MMA
MMA News and Notes: Strikeforce Miami Recap, Why No One Ordered The Show on Pay-Per-View, Herschell Walker Impresses, Full UFC 109 Preview, and More
By Kevin Wallace
Feb 5, 2010 - 3:16 PM

I will always be someone who admits to his failures and last week I failed.   I wrote an entire article on why I felt it was best to avoid purchasing the Strikeforce:   Miami event on Pay Per View, only to realize, on Saturday that it was not on Pay Per View and only available on the SuperChannel.   Now many of you may already have the channel and were able to watch this for free.   Others may have been just as bitter about this as I since it’s much easier to order through Pay Per View then to have to call your local cable company to purchase the channel, all for only one night of fights.   So what was I to do?   I mean I had to watch it, so after much deliberation and the stress of calling friends only to find out that no one I know has this channel,  I called Rogers up here in Canada and talked to a representative about getting the channel for the event.   Well, it was my lucky day because apparently Rogers was running a promotion and gave me the channel for the next two months, free of charge.   After repeatedly asking the man what the catch was, he said there was none and committed to cancelling the channels before the promotion ended and I was to be billed for the extra channels.  All in all I got the event for free and I must admit that Strikeforce served me a decent size plate of Crow.   Let’s take a look at what happened.

Bobby Lashley vs Wes Sims-   A noticeable reach and height advantage did little for Sims when he took on the undefeated Bobby Lashley.   Lashley dominated the fight and secured a nice double leg takedown early on to keep Sims where he wanted him eventually getting the stoppage by TKO at 2:06 of the opening round.   Sims disputed the stoppage as he was being pounded on while on the bottom with repeated shots to the face until the referee stepped in.   I may agree with Sims assessment on the stoppage but whether it happened at that moment or a few seconds later, the outcome would not have changed.   During the post fight press conference, Wes Sims shoved Lashley.   President of Strikeforce, Scott Coker stated that Lashley may take on Bret Rogers in his next bout, which is a major step up in competition.   I wouldn’t bank on this fight happening but if it did, I would love to see this fight since a victory over Rogers would place Lashley in the top ten heavyweight’s in the world.   Lashley continues to finish opponents quick and hasn’t really been able to show many people what he has to offer, being that he hasn’t been in the cage all that long in his last five fights.   Only time will tell if Lashley can hang with the big boys but I think he has strong potential and will only get better.

“Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs “Marvelous” Melvin Manhoef-   This one will go down as a classic, if only for the reason of featuring perhaps the biggest comeback of all time.   For about 3:30, Melvin was relentless with punches and leg kicks that would chop down a tree leaving Lawler doing nothing but cover his face and limp around until BAM, a big shot from Lawler dazed and knocked Melvin to the mat where Lawler followed up with two more shots leaving Melvin unconscious and bleeding from his mouth in a terrible visual.   How impressive was Lawler’s performance?   Well he only landed 3 punches in the entire fight, all coming in the final three seconds causing the knockout.   Following the fight, Lawler needed to be sat down and have his leg iced before he was even able to be announced the winner.   This was a war and Manhoef’s only fault would have been coming in too quick and leaving his hands too low, other than that, he was patient and accurate with his striking.   I’m sure Melvin will be given another shot in Strikeforce as he can definitely put on a show and for the most part, manhandled Lawler.   Lawler is probably looking at a fight with Jacare, Jason “Mayhem” Miller or Matt Lindland and we can only hope that we see a rematch of this fight sometime down the line.

Herschell Walker vs Greg Nagy-   Former Winter Olympics bobsledder and runningback in the NFL, Herschel Walker made his MMA debut and surprisingly enough showed serious potential at the ripe old age of 47.   Will Herschel be a contender to the Strikeforce title?   No, but he isn’t looking to be and showed a lot of people that nothing is impossible.   So what if Greg Nagy or Nudge as the announcer’s called him (how do you get Nudge out of Nagy) was a tin can, he still had some skills and landed a few nice shots but all in all, Herschel was able to get Nagy on the ground a few times and eventually ended the fight in the third round by doctor’s stoppage following several unanswered shots to the head and body.   Herschel had many opportunities to try a couple submissions while on the ground with Nagy but showed he’s still learning when he wasn’t able to really try for anything.   If Herschel wants to return to MMA then he definitely has a future, maybe not a very successful one but a future in Strikeforce no doubt.   If Herschel returns I would definitely check him out again and I was relieved to see he didn’t try to disrespect the sport at all and showed some class after the fight when he thanks Nagy for even taking the fight.   Where both men go from here is currently unknown but this fight was nowhere nearly as bad as it should have been.

