Duffee vs Monson to Headline Super Fight League 4

Duffee vs Monson to Headline Super Fight League 4

Published on July 5, 2012 by The Sandman in NEWS, Super Fight League

Superfight League Announce; Duffee Vs Monson at SFL 4

Jeff Monson will take on Todd Duffee at SFL 4 on 8 Sept in Bengaluru, India, CEO Ken Pavia announced on MMAJunkie.com Radio.

Pavia also announced that SFL 5, which will take place in Chennai on 6 Oct, will be headlined by Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Trevor Prangley. Satoshi Ishii will also make his debut against Jimmy Ambriz.

Heavyweight Monson (46-13-1) has had a busy 2012 since his decision loss to Fedor Emelianenko late last year. He beat Alexey Oleinik (M-1 Challenge 31) in March before fighting in 3 bouts in the space of just over a month. First, a draw against Chaban Ka on May 11 (100% Fight 11) and then a mere week later beating Jim Yorke by unanimous decision at Cage Fighting Championship (CFC) 21.

His most recent fight was a quick submission victory over Denis Komkin at M-1 Global – Fedor vs. Rizzo on June 21. As mentioned by The Sandman on the MMANewsAsia podcast, SFL’s cards are pretty easy to predict and making Monson fight Duffee (7-2) was obvious and makes perfect sense stylistically.

Rameau Sokoudjou (12-10) was a rising star in PRIDE, with two first round knockouts of Ricardo Arona and “Little Nog“. When UFC bought PRIDE, Sokoudjou found himself unable to compete with the top UFC talent. He left UFC with a 1-2 record including a loss to future UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

Since then, Sokoudjou has found form hard to come by. He’s performed well at smaller promotions but has been unable to perform on the big stage, losing fights at Affliction and Strikeforce. Sokoudjou lost his last two fights and will see SFL as a chance for a fresh start. Fighting Strikeforce veteran Prangley (25-9-1) was predictable, but again, made sense considering the lack of depth in the SFL’s Light Heavyweight division.

Ishii (4-2-1) is an up-and-coming Japanese fighter who got thrown into the lion’s den at DREAM’s New Year’s Eve 2011 event on Dec 31 where he got destroyed by Fedor Emilianenko. This choice of opponent does surprise though. Jimmy Ambriz (16-18-1) is a huge Super Heavyweight with a lot of power and very little gas. I expected Ambriz to fight James Thompson who is equally as big but with a much better gas. I expect Ishii to do a lot of running in this fight.

As reported by The Sandman a couple of weeks ago, Monson and co have signed 4-fight contracts. The fight announcements certainly aren’t over though as Bobby Lashley, James Thompson and The Black Mamba Kultar Singh Gill have yet to receive fights.

For thoughts and discussions on MMA, follow The Sandman at @MsianGooner on twitter. The Editor @joebahru and The Coffee Boy @seth_borges