Shields Vs. Riggs Off, Shields Vs. Lawler On In May

[keithlewis]

http://www.Fiveouncesofpain.com

The Jake Shields and Joe Riggs fight that was on the table for the April 11th Strikeforce card on Showtime has been scratched. No reason was givin for the cancellation of the bout.

The report also goes on to state and MMANews.com can confirm, that Shields is now pencilled in for a middleweight match up with top ranked Robbie Lawler. The event is scheduled to take place in Seattle, WA in May. The bout could be made official as early as today when Strikeforce holds a press conference in the Los Angeles area.

A source close to the discussions has told MMANews.com to "watch for a big announcement at the press conference on Thursday. The main event will be announced for May and unless something changes it will be them (referring to Shields and Lawler)."

Both fighters are former EliteXC champions, Lawler the middleweight and Shields the welterweight. Shields has expressed interest in returning to the middleweight division in the past and at one point in late 2008, the top five ranked welterweight was rumored to be facing Matt Lindland.

http://www.mmanews.com

[ArmyofDarkness]

A middleweight bout between Joe Riggs (29-10) and Phil Baroni (13-10), or a heavyweight bout between Brett Rogers (8-0) and an as-yet-undetermined heavyweight, will take the final spot on the April 11 "Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz" Showtime-televised main card.

Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker confirmed the two options in a one-on-one interview with MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com) at Thursday's Los Angeles press conference.

The press conference was held to promote Strikeforce's upcoming debut on Showtime and the April 11 event, which takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

[NWOWolfpack]

Shields would have killed Riggs anyway.............................Baroni vs Riggs will be a good fight.