The first main card match-up to air during the LIVE Showtime broadcast on Saturday night will feature two-time NAIA national wrestling champion and former World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Bobby Lashley (4-0, 0-0 SF) taking on UFC veteran and Ultimate Fighter season ten contestant Wes Sims (22-12-1, 0-0 SF) in what is perceived to be a squash match to provide Lashley with some much needed exposure. One look at the matchmaking attempts by Strikeforce with Yohan Banks and Jimmy Ambriz indicates that they’ll be trying to bring Lashley along slowly.
Lashley’s undefeated record isn’t without some decent victories for his novice knowledge of mixed martial arts. He managed to defeat Jason Guida in only his second outing via decision, avoided the “headache-maker!” from Mike Cook at MFC 21, and beat down Japanese novelty act Bob Sapp in quick fashion at Ultimate Chaos back in June. Guida’s experience was enough to avoid a lot of damage, but it was a fight in which Lashley likely learned a lot — like trying to push a guy through a steel turnbuckle does not actually work.
Sims won’t be much of a step-up in competition, if any at all. From all indications, he hasn’t been training considerably hard in the last few years, and he hasn’t taken on any solid competition since his days in the UFC. His stint on The Ultimate Fighter reality series was mostly for his personality to thrive in the house, and Dana White tried to sell Wes Sims’ veteran status as a former UFC fighter as a huge roadblock for guys who were in the house. Unfortunately, Sims proved to be nothing more than a stepping stone for Justin Wren as he lost via arm triangle in very quick fashion in his first bout on the show. White said it was a huge upset. We all giggled.
Now, it looks like Strikeforce is trying to use Sims as another stepping stone for an emerging fighter. While most fans will look past Sims as a challenge or an impressive win on Lashley’s record, this fight is most likely a way for Strikeforce to promote Lashley and show what he can do to a bigger audience.
There isn’t much of a breakdown to this fight. Lashley is a hulking mass of size, strength, and wrestling experience. The only area in which I can see Sims possibly being a bother is with his experience. Guida was able to hang on for dear life and capitalize on Lashley’s ridiculous gameplan of pushing him into the ropes, and Sims might be able to do the same and eventually catch Lashley with a punch. But we’d be stupid to believe that Lashley hasn’t made some improvements since his first couple of performances.
Even though Lashley has been splitting time between TNA and MMA, I’m still going to take Lashley via a first round stoppage. The size difference combined with the wrestling experience that Lashley possesses is just too much to not favor him in this fight. Sims has his work cut out for him.