SF: LA update - Lawler vs Babalu

Hell yes!

I really like this fight.

Robbie Lawler will face Renato "Babalu" Sobral in a 195-pound catch-weight bout at Strikeforce’s June 16 event at the Nokia Theatre on Los Angeles, Sherdog.com has learned.

"[Jason "Mayhem"] Miller isn’t fighting because we believe, in speaking with the Tennessee Athletic Commission, that he will put under some type of suspension," Coker told Sherdog.com on Thursday. "After reviewing the tape (of the April 17 incident), we felt that Miller shouldn’t headline our next event. We will honor the Tennessee commission’s decision when it’s announced."

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/4/29/1451199/robbie-lawler-vs-renato-babalu

should be fun

This is going to be quite a challenge for Lawler who is a small MW/ large WW really while Babalu is a average sized LHW in a world of huge LHWs.

I think Lawler can turn this into a stand up fight where he'll have a slight edge. Even though Robbie is much smaller, he has plus wrestling defense and strength so I think he'll be able to keep it standing unless Babalu goes into full wrestling mode and avoids the stand up all together.

Im wondering about Babalu after the Mousasi beat down, will be interesting to see how he rebounds vs a good striker

Not a hell yes fight for me, but pretty solid

Mayhem should be suspended? what about Diaz and Gil?

Wow. I definetly did not see Lawler/Babalu coming. I'm looking forward to that.

Tough one to pick.

Don't really understand this fight

Birdofthad wrote:

Im wondering about Babalu after the Mousasi beat down, will be interesting to see how he rebounds vs a good striker

Well, in his last loss before Mousasi he followed it up by trying to kill David Heath.

Babalu and Lawler at Franklinweight. Nice. Another unexpected yet compelling fight out of SF. They really make these catchweight affairs work for them.

Really like it. Babalu is slick on the ground. It's a matchup of fighting styles.

Bigs03 wrote:

Really like it. Babalu is slick on the ground. It's a matchup of fighting styles.

He is slick on the ground, but he'll stand too. He's a very ell rounded fighter and right there at about 15th in the division IMO.

Farmer1906 wrote:

Bigs03 wrote:

Really like it. Babalu is slick on the ground. It's a matchup of fighting styles.

He is slick on the ground, but he'll stand too. He's a very ell rounded fighter and right there at about 15th in the division IMO.

He's well rounded but I don't think he wants to trade with Lawler.

Hate all u want, but this is a battle of the overrated to me, winner gets the overrated tag removed temporarily.

I'll take Lawler, don't expect a one shot knockout again, but I think his wrestling is strong enough to keep it standing where he'll rock Babalu and finish with a TKO.

Quote :

Hate all u want

As if it's everyone else who are the haters when it comes to SF LA...

Actually I'm sure others on the board agree both guys are a bit overrated, not all, but some.

It has little to do with SF and really just the fighters as I thought this long before they were in SF.

So where would you rank Babalu?


Ya Lawler is overrated though. What about him?


It would be hard to find more than 14 guys better than Babalu, but I could easily rank 14 MW's ahead of Lawler.

I think Lawler is a better fighter in his division then Babalu

LHW random order

Machida
Shogun
Page
Shad
Lil Nog
Anderson
Bones
Mo
Thiago
Forrest
Bader
Mousasi
Randy
Franklin
Hendo
Cane
Chuck
Vera IMO
Jardine IMO

That's all I could think of now

You could make a case for 14 of those, sure, but I think he falls somewhere around where Rich, Vera and Jardine are.


Off topic, has anyone fallen as far or as fast as Keith Jardine?

I still think Keith could take out Babulu.

I don't care about this match. It will be entertaining, but I don't care to see a small MW fight a LHW. It seems like Stirkeforce always resorts to this kind of stuff, usually it involves Diaz.

Product of opponents, look who he's losing to, nothing to be ashamed of, I think he could take Babalu personally, he's never been easy to take down, he just loses to better strikers, but I think he'd outstrike Babalu.

Vera might be falling even more

Wolf, care to share your 14 guys better than Lawler? Just curious. I have Lawler in my top 10.

He was talkin about Babalu I thought, but I'll take that one

Random order

Anderson
Sonnen
Nate
Vitor
Sheilds
Hendo
Maia
Santiago
Wandy
Okami
Akiyama
Belcher
Cote
Franklin still count him
Jacare

That's all I got now

Lawler shouldn't be fighting above 185 imo. Fight doesn't make much sense but it should be interesting to watch how it plays out.

LA's list is good. Mayhem and Cung Le would both win decisions over three rounds against him too.

I could see him winning a lot of those fights, but I don't think he is especially better than anyone on that list.