BlogKick: Strikeforce Rocks!
Posted on January 30, 2011, 03:43 AM by codemasterThis was a great night of entertaining and exciting fights.
Diaz vs. Cyborg
There is a sense of wonder and delight when a child sees a rabbit pulled out of a hat--that is the same feeling I had when Nick Diaz submitted Evangelista Santos. This was made sweeter knowing that one BJJ blackbelt submitted another blackbelt.
The fight opened up with Cyborg looking very good, scoring with hard leg kicks one after another, which Nick endured stoically, but you knew they hurt when Nick began to check them. Diaz didn't kick, but moved forward, oblivious and unafraid of Cyborg's hands. Cyborg was very busy, but only landed a couple of good shots, while Diaz got in some hard shots which rocked Cyborg.
As Cyborg tired, Nick kept taunting him to hit him, the fight became an exciting, though sloppy brawl. Nick was clearly inviting Cyborg to waste his energy hitting him, unafraid of his power. Nick got in the more damaging shots in the melee, and the 1st round ended with Cyborg looking gassed. Cyborg started losing in this round once he was gassed, and that was about half way through.
The second round opened up with Cyborg trying another whirling and unsuccessful reverse round house--which looks flashy, but was telegraphed and poorly timed and executed. After some more brawling exchanges, Cyborg tripped and took down Diaz pretty easily. What happened next was so swift and sneaky, I had to watch the video several times to see how Diaz did it.
In Cyborg's guard, Diaz reached out lazily and underhooked Cyborg's leg--(which I don't know why Cyborg allowed it, BJJ 101) then he brought his legs up like he was going for a triangle, then boom, he straightened his legs around Cyborg's neck while his left pinned Cyborgs right arm to his body. Diaz was very patient, as his victim, now startled--frantically tried to prevent the armbar, by rolling or being swept to his back. Diaz remained patient, and unhurried, delivering some hammer blows to the body, and Cyborg shifted the arm Diaz had trapped--then flash----armbar--tap tap tap.
While Santos had some good kicks, his standup was not impressive--he just couldn't hurt Nick with his hands. Nick didn't even try to avoid most shots --and left himself open throughout the fight. I couldn't help thinking what would happen if Nick tried that strategy with Thiago Alves. I also couldn't see him pulling off the same submission with many fighters at the top level. Throughout the fight Nick had an incredible gas tank, and it showed as Santos wilted. Diaz keeps his belt.
Jacare got rocked by Lawlor early in the fight, but still dominated on the ground. In the second round, he took Lawlor down again, and as Robbie tried to escape, he pounced, got his back--and soon, RNC'd him. Jacare retains his title--but he did show vulnerability in the first round.
Don't ever think old guys can't fight--you would be making a big mistake. Herschel Walker manhandled Scott Carson in impressive fashion, and walked away with a quick and decisive TKO. For such a green fighter, Walker has shown a lot of progress in MMA, at 2-0, maybe he is ready for a little higher level.
Roger Gracie displayed his heritage again submitting Trevor Prangley with an RNC late in the 1st round. Gracie moved like a python, gaining positional advantage step by step until his struggling victim panicked, and gave up his back. Once the hooks were in, Gracie patiently tightened his lock until Trevor tapped.
The bottom line is, this was an entertaining night of fights. Somewhere out there is the sound of Dana White gnashing his teeth.
Comments
Nice analysis CM.
Expected Diaz to get the win and agree with your points about that fight!! I was hoping Lawler would pull off the upset but Jacare showed why he's the Champ and came back well. Walker was impressive and dominated Carson... but apparently he's not continuing MMA, guess he's proved his point. I actually thought Prangley would be too experienced for Roger... but Gracie got it done it Gracie fashion. All in all a good night of fights!!
Thanks JK.
***Correction above on the Jacare submission, that whould read 3rd round*** my bad.
I agree, it was a very exciting night of fights. I should have commented more on Roger Gracie's standup--it was vastly improved from what I have seen before. I don't know if the 3 weeks in London sparring with GSP made a difference, but I viewed it as one of the most promising new developments I saw in the evening.
