I’ve spent the early part of the day burning though last night’s double header on my Tivo. It’s always hard to get the right “feel” of an event watching the next day but still, there were a lot of takeaways after watching the events.
Strikeforce: Evolution
– Mo Lawal is not my cup of tea, and beating a bloated Mike Whitehead after beating a bloated Mark Kerr doesn’t leave me positive that he’s got the goods to be a top-level talent. That being said, he is an exciting fighter and does have a solid skillset. The big takeaway from the Mo fight is that Showtime doesn’t know their fighters well enough to show the right ring entrances and allow personalities to sell future fights.
– Jacaré is a legitimate talent and is a threat to anyone at 185 pounds. His striking looked very sharp against Lindland and obviously his submission game is for real.
– Josh Thomson v. Gilbert Melendez was a great fight. It was technical enough to satisfy the MMA snob in me while having periods of sloppy brawling that appealed to the “yeah! punch him!” Joe-fightfan in me.
– It is a real shame that Scott Smith’s amazing win is getting lost in the always pointless pro-Zuffa v. anti-Zuffa debate. While everyone is focusing on the fact that Smith would never headline a UFC event they’re missing out on the fact that he weathered a brutal storm and delivered a stunning come from behind KO. Regardless of how great Le really is or the fact that Smith isn’t an elite fighter, it was a great moment in the sport and one that should be able to be enjoyed by any true MMA fan. If you’re caught up worrying about the quality of the fight as a headliner, you’re missing out on a fight that defines so many of the things that make our sport great.
– I’m often one of the loudest voices when it comes to how awful the Strikeforce announce team is. Heading into the main event I was actually thinking that they had done a very good job of keeping everything under control. But once Cung Le started throwing kicks it was like a switch was flipped. We went into full hyperbole mode and you could almost head a scramble to cover every time Frank Shamrock pointed out that Le’s kicks don’t really “hurt.” It was a brutal oversell of a fighter who still had many questions to answer in his overall MMA game.
– Time management remains an issue for Showtime. They had a two and a half hour block and went off the air after two hours and ten minutes. For an event originally scheduled to include five fights to have not fit in one undercard bout in those extra 20 minutes was a shame. Antwain Britt won his fight in one round, they could have gotten him on TV since it does appear that they’ll be moving him to a main card bout soon. I’m sure this was more a decision by Showtime than Strikeforce, but as partners they need to look out for the good of the promotion which includes helping build stars for future events.
WEC: 45
– Takeya Mizugaki is a fun fighter to watch but I don’t think he’s a good fit for the WEC. Jorgensen was able to take advantage of Mizugaki’s poor defensive tendencies over and over in the first two rounds. I have my doubts about Scott Jorgensen’s ability to compete at the very top end of the division, but he’s always good for an enjoyable fight.
– Anthony Njokuani looked great. I’ve said over and over that he has arguably the best right hand in the sport and his head kicks are nasty. But it looked like his wrestling is getting better which is a very big deal. If he can get his grappling to the point where he can keep fights standing I don’t know if anyone can beat him in a straight up striking war. And what the hell was Horodecki thinking? You never turn your back, and if you do you sure as hell should keep your hands up. He deserved to get kicked in the head for that one.
– Brad Pickett will probably never be a star, but it’s hard not to appreciate a good Peruvian necktie.
– Donald Cerrone clearly won every round of that fight but the fight was tainted by too many rule infractions. Three low blows and a cage grab really took away from what was otherwise a very impressive performance. Cerrone is one of the better fighters in the world at using his length. The body kicks from Donald seemed to be the thing that changed the fight more than anything. It suddenly became very hard for Ratcliff to close distance without eating a kick to the ribs. Once that thought was in Ed’s head it opened up the punches for Cerrone who took it over. I am not a fan of his personality, but I don’t think we’re seeing the cowboy go away any time soon.