Though Strikeforce was purchased by the UFC some time ago, it lives on - and continues to put on solid shows with some solid talent still on the roster. Much of that talent will be featured on the next card: Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey. That main event will be between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey, for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship. That's one very good reason that Strikeforce is still around: women's MMA.
The talent pool may be small and stretched thin of late, but the UFC doesn't have any women's division and that's a shame, because it's generally just as entertaining as men's MMA. For this event, the Bay Area isn't just represented by the fact that Strikeforce is still based in San Jose, there's about six ties on the card, including both of the main event fighters. Tate fights out of Sacramento, CA, while Rousey was born in the state, lives in the state and fights out of Santa Monica.
Josh Thomson fights out of San Jose, while the ever-exciting K.J. Noons fights out of San Diego. Finally, Scott Smith and Conor Heun also fight out of different parts of California. Al-in-all, there's some strong fights on the card, so let's take a look at the full card, with the event set for March 3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH.
Main Card
Miesha Tate (12-2) vs. Ronda Rousey (4-0)
K.J. Noons (11-4) vs. Josh Thomson (18-4, 1 NC)
Paul Daley (29-11-2) vs. Kazuo Misaki (24-11-2)
Ronaldo Souza (14-2, 1 NC) vs. Bristol Marunde (15-6)
Scott Smith (17-9, 1 NC) vs. Lumumba Sayers (5-2)
Preliminary Card
Sarah Kaufman (14-1) vs. Alexis Davis (11-4)
Caros Fodor (7-1) vs. Pat Healy (26-16)
Ryan Couture (3-1) vs. Conor Heun (9-4)
Roger Bowling (10-2) vs. Brandon Saling (8-5)