Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine Wrap-Up
Posted on January 8, 2012, 12:10 AM by Joey SantosusStrikeforce produced it's first offering of 2012 tonight, with an entertaining line-up from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Reigning Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold made his first successful title defense in the headlining bout, stopping Keith Jardine in the opening round. In the co-main event, former Light Heavyweight title holder Muhammed Lawal knocked out Lorenz Larkin, while heavy-handed veteran Robbie Lawler finished Adlan Amagov with a well-timed flying knee. Also victorious was undefeated Welterweight Tyron Woodley, taking a split decision win over Jordan Mein, as well as Team Quest's Tarec Saffiedine, who edged out Tyler Stinson on the judges' scorecards.
Up next for Rockhold is expected to be former title contender, Tim Kennedy, who was replaced by Jardine in tonight's main event due to injury. The once-beaten champ now extends his current winning streak to eight, which includes a victory over Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza to claim the title back in October.
Full Results (via FightoftheNight.com):
Main Card
Luke Rockhold defeats Keith Jardine by TKO at 4.26mins Of Rd1
Robbie Lawler defeats Adlan Amagov by TKO at 1.48mins of Rd1
Muhammed Lawal defeats Lorenz Larkin by TKO at 1.32mins of Rd2
Tyron Woodley defeats Jordan Mein by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Tarec Saffiedine defeats Tyler Stinson by split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
Prelims:
Nah-Shon Burrell defeats James Terry by split decision
Gian Villante defeats Trevor Smith by TKO in Rd1
Ricky Legere defeats Chris Spang by unanimous decision
Estevan Payan defeats Alonzo Martinez by unanimous decision
Photo: MMAWeely.com
Comments
I agree he is the SF version of Fitch, hopefully this loss for Mein will force him to work on his wrestling, even though he lost he is the more promising prospect.
Never mind Bones, I hope he watched the following fight were a fellow wrestler competed in a exciting match and used his wrestling to allow him to KTFO his opponent.
Woodley = most boring fighter in MMA currently
Woodley is actually less active than fitch. Although fitch's human blanket unanimous decision wins arent exactly mindblowing, he is atleast working his gnp a LITTLE bit, and he's got some good jitz as well.
I think Woodley may be the most boring fighter i have EVER seen. I literally got annoyed/angry watching the fight, and I am usually the last to complain about wrestlers. But the show he put on last night was ****ing horrible. That is not what mma is about, that shit isnt fighting. When did laying in someones guard for ten minutes, throwing three sloppy body punches, and laying so low that you're in a position to suck his ****, ever make you a winner? I hope he gets knocked out viciously in his next fight and retires. Sorry, i'm just annoyed right now.
Same buddy, even though he clearly won when Mein was read out as winning for one of the judges I was hoping so badly that Woodley was going to lose. He doesn't deserve the win bonus money for simp;y hugging onto him for the entire fight. What pissed me off even more was that he tried to defend his performace....
I usually stick up for people who use wrestling to grind it out like Fitch and try to explain that they are just completely dominating, as long as they are active and are outworking their opponent.
Woodley simply held Mein down. He was in Mein's guard for basically the entire fight and was less active than Mein. He barely even made the attempt to pass the guard. This may have been the most boring grind out I've ever witnessed, even Woodley's wife was shouting for more action!
What made it worse was that the referee did a horrific job. There was countless times were Woodley was honestly just hugging him and not attacking for a long time and the ref would let it just go on. The first ime that Woodley was put in trouble on the ground, with a decent submission attempt, the ref stands them up during it. Perhaps the worst ref job I've seen, considering stand-ups, in a major MMA organisation.
Woodley has proven once again he is not a fighter but just a wrestler. He would never go far in the UFC.
I would also like to note that this was the worst officiated MMA event I have ever seen.
The reffing was atrocious, so many fighters took extra damage that wasn't neccesary. Kim Winslow had another 2 very bad calls and Herb Dean surprising couldn't make his mind up to jump in or not. The best ref of the night was Steven Mazzagatti and that is saying something!
The judges were horrible that night, bad on nearly every fight. I can't remember if they agreed on any of the main card fights. I can not believe one judge gave that first round to Saffiedine and one of the judges gave the fight to Stinson. It was completely horendous that Burrell beat Terry, he definitely lost that fight and anybody who watches MMA knows that, terrible judging. Most likely the worst call I have ever seen in MMA is the judge giving Mein the win over Woodley, I hated the fight but it was completely obvious Woodley won 30-27.
Terrible start for 2012 officiating.
I couldn't agree more with most of the points you were making above, both about Woodley and the officiating. Although I think one of the judges gave the fight to Mein simply because he thought that woodley laying in Mein's guard didnt achieve the purpose of inflicting any damage or getting closer to a finish. It's simply because of a poor understanding of the ground game that the perception of laying in someone's guard is an advantageous position. In jiu jitsu thats is considerded a defensive position, with no possible submission attacks. In MMA i would agree that it is an offensive position IF you attack with strikes. If not, it shouldn't be awarded by points at all. Neither should the takedowns if they dont lead to anything. I hope the judges get around to understanding these facts. This is fighting, not wrestling, finishing the fight and inflicting damage is the objective. Nothing else.