I also have to commend Herschel Walker who has been the target of a lot of derision from fans and Dana White. He is such a class act, and he is so humble about his abilities--yet last night, wow--he finished in impressive fashion. He is such a great promoter of the sport, I think MMA fans should show him more love.
I wasn't impressed with the fights the Diaz Cyborg fight was the only good 1, if u have an event end in exactly 1 and a half hours and the last 1 was bordering 2 hours your match maker needs to decide why every fight u put on is 1 sided and ends so fast. the past 2 cards had knockouts and submissions crazy and while they're entertaining it has to make u think that the matchups arn't as competitive I know i'm going to get weaked and call me a Zuffa Zombie or some dumb shit. But this is just my opinion and I'm a fan of fights period not just the UFC
I won't weak you--because you do make a valid point.
But I appreciate Strikforce for what it is now, and I have hope for what it will become. Given time, and fan attention, I believe the quality of their fights and the depth of their roster will improve.
While I like top-level fights, I also appreciate fights at other levels. Hell, I needed my MMA fix bad last night and I got it, and I was satisfied.
I'm not saying your wrong, but I just don't understand why you would describe yourself as unimpressed after this event. The way I look at it is styles make fights, and once two guys step in the cage that on paper make for an exciting stylistic matchup, I consider myself lucky to witness that "on paper excitement" translated into actual excitement. Besides the Herchel Walker fight (which isn't really a freak show, but more of a fan fight like they used to do with Pride), all the matchups made alot of sense on paper, which is all you can really ask for a matchmaker to do. Lawler vs Jacare was an awsome fight, even though the outcome was one that many expected. If Lawler let Jacare back up in the first round he might have gotten the W. Gracie vs Prangley made a ton of sense, a battle-tested Vet against an up and comer, and a guy with heavy hands and good takdown defense against BJJ guy. And ofcourse the last fight was epic.
I agree. Jacare got rocked, and the fight could have gone the other way--Lawlor showed power in his hands. Lawlor also really displayed some excellent ground defense against a master, even reversing Jacare.
Given time Strikeforce can and will improve their roster and all that. but IDK it just seems like when you have 2 title fights on the card 1 which has Lawler is nothing but a decent brawler against a guy who could honestly go to the UFc and challenge for the belt and then a Guy who's 18-13 has improved and been on a roll but in both fights I knew neither of them had a chance other then a big bomb punch. they need to improve their roster greatly so they can get more challengers in there. The Diaz cyborg fight I did enjoy but I knew Diaz was leagues above. the Gracie fight I was fine with. Prangley is seasoned and was a good matchup for a guy who was going into his 3rd pro fight. the Walker fight man I still don't know wat to think. for 48 he really does his thing but I want to see him fight a real fighter ya know? I know Strikeforce is still young and will improve I was just saying the last 2 events I've seen nothing but mismatches
Yea I see where your coming from in that regard. The Welterweight and Middleweight divisions are probably their weakest. The HW division is on par with the UFC, the LHW has some solid and exciting fighters (but pales in comparision to the UFC's), and their LW division is solid, especially when you mix in Dream guys. I thought Cyborg was a darkhorse as soon as I herd he was going to middleweight. For me personally though, I value experiance and maturity very highly (which is why I think SF has a better HW division than the UFC, but that is a conversation for later). But yah I agree with you, on paper it was hard to give Cyborg or Lawler a shot at winning, and even though Cyborg performed well, I think if that fight kept going he would have started to get outclassed heavily.
I really don't see your point about mismatches. The last 2 SF events were great and very relevant fights. Calling Lawlor "nothing but a decent brawler" seems pretty ridiculous. Even tho he ended up getting choked out in the end, he showed a lot of skill of the ground against against a BJJ Champion, even reversing Jacare. Santos was very game against Diaz, it was clear to me that could have won that fight had he not made a couple of errors.
Give credit where credit is due.