Greetings all my awaiting MMA-ites. A lot of fights have taken place since our last meeting and I am going to try to burn through all the results and reviews as fast as possible. Strikeforce had an event on Showtime back on April 11, showing off some lady-on-lady action, a Diaz-Shamrock grudge match, and an Interim Lightweight Title defense. Strikeforce bought many of the defunct Elite-XC’s assets and is the place we will see the future fights of Tito Ortiz and Gina Carano. Most of their big name fighters are guys who have problems with the UFC for various reasons, many stemming from strained relationships with Dana White or the UFC’s strict focus on drug policies and public image. However, a fact not to be ignored, if Nick Diaz were as big a draw as Rampage, Diaz the Elder would still be an UFC fighter.
Hitomi Akano vs Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos-Women’s Division 145
There was no end to the controversy coming into this fight. Akano normally fights at 135 but wanted to fight Santos because she felt that Cyborg’s kakutou-ka style matched up well. Unfortunately, Cyborg came in 7 pounds over her contracted 145 lb weight limit. The scales say she eventually made weight the night of the fight but there was debate over that as well.
In the bout, it was obvious that Christiane was much stronger and heavier. The Japanese fighter, Akano had lots of game against the amazon but she just could not over come the strength disparity. By the end of the 1st Round, Hitomi Akano was employing the “armadillo” strategy; when Cyborg would try to clinch, she would drop and throw her legs out. In the 2nd Round, Cyborg just teed off at will on Akano’s head. At this point, it became apparent that Santos had very little knock out power in her hands. This may have been due to the major weight cut, but more likely has something to due with the physiology of the female upper body. The 3rd Round came and Akano retreated back to the way of the armadillo, but to no avail. Christiane finally caught her in the clinch and ko’d her via knees. Cyborg appeared susceptible to Jui Jitsu, but Akano was just not strong enough to get by her defenses.
Akano: Stay Tuned Santos: Stay Tuned
A quick editorial on women’s MMA, especially in Strikeforce and the tradition they have inherited from Elite-XC. They have got to do something about this weight issue. Both Cyborg and Gina Carano have had problems making the 145 weight limit. If they can’t, that is fine. As Akano’s camp suggested, maybe they should fight in an open weight division. As much as I love Gina Carano, and would do pretty much whatever she told me to do, as long as Strikeforce allows their two ambassadors of women’s MMA to show up heavy, they do the whole sport an injustice. The controversy and weight issues is why I gave both fighters a Stay Tuned. In the venerable, eloquent words of Dana White, “Make f-ing weight, it is f-ing season nine.”
Ron “Abongo” Humphrey vs Brett Rogers 265-Heavyweight
This fight was interesting in that they are both extremely big guys and both were fairly active. In the case of Abongo, he was constantly moving and striking; something that was inspiring to see out of a big man. Brett Rogers has very good takedown defense and and a deadly clinch. But there is where it started to suck. Every time Rogers went for a clinch, Abongo would move his head, Rogers hand would get stuck in Abongo’s dreads and the referee would break the clinch. Rogers actually had points deducted this happened so many times. He had Abongo rocked a couple of times from shots he delivered as his hand got caught in the mass of hair. Now, Abongo was acting like a real pansy every time this happened. Guess what, having your hair pulled really doesn’t hurt that much and if you are going to get this kind of advantage out of having long hair then there is no way I would ever cut my hair as a mixed martial artist. They are telling me, you can counter a Muay Thai clinch simply by letting your hair grow long and braiding it. I am in. Look out Anderson Silva. Your weakness is some goof ball with long hair. Come one people, this is a serious freaking sport. If getting his hair pulled, inadvertently I repeat, some how hinders Abongo’s fighting ability, then he needs to cut his damn hair. You cannot deduct points from his opponent for getting his hand caught and nailing him in the face. Restrict hair length in MMA or take the NFL stance before they put controls on hair length, “it is part of the jersey”. In other words, we are men, it is part of the game, if it gets pulled, so what, you chose to grow it out. In the end, it didn’t matter. Brett put Abongo out on his feet in the second round and Herb Dean stopped the fight. Good job on even more controversy, Strikeforce. By the way, neither man could touch Fedor, Mir, Lesnar, or even Kongo.
