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Prangley To Rematch Ruiz At Playboy Mansion
September 20, 2008 Playboy Mansion Beverly Hills, California
SAN JOSE, Calif. —South African powerhouse Trevor Prangley (17-5) has stepped up to fill the void left by injured Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and will square off in a Strikeforce mixed martial arts (MMA) light heavyweight (205 lb. limit) rematch with Anthony Ruiz (21-11) at the world-famous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, CA. on Saturday.
Prangley effectively utilized his strength to wear Ruiz down and set up an armbar submission in the first round of their initial meeting during Strikeforce “Tank vs. Buentello” at Fresno, California’s Save Mart Center on October 7, 2006. The 36-year-old Prangley is a former South African National Wrestling Champion and Olympic team
alternate. After leaving his homeland to pursue more sophisticated training in his chosen athletic discipline,
he went on to earn two-time All-American honors and place as Junior College Nationals runner-up at North
Idaho College (NIC).
Prangley’s start will be his first since his runner-up finish in “Strikeforce: Four Men Enter, One Man
Survives,” the first sanctioned MMA tournament in California history on November 16, 2007.
Ruiz is coming off a unanimous decision win over Jeremy Freitag on July 26th. The 30-year-old native of
Modesto, California has emerged victorious in 12 of his last 15 bouts.
Ruiz made his first dent in the world of Strikeforce by defeating World Light Heavyweight Champion, Bobby
Southworth, in a non-title matchup, on November 16, 2007. He moved on to win his next five straight fights
before losing a decision to Southworth in their championship bout rematch on June 27th.
All inquiries regarding tickets for “Strikeforce At The Mansion II” should be directed to Dan Guiterrez at
Strikeforce’s corporate headquarters (Ph # 408-998-8232.)
“Strikeforce At The Mansion II” will be headlined by a showdown between 2006 Pride Fighting Championship
Grand Prix winner and top 10 world ranked, Kazuo “Grabaka Hitman” Misaki (20-8-2), and 25-year-old
former UFC star, Joe “Diesel “Riggs (28-10).
Strikeforce World Lightweight (155 lb. limit) Champion, Josh “The Punk” Thomson (16-2) will
return to action in a non-title matchup with Lion’s Den prodigy, Ashe “The Archer” Bowman (10-4).
Top-ranked lightweight (155 lb. limit) mixed martial arts (MMA) gun, Mitsuhiro “The Endless Fighter”
Ishida (16-4-1), will make his way from the battlegrounds of Japan to face former NCAA Division I wrestling
stud and rising Team AKA star, Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (5-2).
Twenty-four year old thoroughbred Cory “The One” Devela (9-1) will bid for his eighth consecutive victory
when he takes on what is arguably his most dangerous challenge to date, heavy-handed Terry Martin
(17-5), in a middleweight contest.
In addition to a full night of MMA action, all “Strikeforce At The Mansion II” guests will be entitled to a top- shelf, open bar; buffet-style, gourmet dinner; and wine-tasting party featuring the spirits of various California gold medal wineries.
Strikeforce wrote a new chapter in sports history when it produced the first-ever MMA event at the Playboy Mansion last September. Amongst the host of celebrities who attended the affair were Playboy Enterprises Founder, Hugh Hefner and “The Girls Next Door;” comedians Gary Shandling and Joe Rogan; actress and model Jaime Pressly; actors Michael Duncan Clarke, Christina Fulton, Ethan Suplee, Ernie Hudson, and Page Kennedy; MMA legends Royce Gracie and Bas Rutten; and superstars Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Josh Barnett, and Andrei Arlovski.
About Strikeforce: Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22, 2007, followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29, 2007. On April 12th of this year, Strikeforce launched the first-ever 52 week MMA series on one of the four major television networks in The U.S. – NBC.
Contacts: Mike Afromowitz, Strikeforce – mafromowitz@strikeforce.com
- From Strikeforce with a little editing from us (color, etc...)
Subject to change
(9/16/08) |
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