On Friday, November 20, 2009, Strikeforce will make its first foray into the Sunflower State with the fifth installment of its ShoMMA series on Showtime. ShoMMA – Strikeforce Challengers 5 will take place at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. The main event of the evening will take place in the welterweight division, as Tyron Woodley battles Rudy Bears. Also featured on the main card, will be a women’s 135-pound bout between Kim Couture and Kerry Vera. This match will take place just 6 days after Couture’s ex-husband Randy Couture fought Vera’s husband Brandon Vera in the main event of UFC 105. ShoMMA – Strikeforce Challengers 5 has five bouts scheduled to appear on the main card, which will be televised on Showtime in the United States at 11:00 p.m. EST/PST.
The main event of the evening will feature one of MMA’s most intriguing welterweight prospects. Growing up in the state just across the border from Kansas City, Kansas, where he will be fighting on Friday night, Tyron Woodley is one of Missouri’s most decorated amateur wrestlers. Growing up in the St. Louis area, Woodley was a two-time state finalist in high school wrestling, where he finished 48-0 and won a state title. He then received scholarships from several Division I wrestling programs, but opted to stay at home to help rebuild the University of Missouri wrestling program in which he was the team captain from 2003-2005. During his collegiate career, he was a two-time All-American, one-time Big-12 champion, and amassed 110 career NCAA wins. Since making his MMA debut earlier this year, Woodley has utilized his wrestling background and jiu-jitsu training via American Top Team to submit all four of his opponents.
Woodley’s opponent will be a man who is very familiar to the venue and town where they will be fighting at on Friday night. In August, Rudy Bears defeated KOTC and WEC veteran Brendan Seguin via TKO in the same building, Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, where Woodley and Bears will meet. Bear’s win over Seguin took place at M-1 Global – Breakthrough and was Bear’s biggest win to date. The fight took place on the undercard of an event headlined by newly signed Strikeforce star Mo Lawal and UFC legend Mark Kerr. Bears holds a 10-3 professional MMA record with all 3 of his losses coming by way of submission. This means he will clearly have his work cut out for him if he expects continue his success over the slick submission artist Woodley. This will also be the first time either man has been featured in a main event.
Also on the main card on Friday night will be a bout featuring Kim Couture and Kerry Vera. The bout will take place in the Strikeforce women’s 135-pund division and will take place just 6 days after Couture’s ex-husband Randy Couture fought Vera’s husband Brandon Vera in the main event of UFC 105. In the most high-profile battle of spouses (ex-spouses), Kerry Vera will look to avenge her husband’s controversial decision loss that took place less than one week ago. In that bout, her husband Brandon Vera dropped a judge’s decision to Kim Couture’s ex-husband Randy Couture in a bout many felt Vera should have won. This time around, the ladies will look to settle things more decisively and with less controversy. Couture is 1-1 since making her MMA debut in June 2008. She won her first fight via TKO in Strikeforce nearly one year ago to the day. Vera, who was on the television show "Fight Girls" in 2006 and in the Ultimate Women Challenge in 2009, won her MMA debut via decision at Bellator 7 in May of this year.
Main Card:
-Tyron Woodley vs. Rudy Bears (Welterweight Bout)
-Kim Couture vs. Kerry Vera (Women’s 135-pound Bout)
-Bobby Voelker vs. Erik Apple (Welterweight Bout)
-Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante vs. Aaron Rosa (Light-Heavyweight Bout)
-Kevin Casey vs. Chad Vance (Middleweight Bout)
Preliminary Card:
-Lee Gibson vs. Joe Wilk (Lightweight Bout)
-Brian Davidson vs. Russell Patrick (Featherweight Bout)
-Andrew Waters vs. Nick Nolte (Welterweight Bout)
-Darryl Cobb vs. Gary Tapasua (Middleweight Bout)
-Mike Chandler vs. Rich Bouphanouvong (165-pound Catchweight Bout)
-Dominic Brown vs. Lucas Lopes (190-pound Catchweight Bout)