Humphrey: Look Away Rogers: Stay Tuned
Scott Smith vs Benji Radach 185-Middleweight
The battle of The Ultimate Fighter cast off versus the guy who was Matt Horwich’s biggest win. Check out this link to get opinion on that: SOUP CAN. Needless to say, I was not excited for this match up. However, it was entertaining for what it was. There was a good pace and the action was pretty good when the fighters were fighting with their heads. At one point in the 1st Round, Smith was rocked hard and Radach took him to the ground for no apparent reason. He could have ended the bout there if he had thrown a few more punches. The 2nd Round was completely dominated by Benji Radach and the 3rd Round looked to be going the same way. Then out of no where, Scott Smith ko’d Radach with a lightning quick right hand. It was dramatic and explosive. But that right hand is ALL SCOTT SMITH HAS. Maybe he is a smaller Chuck Liddell, but that is likely giving him too much credit. Sorry, I just cannot get behind a guy that could not win The Ultimate Fighter and then subsequently not hack it in the UFC when he got his shot.
Smith: Stay Tuned Radach: Stay Tuned
Rodrigo Damm vs Gilbert Melendez 155-Interim Lightweight Championship
The Champion Josh Thompson was forced out of his title defense with a broken leg. He was replaced by Rodrigo Damm and the bout became a contest for the Interim Championship to be unified when Thompson recovers from surgery. The whole fight was pretty one sided, Melendez took Damm to the ground with a Silva-leg-catch and pounded his face in for the majority of Round 1. In the second, Melendez caught Damm walking into a right hand and dropped him to win the Interim Lightweight Championship. Because of the way Damm stepped, when he circled to his right, it opened up the striking angle to Melendez. His corner probably notices this in the 1st Round, because he came out circling to his left in the 2nd Round. The problem is that is where all Melendez’ power is, so he walked into a right handed a-bomb.
Damm: Stay Tuned Melendez: Look Out
Nick Diaz vs Frank Shamrock 185-Middleweight
A Diaz was involved so there was an insane amount of trash talking leading up to this fight. A Shamrock was involved so there was an equally insane amount of posturing leading up to this fight. In the fight, they called it a catch weight bout, but the records show both fighters made weight. The 1st Round was easy to give to Diaz, as he obviously did the most damage. Shamrock had some nice strikes and some really impressive reversals from the bottom, but he was outmatched. You could see his expertise is still there and he probably did everything right. As oppose to the Damm-Melendez fight, Shamrock circled to his right, away from the south paw Diaz’ power. He had a good game plan, but in the 2nd Round Diaz stalked him down. Nick hit Frank with a severe body shot that sent him to the canvas, jumped on him and ground and pound until he got the TKO. Diaz did look winded while he was throwing punches in the 2nd, so that could indicate a conditioning problem for the future.
Diaz: Look Out Shamrock: Stay Tuned
All in all, it was a relatively entertaining card. I was so underwhelmed with the bigger named fighters on the card, that I didn’t bother to track down film of the preliminary fights. The highlight of the night was definitely Gina Carano in street clothes. My fantasy gets more and more detailed. Seriously, I gave a lot of Stay Tuned ratings just because it is difficult to tell how good fighters are at this level of competition. Say what you will, but a lot of guys outside of the UFC are cast offs. I gave Frank Shamrock a Stay Tuned when I would normally give a fighter a Look Away, because I don’t think a legend of the sport has to go out on mine or any fan’s terms. He has certainly not sunk to the depths of his brother, Ken. Up next is my 90% complete review of UFC 97: Silva vs Leites…STAY TUNED.
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