Chicago’s Louis Taylor is headed to the main event. Taylor got the call to take on Joe “Diesel” Riggs to headline a stacked STRIKEFORCE Challengers event from Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. Taylor will be fighting Riggs in front of Diesel’s home crowd, and they’ll do it at a catch weight of 182 pounds in the main event on Friday, Aug. 13, LIVE on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. here in Chicago.

Taylor is 6-1 and has rattled off two consecutive knockout wins since his first career loss to Nate Moore on the undercard of the STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL: Fedor vs. Rogers event here in Hoffman Estates last November.

The 5-foot-11 Taylor has scored knockouts in four of his six consecutive victories and has only gone to the judges scorecards once in his professional career.
The event, STRIKEFORCE’s first in the state of Arizona, will also feature a four-woman single elimination welterweight (135 pound) tournament comprised of four female prospects to be announced soon. The tournament will be completed over the course of the evening’s fight card.

The winner of the tournament will likely face the champion of the July 23 STRIKEFORCE Women’s Welterweight Title fight between undefeated, defending champ Sarah Kaufman and challenger Roxanne Modafferi in Everett, Wash., LIVE on SHOWTIME.

Riggs holds notable victories over STRIKEFORCE Welterweight champ Nick Diaz, Kendall Grove, Chris Lytle and “The N.Y. Badass” Phil Baroni. He is coming off a controversial unanimous decision loss to streaking, former world champ Jay Hieron at STRIKEFORCE: Miami on Jan. 30, 2010.

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The middleweight fighter is known for his powerful wrestling, but Louis’ coach Roberto Ramirez says his fighter was “on that night.”  In fact, Taylor predicted he would win this way during his pre-fight interview by telling the commentators he would end the fight early with a nice head kick.

Taylor told Chicago’s MMA, “My Bellator experience went well, yet everything went to quickly.  I learned from the past shows such as Adrenaline & Strikeforce that proper preparation prevents poor performance.  With only 7 professional fights it feels strange saying this but experience played a big roll in my performance.  My fight was scheduled as the second fight but due to Jonatas Novaes’ unfortunate illness, I went first.  Dealing with the Illinois boxing commission is no easy task for any promotion no matter how big or small.  Bellator had everything a fighter could ask for in place, in the end the only thing a cool young Lou could’ve asked for more of was time.  Special thanks to Roberto Ramirez & Chicago Fight Team.”

Although Louis’ win over Sturdy did not make the national broadcast on Fox Sports/Comcast Sportsnet, Bellator may put the highlight on its Youtube account in the future.

Images courtesy of Tracy Lee/Combatlifestyle.com

Undercard:

• Roxanne Modaferri vs. Marloes Coenen
• Jeff Curran vs. Dustin Neace
• Shamar Bailey vs. John Kolosci
• Deray Davis vs. Mark Miller
• Jonatas Novaes vs. Christian Uflacker
• Nate Moore vs Louis Taylor

I think the undercard is going to thrill the crowd at Sears Centre. Davis vs. Miller should be a spectacular brawl. Curran never has a boring fight due to his skillset. Kolosci loves to bang. Uflacker is a BJJ specialist with one of the most respected schools in the area. And Louis Taylor is a young, hungry fighter looking to make it to the next level of pro MMA.

We’ll have all the results of the undercard on our Twitter account, and we’ll have post-fight video and analysis right here on Chicago’s MMA.

Louis will fight in this November’s CBS/Strikeforce/M-1 Global Saturday Night Fights event at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates.  The former Eastern Illinois wrestler will face Nate Moore, who trains with Jon Fitch at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, CA.  Moore, just like Taylor, is a former collegiate wrestler.  He is a product of Purdue University, the same school where UFC veteran Fitch went.

Most recently Louis fought at Total Fight Challenge last February and defeated Steve Patterson by knockout.  Before that he defeated former IFL fighter Adam Maciejewski by unanimous decision at the debut show for Monte Cox’s Adrenaline MMA.  Sherdog.com lists his record as 4-0.

Taylor brings a powerful wrestling base and an effective ground and pound style to the fight, but it’s his personality that helps him stand out.  He is known for colorful post-fight celebrations and he also brings showmanship to the ring/cage.

The televised matches for the event were already announced, and the Taylor/Moore fight is not scheduled for prime time viewing.  The featured matches scheduled for the CBS broadcast are: Fedor vs. Rogers, Shields vs. Miller, Mousasi vs. Sokoudju, and Werdum vs. Silva.

Other local fighters who have also come aboard Strikeforce’s roster are C3 welterweight champion Deray Davis, Ultimate Fighter alum Mark Miller, and local BJJ wizard Christian Uflacker.

VIDEO INTERVIEW(low-resolution) TAYLOR DISCUSSES STRIKEFORCE AND NATE MOORE:

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In the coming weeks we’ll also have video features on hall of fame coach Jeff Neal, veteran referee Rob Hinds, Kankakee native Kerry “Meatruck” Schall, and up and coming fighters from Modern Martial Arts Academy in Griffin, IN.  If you have a story idea or know of a local figure we should profile contact us through email.