In a sign of how much Mike Kyle has done to resurrect his career -- and a sign of how shallow Strikeforce's light heavyweight division is -- Kyle is being discussed as a light heavyweight title contender after choking out Abongo Humphrey on Friday night's Strikeforce Challengers card.Kyle and Humphrey engaged in some exciting if not particularly technically proficient striking first round, and then in the second round Kyle forced Humphrey to tap to a rear-naked choke, improving his record to 17-7-1. Afterward Strikeforce's television announcers suggested that the victory makes Kyle the No. 1 contender in the light heavyweight division.
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Strikeforce light heavyweight champion King Mo Lawal will defend his title against Rafael Cavalcante next month, and Kyle beat Cavalcante last year. So it makes sense, in that respect, to consider Kyle a title contender.
But it's also a little bit baffling that Strikeforce is talking up Kyle as a title contender now, when prior to this fight Strikeforce hardly promoted the Kyle-Humphrey fight at all. If Strikeforce is going to sell Kyle to the fans as a No. 1 contender, it has some work to do. But he gave them some good highlights to use with his win on Friday night.
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