Strikeforce: Evolutions

[GeneChing]

...but still a great fight - lots of action and what a dramatic turn around. Thomson vs. Melendez was great too.

I've got an interview appointment in a few minutes, so I'm going to scan my newsfeeds, drink my tea and answer a few emails. After I clear my desk, I'll share my notes from being there here, including the undercard and the show in general. Plus I got a few pics, mostly of ring girls .

[GeneChing]

I'll leave a permanent redirect, but it's easier on the archive if it's all together (and y'all know what an archivist I am )

I've posted some photos on our MySpace site which I'll reference here. I didn't post it on our Facebook because I was too busy to do both. Today, our MS has 1113 friends and our FB has 1161 fans so I figured I'd give our MS a boost.

So I got there just before 5 and the house was empty. I figured the season was a bad time to try to throw a fight - it was short notice and there wasn't as much publicity as many previous Strikeforce fights. They place my media seat in a different section than before, near the entrance glory ramp, too close the the pyro for my tastes. Now, unless you're ringside, it's really hard to get good shots, so I shot some entrances and some Ring Girls, just for fun.



The pyro was intense to shoot through

[GeneChing]

Alex Crispim def. A.J. Fonseca Unanimous decision all 30-27
Went the distance. Rd 2 had Crispim nearly sealing a guillotine. Rd 3 had Crispim landing solid knees to Fonseca's head.

Justin Wilcox def. Daisuke Nakamura Unanimous decision (I think... I was eating during the call )
Rd 1 - Nakamura had a weird guard, leaving his hand low and paying for it. There were a few knees but it was mostly a boxing match. Nakamura attempts a flying arm bar which was surprising but he failed to catch Wilcox's arm and wound up body slamming himself on the ground. Rd 2 - lots of left punches from both. Nak tries to outreach Wilcox but gets taken down towards the end of the round. A nice, yet inconsequential scramble ensues. Rd 3 Both came out swinging. Nak slips during a kick - many fighters slipped that night - and another good scramble ensues. Wilcox's face was really chewed up by the end, which surprised me because I didn't think Nak was landing so many.

Antwain Britt def. Scott Lighty Rd 1 TKO
Britt lands several heavy punches, knocking Lighty down several times and staying on top of his back. Lighty concedes after Rd 1.

Three were a ton of MMA celebs there: Diaz, Lashley, Rodgers, Liddell, Shields, Cyborg, Henderson, Herschel Walker and more.


Here's a pic of Cyborg and Manny Melendez of Tiger Claw. Unfortunately some fan nudged me during the shot. Cyborg was wearing these wicked stiletto heels and looking good.

[GeneChing]

King Mo defs. Mike Whitehead Rd 1 KO 3:08
King Mo enters like a WWE star with a bevy of writhing ring girls. Initially I was thinking that it was a little much, but he KOed Whitehead with some fearsome punches.

Jacare Souza def. Matt Lindland Rd 1 Triangle 4:18
This started with a flurry of punches but really livened up when it went to the ground at around 3:00. Some nice exchanges ensued and Jacare came out on top.

At this point in the show, the house was more full, but I was feeling like things weren't going well for Strikeforce. The first two bouts went too quickly. Matt Lawler was supposed to fight but they couldn't find an opponent. I was thinking things need to pick up for the rest of the broadcast....and they did.


King Mo's entrance. he's back there somewhere in gold lame with a matching parasol. It was very Mardi Gras...

[GeneChing]

It's a 5x5 for the World Middleweight Championship and it goes the distance. Simply put, a great fight. Both fighters were scrappy as hell, unloading intense barrages of punches throughout the match while jockeying for position. It was lots of great standing and ground tactics from two fighters who know each other too well - very exciting all the way through. There were two breaks for Thomson: a shot to the gonads at Rd 2 3:47 and a thumb in the eye at Rd 4. Melendez picked at Thomson with left rapid punches and calf kicks. There were several falls due to the slipperiness of the floor.


Melendez enters


Thomson enters

[GeneChing]

By the time of the main event, the house had filled up. After Melendez Thomson, the crowd was in a frenzy. The house was for Cung and when that bout started, Cung Le chants rose up repeated. Every time Cung knocked down Smith, the house cheered. Rd 1 was Cung's all the way, with him knocked Smith down repeatedly with an awesome array of kicks. I'm not sure how many of those kicks really rocked Smith. As mentioned earlier, the floor seemed slippery and there were many falls in previous bouts. Some definitely penetrated. I was on the floor near the edge and I clearly heard one of the shots to Smith's midsection. Smith seemed frustrated by it all and crushed Cung on the cage wall in Rd 2, taking the wind out of him. Rd 3 Cung looked weary. He was still landing kicks and dominating when Smith connected with that amazing shot to the jaw. Cung had ducked a punch and didn't bring his eyes back to Smith or his hands up in time. Smith, known for his heavy hands, landed a series of brutal jaw and face shots and it was done. The house went wild. What a come back. Unlike Carano/Cyborg, where Cyborg was soundly booed after her win (that might have been about the 4:59 fight stoppage too), Smith was cheered for his stunning turn around.


Smith's entrance


Cung's entrance

I know Cung, of course, and I know a few people at Fairtex in Smith's camp. I'm happy to see these two men fought well and honorably. Cung seemed as gracious as he could be in defeat. Smith, the underdog, was overjoyed.

