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PHOENIX NATIVE JOE "DIESEL" RIGGS TO FACE LOUIS TAYLOR
 (PRESS
RELEASE) -- Phoenix native and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) star Joe
"Diesel" Riggs will headline a stacked STRIKEFORCE Challengers event
from Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz., when he takes on knockout
artist Louis Taylor at a catch weight of 182 pounds in the main
event on Friday, Aug. 13, LIVE on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed
on the west coast).
The event, STRIKEFORCE's first in the state of Arizona, will also
feature a four-woman single elimination welterweight (135 pound)
tournament comprised of four female prospects to be announced soon.
The tournament will be completed over the course of the evening's
fight card.
The winner of the tournament will likely face the champion of the
July 23 STRIKEFORCE Women's Welterweight Title fight between
undefeated, defending champ Sarah Kaufman and challenger Roxanne
Modafferi in Everett, Wash., LIVE on SHOWTIME.
Tickets for the Aug. 13 Challengers event will be available
beginning Saturday, July 17 at 10 a.m. PT through www.livenation.com , www.STRIKEFORCE.com , the Dodge Theatre Box Office, any Ticketmaster outlet
or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
A former super heavyweight who once competed at over 300 pounds, the
27-year-old Riggs (32-12) is now a dangerous threat in multiple
STRIKEFORCE divisions. He holds the rare distinction of having
competed at heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, and
welterweight during the course of his eight-year career.
A former UFC star, Riggs holds notable victories over STRIKEFORCE
Welterweight champ Nick Diaz, Kendall Grove, Chris Lytle and "The
N.Y. Badass" Phil Baroni. He is coming off a controversial unanimous
decision loss to streaking, former world champ Jay Hieron at
STRIKEFORCE: Miami on Jan. 30, 2010.
Prior to the loss to Hieron, the 6-foot Riggs tallied up four
consecutive wins including an impressive unanimous decision victory
over Baroni at STRIKEFORCE: Lawler vs. Shields on June 6, 2010 in
St. Louis, Mo.
Taylor (6-1), of Chicago, has rattled off two consecutive knockout
wins since his first career loss to Nate Moore on the undercard of
the STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL: Fedor vs. Rogers event in Hoffman
Estates, Ill. on Nov. 7, 2009.
The 5-foot-11 Taylor has scored knockouts in four of his six
consecutive victories and has only gone to the judges scorecards
once in his professional career.
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 SHOWTIMEŽ 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.
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