Sneak Peek: A Preview of Strikeforce, UFC, and Bellator Events For June 2011

It’s that time once again, fans and friends. A new month is upon us, and it’s time for my pair of once-a-month posts. First up we have “Sneak Peek”, where I give a quick rundown of all the major MMA cards planned for this month. And thankfully, June looks to emphatically break the “Spring Slump” that saw the UFC and Strikeforce only put forth a handful of events. So let’s dive right into a full preview of what should be an awesome month of MMA action.

June 4, 2011 – “The Ultimate Fighter 13” Finale: The UFC kicks off a big month of MMA action with the finale to the thirteenth season of its popular, long-running reality TV show. Of course, one of the main attractions of any TUF Finale event is to see who wins “The Ultimate Fighter”. After spending upwards of ten weeks getting to know, like, or loathe these fighters, they now get to compete for a UFC contract on live television. Even better, the main event of Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis should be a Fight of the Year Candidate.

June 11, 2011 – UFC 131 “Dos Santos vs. Carwin”: In the main event of this card, Junior dos Santos takes on former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin in a fight that should crown the next challenger to the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Also, Kenny Florian will fight Diego Nunes, with the winner more than likely getting the next shot at the UFC Featherweight Championship. Other interesting names include Demian Maia and Donald Cerrone.

June 18, 2011 – Strikeforce “Overeem vs. Werdum”: The heavily-anticipated Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finally gets back underway with this event. Strikeforce also returns from a month-long hiatus with this live Showtime show, which will feature current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem take on the submission wizard, Fabricio Werdum. In another tournament fight, big Brett Rogers takes on former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett. Also be on the lookout for former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Muhammed Lawal and the returning Gina Carano.

June 24, 2011 – Strikeforce “Challengers 16”: The continually-improving “Strikeforce Challengers” series of shows features an eclectic mix of young up-and-comers and hungry veterans ready to return to the main stage. With a history of fun and exciting fights, “Challengers” continues to be a very under-appreciated series. While no one match-up stands out as a must-see fight, Challengers 16 should have a little something for everybody and be a solid event overall.

June 25, 2011 – “Bellator 45”: This event kicks off Bellator’s special “Summer Series”, which will feature a Featherweight Tournament. In fact, Bellator 45 will feature all four quarterfinal fights of the tournament. The cast of fighters runs the gamut, with many notable names and a few fighters who made deep runs in Bellator’s Season Four Featherweight Tournament.

June 26, 2011 – “UFC Live 4” or “UFC on Versus 4”: The fourth live UFC event to air on the Versus network, this is an interesting mix of mid to upper-level stars. Nate Marquardt’s first fight at Welterweight takes top billing, with Marquardt a former UFC Middleweight Championship contender and his opponent, Anthony Johnson, widely regarded as one of the UFC’s big can’t-miss prospects at Welterweight. Other big names include Cheick Kongo, Pat Barry, and Martin Kampmann.
And that’s it, fans and friends. The month of June is practically exploding with great MMA cards, and I definitely plan to watch every single one of them.