All in all, those last two bouts were highly entertaining, showing again that Strikeforce can deliver a great show.

[Lucas]

sh!t....this just proves that cung is a human after all and not a cyborg or a demi god.

it just means im that much closer to godhood

[Lucas]

here is a link to the cung fight

http://www.hookedonmma.com/cung-le-v...h-fight-video/

[Lucas]

man that back kick snapped hard.

great win for scott smith, he earned it. good fight though too.

[Iron_Eagle_76]

I really hope Cung fights again. I would hate to see him end his fighting career like that, even though he fought a great fight up until he got caught. My hope is that we get more fighters like Cung in the future, because let's face it, love him or hate him, no one I know who is a fight fan did not like watching Cung fight.

Watching an MMA match where a fighter is knocking down opponents with spinning back kicks and spinning hook kicks will go a long way to capturing fans for the sport. It's exciting and more entertaining than your standard MMA fighter with sub par boxing, ok wrestling, and ok submission. It would be awesome to see more guys with a background in Kung Fu, Taekwondo, or Savate fighting using more exotic kicks and techniques. Many people watch MMA and feel that all fighters are the same and it would make the sport exciting to have more Cung Le type fighters.

[Frost]

I really hope Cung fights again. I would hate to see him end his fighting career like that, even though he fought a great fight up until he got caught. My hope is that we get more fighters like Cung in the future, because let's face it, love him or hate him, no one I know who is a fight fan did not like watching Cung fight.

Watching an MMA match where a fighter is knocking down opponents with spinning back kicks and spinning hook kicks will go a long way to capturing fans for the sport. It's exciting and more entertaining than your standard MMA fighter with sub par boxing, ok wrestling, and ok submission. It would be awesome to see more guys with a background in Kung Fu, Taekwondo, or Savate fighting using more exotic kicks and techniques. Many people watch MMA and feel that all fighters are the same and it would make the sport exciting to have more Cung Le type fighters.

Of course you could argue that there is a very good reason we have only seen a handful of guys using spinning kicks etc and that most of the fights look the same even though MMA has been round for decades now and is a well established combat sport …..But seeing as how it is Christmas I won’t go there

[Iron_Eagle_76]

Of course you could argue that there is a very good reason we have only seen a handful of guys using spinning kicks etc and that most of the fights look the same even though MMA has been round for decades now and is a well established combat sport …..But seeing as how it is Christmas I won’t go there

LOL, not arguing there. I just think the sport would improve by having more Cung Le type fighters. But you bring up a valid point, those kicks are obviously dangerous and hard to pull off in MMA, but they are exciting as hell to watch.

[Frost]

LOL, not arguing there. I just think the sport would improve by having more Cung Le type fighters. But you bring up a valid point, those kicks are obviously dangerous and hard to pull off in MMA, but they are exciting as hell to watch.

Ok apart from the obvious smart arse answer that these techniques are flashy and don’t often work (unless you are Cung lee) There are several other reasons you don’t see these techniques on a regular basis.

1) Fear of losing, until promoters offer more money to fighters who use exciting moves regardless if they win or lose you will see them using safe techniques (well relatively safe this is a contact sport after all)

2) Skill set, it’s hard to develop anything other than basic bread and butter techniques when you have so much to train, Cung Lee did it because he was primarily dping stand up for years and did not need to learn the ground (probably the most time consuming area of MMA to train in). Modern fighters need to train the ground, clinch and stand up so they don’t have the luxury of developing anything other than high percentage moves

3) Generally p*ss poor level of stand up fighting in the USA (which does not lend itself well to people learning and pulling off low percentage flashy stuff). Most fighters in MMA coming from the USA have very average stand up but are good at wrestling, and people tend to stay with what they know, hence the really good levels of stand up wrestling and ground grappling in the USA. In the UK it’s the other way around, lots of good Thai boxers etc but generally cra*p wrestling and ground work

So until the above changes, you get a much better standard of stand up in the US, people start to get booked and rewarded for using crowd pleasing techniques rather than just winning etc you probably won’t see these techniques on a regular basis

[Iron_Eagle_76]

This is true, but the very nature of martial arts in to evolve, and through that evolution we may see more strikers using what is considered exotic and less standard to MMA striking as it is known.

In the late 60's, point sparring in the US, although much harder and better than today, was still limited because of the stupid limitations that come from point fighting. Many competitors got tired of this, resulting in the birth of American Style Kickboxing. Guys like Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, and Benny Uriquidez branched out and this sport was born. Similiar to how after Royce Gracie won the first UFC, the sport of MMA took off.

What I would love to see is guys who are kickboxers or from a TMA who have trained this art for years, like Cung Le, who cross train in a grappling art and use what is considered to be TMA techniques. Remember, Cung was a decorated wrestler and although his ground game is lacking, his throws and take down defense is very good.

That being said, all things need to evolve and I think MMA will as well, which will be good for the sport.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Heavy hands make any fighter who has them, unpredictable.
They can change the course of any fight, as Cung learned.

Cung will come back and do fine, if he so chooses.

His flashiness, like GSP's, is an asset to the sport where fighters tend to be "blah".
Cung, Silva, GSP and such all add a nice mix of basics and the occasional flashiness that help sell the sport.