Strikeforce Women’s Championship:   Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos vs   Marloes Coenen-   Now this was a pretty competitive fight, much more so then I believed it would and Marloes did pretty well for herself, both standing and on the mat but Cyborg was just too strong and was able to hold the edge wherever the fight went.   Had it not be for Cyborg’s granite chin, Marloes would have had her in trouble following a few real good punches to the jaw.   Cyborg was able to apply some ground and pound to the face of Coenen until the referee stepped in at 3:40 of the 3^rd round for the stoppage.   I felt that Coenen was doing a good enough job of covering up to have the fight continue but apparently I’m not the referee.   Cyborg continues to show that it’s going to take a machine to beat her and I doubt anyone will dethrone her for a very long time.   Coenen put up more or a fight then even Gina Carano did against Cyborg and should remain up near the top of the women’s division for a rematch somewhere down the line.

Strikeforce Welterweight Championship: Nick Diaz vs Marius Zaromskis-   Besides a shot that dropped Diaz shortly into the fight, Diaz dominated Marius with repeated punches to the face and seemed like he wanted to play Marius’ game, not really trying all that hard to get the fight to the ground.   Diaz was able to pick Marius apart and leave him dazed several times until finally the referee stepped in at 4:38 of the first round.   Zaromskis left much to be desired in this one and may have let the pressure get to him putting on a performance nowhere near the caliber of what we would expect.   The winner of the Joe “Diesel” Riggs vs Jay Hieron fight was rumoured to be the number one contender to the Welterweight championship as Hieron was able to win that fight and is now a free agent who may not be back to Strikeforce.   Scott Coker mentioned that he would like to have Diaz face “Mach” Sakurai next which I’m sure bothers Hieron and apparently Diaz too who has said he doesn’t feel the need to face Sakurai or Hieron and is hoping for a fight with GSP.   Someone better tell Diaz to lay off the pot cause GSP is in the UFC and unless Diaz signs with the UFC, this fight wont happen.   Diaz is notorious for being helpless against world class wrestlers and GSP is not the man to test your takedown defense against.   Diaz will more than likely remain on top of the Welterweight division for a long time and may even bounce back and forth between Middleweight and Welterweight as he has in the past.   As for Marius, I don’t know what’s next for him but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win a couple fights in Japan before he gets back to Strikeforce.

Other Results

John Kelly deafeats Sabah Homasi by rear naked choke in the 2^nd round

Hayder Hassan deafeats Ryan Keenan by knockout in the 2^nd round

Pablo Alfonso defeats Marcos da Matta by armbar in the 1^st round

David Gomez defeats Craig Oxley by unanimous decision

Joe Ray defeats John Clarke by tko in the 1^st round

Jay Hieron defeats Joe “Diesel” Riggs by unanimous decision

Michael Byrnes Jr. defeats Dave Zitanick by majority decision

One thing Strikeforce needs to do is play a fight from the undercard or two on the main viewing when main fights are quicker then expected but all in all this wasn’t a bad show and more then acceptable if you watched it but this is not the type of event thats going to blow people out of the water.   With Dan Henderson and Fedor both fighting opponents on the next Strikeforce card, Im unsure as to why at least one wasn’t on this card unless Strikeforce is hoping to make the next show the BIG one.   I’m just a firm believer in spreading events well so as to have one or two huge fights on each event and not five big one’s on only one card.  

UFC 109 Breakdown and Predictions

UFC’s second Pay Per View event of 2010 is set to take place this Saturday the 6^th of February and should be one hell of a card.   Top to bottom this is one solid card considering the fact that there are no title bouts or guys with the last name Silva.   Let’s see what the UFC has in store for us.

“The Natural” Randy Couture vs Mark “The Hammer” Coleman-   This fight should have originally happened in the 90’s but I guess better late than never.   Both men are primarily wrestlers and both have fantastic takedowns but I believe cardio is going to be the main factor in this one as Coleman seems to run on empty halfway through the fight and Couture never gasses.   I see Couture getting Coleman up against the cage, similar to his fight with Brendan Vera and working some knees to Coleman’s thighs while mixing in some uppercuts and that dirty boxing that Couture uses so well.   I see Couture doing this for most of the fight until he gets Coleman down and applies some gound and pound.   Neither man is much of a finisher and this one will more than likely go all three rounds with Randy grinding out a win.   Dana has said that the winner of this may find himself in line for a title fight which I hope doesn’t happen as both men have won their previous fights but lost the one prior to that.   Even if one is able to stop the other, it’s tough to say either of these men are more deserving of a shot then Rashad Evans, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson or Thiago Silva.   Prediction:   Couture by decision.

