Strikeforce - Challengers 17: Fight Card, Odds, & Predictions

Written by Jake Thompson
Tuesday, 19 July 2011 17:55

We’ll preview the Strikeforce – Challengers 17 fight card with betting odds and predictions.

The Strikeforce – Challengers 17 fight card has some great matchups and we wanted to get our predictions out early for this July 22nd night of scraps from the Pearl at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The Strikeforce – Challengers 17 card features the deciding best-of-3 fight between Bobby Voelker and Roger Bowling, while former champion Sarah Kaufman will look to rebuild some momentum against Liz Carmouche.  Exciting fighters like Ovince St. Preux and Lavar Johnson are also on the card, and Strikeforce – Challengers 17 figures to be a night of fights that you don’t want to miss.

Strikeforce – Challengers 17 Fight Card:

Bobby Voelker vs. Roger Bowling

Sarah Kaufman vs. Liz Carmouche

Ovince St. Preux vs. Joe Cason

Lavar Johnson vs. Devin Cole

Adlan Amagov vs. Ronald Stallings

T.J. Cook vs. Lionel Lanham

Ben Lagman vs. Anthony Smith

Bill Cooper vs. Maka Watson

Strikeforce – Challengers 17 Predictions:

Bobby Voelker (+160 odds) vs. Roger Bowling (-200 odds)

Voelker (23-8) took home a 2nd round TKO win in the most recent meeting between these two, with Bowling (9-1) taking home the first with a technical unanimous decision after an eye poke in the 3rd round caused the fight to go to the judge’s scorecards a bit early.  Bowling easily took home the 1st round of their most recent fight and I believe that he has a technical advantage here because of his ability to determine where this clash takes place.  Voelker has proven to be gritty and a tough matchup for Bowling, but I just think you should go with the favorite here because of his ability to dictate the outlook of this bout.  Bowling is simply the better fighter and should be a bit more cautious against his opponent after doing too much sloppy brawling in the first two clashes.  I’ll go with Bowling by unanimous decision victory in another entertaining fight.

Sarah Kaufman (-240 odds) vs. Liz Carmouche (+190 odds)

This is a very interesting matchup because both fighters have shown weaknesses to the submission game but also haven’t shown a willingness to go on the offensive with their Jiu Jitsu.  That means we’ll likely see lots of striking and ground and pound here and I’m expecting fireworks.  Kaufman (13-1) and Carmouche (5-1) have only ever lost to current champion Marloes Coenen, and both girls have used their size and physical advantages to outmuscle opponents.  Although Carmouche looks more like the typical fighter (IE more definition in her muscles), I think that Kaufman actually will possess the strength advantage and should be able to dictate where the fight takes place.  Carmouche is fairly inexperienced in the sport and I think Kaufman’s fight knowledge and her ability to get takedowns to unleash ground and pound will prove to be the difference.  I’m calling for Kaufman to get the 3rd round TKO victory after dealing out punishment for much of the fight.