– I never understood why Strikeforce would have Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante on the undercard. The assumption was that they wanted him to fight Sobral for the 205 title and having him fight off of TV didn’t make a lot of sense for a promotion that needs to build stars. However, all reports point to him showing up out of shape before getting knocked out by Mike Kyle of all people. Maybe he can still be a star for them down the road but for now I think you pretty much have to feature him on the Challenger shows.
– Kevin Randleman is done. He looked old. He still has some explosive athletic ability but he spent probably 14 minutes of the 15 minute fight just looking like a shot fighter. Whitehead didn’t look much better in not ever looking like he had any interest in finishing “The Monster” but with Feijao losing it does open up the door for another challenger at 205. But does anyone really want to see Sobral/Whitehead 2?
– I think I finally achieved some respect for Phil Baroni last night. Not because he looked good (he didn’t) or because he showed a dedication to improve his cardio (he didn’t). But rather because no one has ever gotten more out of a 13-11 record than Phil has. Every card he is on he manages to become a focal point of the promotion because of his personality even if the outcome of the fight is completely predictable. Joe Riggs deserves some credit for continuing to throw power shots for three full rounds with broken hands and completely dominating the fight. Phil Baroni deserves some credit for making people care about watching him get punched in the face while he struggles to not pass out from a lack of oxygen.
– Nick Diaz is probably my least favorite fighter on the planet, but I still have to give him credit for just working non-stop on the feet against a guy with real KO power in Scott Smith. Smith has heart for days and may be the best “TV fighter” on the planet but he just didn’t have an answer to Diaz’s swarming style other than throwing home run punches. I don’t have to like the guy, but Diaz looked impressive.
– Letting Andrei Arlovski go is one of those Dana White moves that just happens to look brilliant in hindsight. I’m not saying he let him go because he knew he’d eventually get KO’ed by Brett Rogers. But now looking back at it you no longer see the UFC letting a top 5 heavyweight go, just a guy who was probably a little overrated.
– The more important thing with Arlovski is that yeah, his chin isn’t great…but where is the defense? I mean, for all the improvement in footwork and punching technique Andrei leaves his chin open way too often. His chin wouldn’t ever hold up in the long run in a boxing career. The KO also means that he’ll have a medical suspension which will keep him out of his boxing debut that was scheduled for 21 days from the Rogers fight marking at least the third delay to his debut that I can remember.
– I don’t think we really learned anything new about Rogers last night. He hits really hard, but we knew that. I’ve heard a lot of people take shots at the way that he stepped in winging wide punches but he did that after catching and hurting Arlovski. He abandoned technique to finish the fight because it was his best chance of winning. The old “brawl a boxer, box a brawler” thing worked well for Brett and he deserves credit for the win. He’s a guy I’ve always liked but I think we need to hold off before making any determinations of where he really fits into the division.
– Robbie Lawler could not have given that fight away more if he tried. He just leaned in and gave his neck to Shields. There was absolutely no reason to just bend over and stick his head there for the taking. If I learned anything from the main event it is that either guy being considered top 5 in their weight class is not something I can get on board with. Shields looks absolutely horrified when he is forced to exchange on the feet and Lawler just makes too many dumb mistakes but has been allowed to feed on guys that play into his game for the past couple years.
– The broadcast is just awful. The fed lines to Shamrock were corny, Mauro’s puns are gag inducing, and Gus seems like he has regressed since the EXC days (when I was a big fan of his potential). But worse than all of that are the musclemen animations of MMA moves. Do I really need an animation of skinless men using poor technique to tell me what a jab is? If they feel the need to show what certain moves are can’t they just use clips from actual fights? I enjoy the Strikeforce product, but there is a serious need to fix the broadcast going forward.