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DIAZ & KAUFMAN RETURN TO
ACTION
 (PRESS
RELEASE) -- The STRIKEFORCE men’s and women’s Welterweight World
Champions Nick Diaz (170-pounds) and Sarah Kaufman (135-pounds) will
return to the cage on Saturday, Oct. 9 at HP Pavilion in San Jose,
LIVE on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).
Diaz will face an opponent to be named in the coming week while
Kaufman will defend her title against Dutch superstar Marloes Coenen.
Also on the explosive card, emerging star from the Strikeforce
Challengers series Luke Rockhold will risk his six-fight win streak
against MMA superstar and former Olympic wrestling silver medalist
Matt "The Law" Lindland in a featured middleweight (185 pounds)
contest.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday, August 28 at
10:00 a.m. PT online at Ticketmaster.com, at the HP Pavilion ticket
office, or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
A special presale opportunity for “STRIKEFORCE Insider” e-newsletter
subscribers begins this Wednesday, August 25 at 10:00 a.m. PT. A
special presale code will be sent out to all “STRIKEFORCE Insiders”
on Tuesday, August 24. Sign up to become a “STRIKEFORCE Insider” at
http://www.strikeforce.com/insider.html.
The 27-year-old Diaz (22-7), a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and
native of Stockton, Calif., has won seven consecutive fights since
his last loss in 2007. He is coming off a first round submission
victory (armbar) over fellow superstar Hayato “Mach” Sakurai on May
29 at DREAM 14 in Japan. Prior to that, Diaz won the STRIKEFORCE
title with a late, third-round TKO (punches) of Marius “The
Whitemare” Žaromskis at STRIKEFORCE: Miami on Jan. 30.
The undefeated Kaufman (12-0), a former ballet dancer who hails from
British Columbia, Canada, is fresh off the first defense of her
title, an explosive body slam KO of Roxanne Modafferi at STRIKEFORCE
Challengers in Everett, Wash., on July 23. The 24-year-old Kaufman,
who has won nine of her fights by KO, will face Coenen (17-4), a
submission specialist and the No. 1 contender to the STRIKEFORCE
Women’s Welterweight belt.
The 29-year-old Coenen (17-4) will fight for the first time since a
third-round TKO loss to Cris Cyborg for the STRIKEFORCE Women’s
Middleweight (145 pounds) Championship at STRIKEFORCE: Miami. Coenen,
a member of Holland’s Team Golden Glory and mixed martial artist
since the age of 14, will be moving down in weight to challenge at
135 pounds. Kaufman and Coenen have both defeated Modafferi, with
Coenen avenging a 2007 loss via first round armbar in her
STRIKEFORCE debut on Nov. 7, 2009.
Rockhold (7-1), who could prove to be one of STRIKEFORCE’s next
great middleweight superstars, has won six of his seven fights via
submission. The 25-year-old member of Team AKA is coming off a
first-round TKO (knees to body) of Paul Bradley on Feb. 26 at a
STRIKEFORCE Challengers event in San Jose. The impressive win was
the first KO victory of the Santa Cruz, Calif., native’s
professional career. Prior to his latest conquest, Rockhold had won
five straight fights by way of submission.
Lindland (22-7), who won the silver medal in Olympic Greco Roman
Wrestling at the 2000 Olympic Games, scored a third-round TKO
victory over “King” Kevin Casey on May 21 at STRIKEFORCE Challengers
in his hometown of Portland, Ore. A former UFC star who has been
competing professionally in MMA since 1997, Lindland, 40, is also a
former All-American wrestler for University of Nebraska and the 1993
NCAA Big Eight conference champion. During his stellar career,
Lindland has triumphed over a number of all-time greats including
former UFC champions Pat Miletich and Carlos Newton.
About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial
arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made
history with its "Shamrock vs. Gracie" event, the first sanctioned
mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The
star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank
Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San
Jose's HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of
18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the
exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after
12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing
promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series
with "Shamrock vs. Gracie." In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the
parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports
& Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all
business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at
San Jose. In March 2009, STRIKEFORCE signed a multi-year agreement
with SHOWTIME® to stage live events on the premium cable television
network. The promotion has since also produced two live, primetime
events on the CBS Television Network.
About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS
Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks
SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex
channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®,
SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY
ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™,
SHOWTIME 2 HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD™, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE
MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™ and FLIX ON DEMAND®. SNI also manages
Smithsonian Channel™, a joint venture between SNI and the
Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using
Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and
entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view
basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.
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