Trevor Prangley vs Anthony Ruiz Strikeforce fight set for Playboy Mansion

by James Iannotti on Sep 16, 2008 11:56 AM EDT

Pencil in Trevor Prangley (17-5) vs. Anthony "El Toro" Ruiz (21-11) for "Strikeforce at the Mansion II" at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., on September 20.

But keep your erasers handy because all know about the curse behind this match.

First, it was champion Bobby Southworth who went down. He was replaced by "El Toro." Then "Babalu" -- Southworth's original opponent -- hurt his knee in training and he had to withdraw. Now it's South African native Prangley who will step up on short notice to fill the void.

Prangley was originally rumored to be a part of this event, but was later announced to be facing Matt Lindland in a middleweight bout at Affliction: "Day of Reckoning," which was set for October 11. Now that that event has been postponed, Prangley all of a sudden has an opening on his schedule.

And with the injuries to Southworth and Sobral forcing both fighters off the card, Strikeforce jumped all over a second opportunity to get Prangley in there.

The short notice for this fight shouldn't be a problem for Prangley since he was already preparing for the Matt Lindland fight. He should be fit and ready to go.

This will, however, be a light heavyweight fight, so Prangley will have to deal with a bigger Anthony Ruiz. But, that's a task he has handled before with success.

Ruiz and Prangley previously met in the cage two years ago at Strikeforce: "Tank vs. Buentello," And Prangley submitted "El Toro" with a first round armbar in that contest.

To his credit, Ruiz has reeled off seven wins in eight fights since then and should be ready to defend submissions a little bit better this time around, having been training to face a guy like Babalu.

This should be a good fight. Ruiz is a workhorse and Prangley is an accomplished wrestler with solid submission skills and good punching power. Expect a high-paced match with a lot of takedowns.

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good for prangley. at least he will be getting paid after “the day of reckoning” fiasco. i saw a short interview with josh barnett and he was none to pleased with the cancelation. every time the reporter asked him a question about the situation his response was an emphatic ’i dont care! when asked if he was still affliated with wvr, he said yes that they still had a good relatinship. i wouldnt be surprised to see barnett fight for wvr before jan. instead of just waiting around to find out if he might be fighting.

by b.w. on Sep 16, 2008 12:06 PM EDT reply actions

yeah lets hope that affliction will put together a solid card and rebound! theyve got most of the best heavyweights today in their organization

by brendan on Sep 16, 2008 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions

they have 3 out of the top 5 hws imo (nog and randy are the others). they need a 4rth hw. maybee cro-cop will go on a tear and there have been rumors of tito/fedor for jan. the whole boxing/mma thing is a gimmick unless oscar is fighting on the card himself. oscar could fight a kangaroo and still do a million buys, he has that kind of built in fan-base (mostly female). it will be interesting to see what affliction/gbp comes up with. they definetly have plenty of time to come up with something.

by b.w. on Sep 16, 2008 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions

They can still throw Tim Sylvia against Arlovski (but at a much cheaper price) which leaves Mega fight between Fedor vs. Barnett.

I also would actually like to see the striking battle between Sylvia and LeBanner

by john on Sep 16, 2008 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions

AS for the Strikeforce fight, which is the actual “TOPIC” of this thread (lol). THis match up gets worse by the day. not to knock Prangly because I like the guy, but this match up has changed completely. It originally started as Babalu vs. Southworth, now we are on like the 7th version of the match up and its Prangly vs. Ruiz.

This should be an easy win for Prangly!

by john on Sep 16, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions

i dont think anyone wants to see sylvia/arlovski 4. arlovski vs fedor would be the mega-fight, thats why affliction had them scheduled to fight 1rst. barnett only came into the picture as the main after fedor pulled out. let barnett fight sylvia (they’ve never fought). a.a. vs fedor is what most fans, even the hardcore ones, would want to see. then barnett could fight the winner.

by b.w. on Sep 16, 2008 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Fedor will probbably end up fighting Ortiz or some kind of circus fight.

by Ro-J on Sep 16, 2008 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions

i do belive that tito will end up signing with golden boy. what they do with him is up in the air. i get excited when talking about all the great mma matches that affliction still has to offer, but i have to remember the boxing equation of the deal and how it will affect there next event. affliction should have just waited until fedor got healthy and signed tito instead of going the mma/boxing hybrid.

by b.w. on Sep 16, 2008 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions

brendan, I read you could vouch for some good places to train in So Cal…The ones I’ve come across are either hella expensive or more of a karate-based martial arts. I’m in the Redlands/San bernardino/Rancho Cucamonga area. Any ideas?

by T I on Sep 16, 2008 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions

well i know of a couple places but theyre all the way down here in san diego… dean listers place is great, its called throwdown… undisputed is another good one that i trained at for several months, they have several locations, but like i said theyre all down here in sd, probably too far for ya

by brendan on Sep 16, 2008 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions

B.W: My bad I mean to say Sylvia vs. Barnett! I am the last person that wants to see tim vs. Arlovski 4!~

by john on Sep 16, 2008 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow…snore

by Big E on Sep 16, 2008 1:07 PM EDT reply actions

Chef Ramsey by lay and pray

by DirtyML on Sep 16, 2008 5:11 PM EDT reply actions

Hes a finisher. He will finish this fight for sure.

by enzo-enormous on Sep 16, 2008 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions

LOL. (Gordon) Ramsey was a scrapper in his day, fighting IN and out of his mentor’s (Marco Pierre White) 4 star restaurant if the customers were too mouthy!

by chefdaddy on Sep 17, 2008 8:43 AM EDT up reply actions