Super Fight League 2 adds Duffee-Grove, Kelly-Ruediger, Shlemenko-Minowa
Following a debut event earlier this month, the India-based Super Fight League has added three bouts to its second show.
Super Fight League 2 takes place April 7 in Chandigarh, India, and it streams live on YouTube.
Announced bouts include heavyweights Todd Duffee (6-2) vs. Neil Grove (11-5-1), lightweights Paul Kelly (12-4) vs. Gabe Ruediger (17-8), and middleweights Alexander Shlemenko (44-7) vs. Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa (52-33-8).
SFL 1 took place March 11 in Mumbai. James Thompson defeated super heavyweight Bob Sapp (due to a leg injury) in the first round.
Duffee fights for the first time since a quick December 2010 loss to Alistair Overeem for DREAM's vacant heavyweight title. It followed the first defeat of his career, which came to Mike Russow at UFC 114 and ultimately led to his release from the promotion. He now takes on Grove, who's fought his past six fights in Bellator with a 3-3 record. He's currently in a 1-3 skid that included a season-three tournament-finale loss to Cole Konrad.
Kelly and Ruediger, meanwhile, initially were slated to fight at UFC 123 in 2010, but Ruediger was forced off the card with an injury. Kelly defeated replacement T.J. O'Brien but then received his UFC walking papers when he suffered a submission loss to Donald Cerrone in his next bout. The Brit now fights for the first time outside the UFC in five years when he takes on Ruediger, who's stuck in a three-fight skid that included a weekend loss to Scott Catlin at this past weekend's "BAMMA USA: Badbeat 5" event.
Shlemenko, a two-time Bellator tourney champion, is on a 13-1 run going back to 2009, and the lone loss came in a Bellator title fight with Hector Lombard. The Russian now meets Minowa, a Japanese legend who's excelled despite fighting much bigger fighters in open-weight matchups. The 2009 DREAM Super Hulk champion recently saw an 11-3 run spoiled by a decision loss to Kendall Grove at ProElite 3 in January.
Additional SFL 2 bouts will be announced in the coming weeks and likely will include local talent.
SFL has a total seven fights planned for 2012. Super Fight League 3 is slated for May 6 in New Delhi.
