Former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate was one of four fighters to receive indefinite medical suspensions following Saturday’s Strikeforce event in Columbus, Ohio.
Tate, who lost her title to Ronda Rousey by brutal armbar in the main event, suffered an injury to her elbow as a result of being hyper-extended before she tapped in the first round. As expected, she will need to get medical clearance from a doctor before she can fight again.
Also suspended indefinitely by the Ohio Athletic Commission Monday were Ronaldo (Jacare) Souza, Roger Bowling and Conor Heun, all due to possible broken hands in their fights against Bristol Marunde, Brandon Saling and Ryan Couture, respectively. Souza (submission) and Bowling (TKO) were winners, while Heun was stopped in the third round.
Kazuo Misaki received a 45-day ban as result of the nasty cut he sustained above his left eye in his split-decision win over Paul Daley.
Pat Healy, Brandon Saling, and Alexis Davis of Port Colborne, Ont., will each have to sit 30 days.
Davis suffered a facial laceration in her three-round loss to Victoria’s Sarah Kaufman, and Healy also sustained a cut to his head before submitting Caros Fodor in the third round. Saling’s suspension was for precautionary reasons.
STRIKEFORCE PAYDAYS
While Rousey was the big winner in the hardware department, former belt-holders Souza and Josh Thomson came out with the biggest paycheques.
Souza, the former middleweight champion, earned $92,000, including a $22,000 win bonus, as fighter salaries were revealed Monday. Thomson, a former lightweight title-holder, took home a basic purse of $80,000 (no win bonus) for his decision victory over K.J. Noons, who made $38,000.
Rousey, the new female 135-pound champ, came away with $32,000 (including $17,000 for the win), while Tate took $19,000. Kaufman added $25,000 to her wallet ($10,000 win bonus), and Davis brought home $4,000.
Scott Smith made $65,000 in his loss to Lumumba Sayers — his fourth straight loss in Strikeforce — who made only $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus).
Misaki was paid $50,000 basic for his win over Daley, who earned $45,000.
NOTES: According to MMAjunkie.com, all fighters’ drug tests came back clean of performance-enhancing drugs and recreational or drugs of abuse. The commission was still waiting on the results of Marunde’s testosterone test … Thomson appeared to earn a title shot against current 155-pound champion Gilbert Melendez with Saturday’s victory, but Melendez told Heavy.com after the bout that the next logical choice for No. 1 contender may have been another fighter on the card. “I wasn’t super impressed. Josh Thomson said it himself, that he looked like s—,” Melendez said. “I thought (Pat) ‘Bam Bam’ Healy looked really good, and he might be more deserving of a title shot than Josh, in my opinion.”
