scrub that fought in the UFC.

I have been waiting for a good Gracie since Royce. I hope this one is decent and can fight without a Gi unlike Royce.

The encouraging sign from Roger Gracie is that in his 2 career fights he has fought and beat pretty good competition for your first two fights in Waterman and Kondo.

Rolles mainly fought guys with losing records before getting into the UFC. I'm confused of why they went after Rolles. I'm thinking his affiliation with Greg Jackson camp and probably Renzo Gracie encouraged that signing. Roger Gracie has been linked to SF for some time now, so maybe he was unavailable.

http://www.graciemag.com/en/2010/03/roger-confirms-randleman-fight-may-15/

It's Monster

while I don't have much interest in Randleman, he is at least more credible then Sims, and Im sure he'll come in in better shape.

Hopefully this Gracie will live up to the name.

Want to know how stupidly ridiculous this card is?

Alistair Overeem is slated to fight Brett Rogers; Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva will appear on the undercard.

Per Jake Rossen. AA and Big foot on the undercard? That matchup is sick to be on an undercard.

MikeyLikesIt wrote:

Want to know how stupidly ridiculous this card is?

Alistair Overeem is slated to fight Brett Rogers; Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva will appear on the undercard.

Per Jake Rossen. AA and Big foot on the undercard? That matchup is sick to be on an undercard.

I think they mean undercard in the boxing sense of the word, as in not the main event. I can't see AA being on the untelevised portion of the card.