Demian Maia vs Dan Miller-   Maia is easily the best Jui Jitsu practitioner in the UFC having finished all of his opponents with the exception of Nate Marquardt, by submission.   Maia was knocked out in 0:21 of the 1^st round by the near unstoppable Nate Marquardt in his last fight and is hoping to stay near the top of the Middleweight division with a victory over Miller.   Dan Miller has done well for himself in the UFC, stringing together three wins in a row until meeting Chael Sonnen who handed him his first loss since 2006 late last year.   Miller has some good wrestling, good striking and good submission defense but doesn’t have one area where he’s extraordinary.   Maia will more than likely be able to pull Miller into his guard which is all he really needs as Maia isn’t a “get you in a hold and stall” sort of guy, instead  he’s the, “if you give me your arm for a few seconds its gone type of fighter” and this fight should be no exception.   Despite Miller being a very difficult man to finish, Maia should be able to do so with time left in the fight.   Prediction:   Maia by submission.

Matt “The Terror” Serra vs Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg-   Why was Trigg brought back to the UFC?   The man was dismantled very quickly by Josh Koscheck and really doesn’t seem to be able to hang with really anybody in the Welterweight division.   Matt Serra is coming off a split decision loss and extremely close fight with Matt Hughes and hopes to get back on track with a win over Trigg.   On paper this fight looks like a fairly even match but I don’t think it really is.   Trigg is a wrestler and has some nice takedowns but knowing what to do once the guy is on the mat is what he needs to figure out cause Serra’s great off his back and was able to hang in there real well with Hughes who is a much higher caliber fighter then Trigg.   Trigg and Serra don’t like each other at all and have talked a lot of smack between one another so this one should be one hell of a contest.   I wouldn’t be surprised if both men stuck to a stand up battle in this one since both may have respect for the others ground game.   Whatever way I look at it, I think Serra takes this fight, whether he knocks out Trigg or stays busy enough on the ground to take the decision, this is Serra’s fight and most likely the last we see of Trigg.   Prediction:   Serra by unanimous decision.

Rolles Gracie vs Mustapha Al Turk-   Al Turk is lucky to even get a third fight in the UFC since he lost his previous two.   Mustapha has some nice hands but a fairly weak jaw aswell as ground game and Rolles is most certainly aware of this.   UFC 109 marks the first Gracie in the UFC since 2006 and although I’m not all that familiar with him, I’m sure he submits Al Turk somewhere before the end of the third round sending Al Turk away from the UFC.   Prediction:   Gracie by submission.

Nate “The Great” Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen-   Chael is coming off two wins in a row over the likes of Dan Miller and Yushin Okami and with a victory here he may find himself in line for a title shot but unfortunately for him he has to get through Marquart who’s also hoping for a title shot with a win.   Regardless of the outcome, either of these men could pose problems for Anderson Silva but I think Marquardt takes this.   Marquardt is one well rounded fighter having fantastic submission defense and two terrific finishes in a row over the likes of both Wilson Gouveia and Demain Maia.   I think Marquardt hits much harder then Chael, who’s main strategy will be to get Marquardt to the ground and more or less keep him there.   Even with Chael’s wrestling credentials I don’t think he’ll be able to take Nate down and if he does, will most likely be unable to keep him there.   I think this fight could make for a long night for Chael as Marquardt takes it and sets himself up for a rematch with Anderson somewhere near the summer.   Prediction:   Marquardt by unanimous decision.

Preliminary Card

Mike Swick vs Paulo Thiago-   Prediction:   Swick by unanimous decision

Phil Davis vs Brian Stann-   Stann by unanimous decision

Chris Tuchscherer vs Tim Hague-   Tuchscherer by KO

Mac Danzig vs Justin Buchholz- Danzig by submission

Phillipe Nover vs Rob Emerson-   Nover by unanimous decision

Ronnys Torres vs Melvin Guillard-   Guillard by TKO

Well that’s it for this week as I’ll be back next week with a recap on UFC 109 aswell as rumors and notes from around the MMA world.   Take care everyone and enjoy the fights!