Two weeks ago, Tim Kennedy publicly called out half the Strikeforce middleweight roster and declared them to be a bunch of chickenshits who lacked the sand to nut-up and fight him.  Not in exactly those words, but that was the general drift.  Some people (including myself) noticed that a certain name was absent from Ranger Tim’s list of scared homies: Jason Miller.  You know, the guy who’s been standing around holding his dick for the last year, apart from smashing a couple cans, trying his damndest to goad Nick Diaz into jumping weight, and facilitating revenge upon bullies. 

Mayhem already has a 1-1 score to settle with Kennedy, and desperately needs a win over an opponent like Tim to legitimize himself as a challenger to “Jacare” Souza’s belt (who he also has a history with).  As recently as last month, Miller was rumoured to be fighting Kennedy early this year, so what happened?  Is their rubber match not happening now?  What gives, Strikeforce?

These two first met at a one-night tournament back in 2003, where a 2-1 noob Kennedy (but with a claimed 30-1 amateur record) decisioned the then 6-2 Mayhem (who subbed Denis Kang earlier that night) enroute to winning the tourney.  Miller evened the score in 2007, also by unanimous decision (watch that fight: Pt1, Pt2), but not without some difficulty.

Thankfully, the fights that should make themselves sometimes do, even in Strikeforce.  MMAjunkie reports that Kennedy and Miller will settle their trilogy at “Strikeforce: Columbus” on March 5th.  The card is to be headlined by “Feijao” Cavalcante defending his light-heavyweight title aginst Dan Henderson, and will is rumoured to also feature 135-lb ladies champ Marloes Coenen versus Miesha “Rumblebum” Tate, and hopefully — cross your fingers — Ubereem vs Werdum.  Sounds like a pretty stacked card, right?  Yeah, try not to fuck this up, Mr. Coker.

But first, Diaz and Jacare will put their respective belts on the line in San Jose on January 29th.  Souza will face Robbie “Elder Abuse” Lawler, while Diaz will swat Cyborg “Catcher” Santos like an angry cat until he falls over.  That event will also feature the return of Herschel Walker versus Canny McCannerson, and grappling whiz Roger Gracie (3-0) against the slightly more experienced Trevor Prangley (23-6-1).  Mmmmm, that’s good matchmaking!

(pic via Combat Lifestyle)