This past weekend featured a huge Strikeforce show with the Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley card taking place in San Diego, California. Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the show live as I was attending a wedding, but I’ve since been able to watch all the fights. I think all the fights went about how I expected,except Shinya*Aoki’s quick win over Lyle Beerbohm.Nick*Diaz proved why he’s arguably the most exciting*fighter in mixed martial arts, and Gilbert Melendez solidified himself*as being worthy of being mentioned among the top lightweights in the world. Let’s take a look at the fights:
-Nick Diaz beat Paul Daley at his own game. I wrote in the preview*that Diaz would overwhelm Daley with strikes, forcing*Daley to try and land the big left hook to put Diaz away. That’s*exactly what happened. Daley did land the hook twice and each time hurt*Diaz, but Diaz never looked like he was close to being*finished. Diaz did a great job of keeping Daley on*the defensive with constant pressure and eventually finished*Daley late in the first round.*The*early finish surprised me as I*didn’t think Diaz had the*power to put*Daley*away. I would have thought it would have been a finish late in the fight if that was going to happen. It’s clear that Nick Diaz is the best welterweight outside the UFC, but he would probably suffer*defeats to all the guys inside the top 5 simply because his take-down defense is a liability.
-Gilbert Melendez destroyed Tatsuya Kawajiri*which surprised me somewhat. I can’t help but think Kawajiri wasn’t all there with all the turmoil*going on in Japan due to the earthquakes, but I can’t take anything away from Melendez’s performance. It was clear he was in there to finish Kawajiri and that’s exactly what he did. His boxing looked crisp, but I think it was just his aggressiveness that put him over the top. When he sensed that Kawajiri was hurt, he went in for the kill. He definitely proved that he is worthy of being mentioned with the top guys in the lightweight division. I’m not sure who he’ll face next, possibly Shinya Aoki again, but his list of challengers is pretty small in the Strikeforce division. Maybe he’ll get his wish of fighting the winner Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard?
-Shinya Aoki*flat out embarrassed Lyle Beerbohm. I picked Beerbohm to upset Aoki simply because Aoki is so one dimensional and he looked pretty bad in his last Strikeforce appearance. However, he pretty much saved himself with the win over Beerbohm. If he had lost this fight, all the talk would have been about how he can only win in Japan, etc. He keeps himself among the top lightweights, but that’s about it as Beerbohm isn’t ranked in among the top guys. I suppose a re-match Gilbert Melendez could be next, or maybe he’ll sign with the UFC?
-Gegard Mousasi beat up Keith Jardine, point blank period. The point deduction against Mousasi in the first round was absolutely ridiculous. While it was an illegal blow, the kick didn’t land flush and it was clear that it didn’t do any real damage to Jardine. Props to Jardine for taking the fight on short notice. He seemed to know that he would fade quickly because of that, so he concentrated on taking Mousasi down because that’s a weakness of his. However, Mousasi clearly out-struck him and the post-fight pictures of Jardine’s face are proof. I think this fight was a prime reason why Mousasi should move back down to the middleweight division permanently. I’ll have more on that later.
Overall, it was an entertaining show it seems and*it’ll*be interesting to see what direction Zuffa takes with the Strikeforce promotion.*The next*event could be huge with the next round of the heavyweight grand prix taking place. Dana White*spoke about*making some minor changes to*improve the Strikeforce show, so we’ll have to be on the lookout for those the*next go round as well. What did you think of the fights?
Filed Under: Strikeforce
Tags: featured, Gegard Mousasi, Gilbert Melendez, Mixed Martial-Arts, Nick Diaz, Paul Daley, Shinya Aoki, Strikeforce, Tatsuya Kawajiri
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