MMA Hot Stuff

Strikeforce Results

Guest Writer: Salvatore DeRosalia

STRIKEFORCE 

Televised Fights: 

MAIN CARD (BEGINNING AT 7:30PM): 

Gina “Conviction” Carano (7-0) vs. Cris “Cyborg” (7-1) – 145lb Female Championship Bout 

Gina and Cyborg both look calm as they make their walk to the cage.  The crowd is certainly on Gina’s side as it roars when she enters the cage.  This is quite possibly the most important in STRIKEFORCE history.  Fighters are you ready? Fans are you ready?  “Let’s go!” 

Round one starts with Cyborg staking Gina and she takes eventually takes her down after a short flurry.  Somehow Gina ends up on top but Cyborg is goes for a heel hook.  Gina escapes and Cyborg takes her back and initiates ground and pound.  Gina gets out and gets up but only to more vicious blows from Cyborg.  Gina and Cyborg go down to the ground again and Gina ends up in full mount.  She delivers her own vicious ground and pound.  Gina and Cyborg stand up and trade heavy punches in the middle of the ring.  Both fighters are tired.  Gina lands a SUPERWOMAN punch to the face of Cyborg.  Both girls are trading blows as Cyborg takes Gina down again.  Cyborg seems to be hurting Gina more then she is being hurt.  They clinch in the middle of the cage.  Cyborg falls on Gina and lands in half guard.  Cyborg attempts an Americana twice but Gina rolls out of it.  Cyborg initiates ground and pound. Gina curls up against the cage and covers her face.  The Ref yells at Gina to fight back or he will stop the match.  The Ref warns her again.  Cyborg continues to deliver horrific blows to Gina’s face as Josh Rosenthal steps in and stops the fight as the horn sounds to end the round.  There is confusion in the ring for a moment but the fight is over.  Gina is still on the mat as Cyborg runs around the ring elated with her accomplishment.  Gina fought hard but the strength of Cyborg was just too much and she is now the STRIKEFORCE WOMANS 145LB CHAMPION. 

Renato "Babalu" Sobral (35-8) vs. Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1) - Light Heavyweight Championship Bout 

First things first, Referee BIG JOHN MCCARTHY is huge. 

Bell rings and Babalu meanders to the center of the cage.  Babalu catches Mousasi kick and clinches.  Mousasi establishes side control. Babalu tries to get up but Mousasi destroys Babalu with straight hard punches to the head.  Babalu’s body goes stiff.  Mousasi wins fight by KO at1:00 in the first round and is now the STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight Champion 
 
 
 

Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (15-2) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (18-5-1) – Lightweight Interim Championship Bout 

El Nino takes the center of the cage and spends the first 3 minutes of round 1 picking apart Ishida’s face with jabs, hooks and crosses.  Ishida shoots for and get a double leg takedown, almost secures a rear naked choke but Gilbert turns it around into his own takedown which is where the round comes to an end.  

Gilbert used his reach in round 2.  Gilbert sprawls on a shot attempt from Ishida and then uses the clinch to administer some dirty boxing and knees.  Gilbert lets his hands fly with bunches of punches to Ishida’s face.  Ishida starts bleeding from the top of his head. Ishida takes heavy knees to the torso with a 1:30 left in round 2. Round 2 ends with another takedown from Melendez, Ishida seems gassed. 

Round 3 opens with Melendez taking the center of the cage again.  The two fighters’ trade punches.  Both fighters are hanging their hands low which is opening them up for punches.  Gilbert takes Ishida down with 3 minutes left and jumps on top of him with a flurry of punches, and knees to the body.  Melendez mounts Ishida’s back delivering furious blows to side of head.  Fight is stopped by Herb Dean because Ishida is not intelligently defending himself.  Gilbert wins fight by TKO at 3:56 in round 3.  Melendez avenges his first loss to Ishida in convincing fashion and remains the STRIKEFORCE Lightweight Interim Champion! And now I'm off to his after party.. I MIGHT post pictures tomorrow. Might.

Mike "Mak" Kyle (12-6-1) vs. Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum (11-4-1) 

Both fighters come out to center of the ring and waste no time throwing kicks and punches.  Werdum shoots for single leg and ends up in Kyle’s guard.  Kyle almost secures arm bar from the bottom on Werdum, the Jiu Jitsu specialist, but Werdum fights out of it gets side control.  Werdum wraps the neck of Kyle with a guillotine choke.  Kyle tries hard to fight out of it but the fight ends a few seconds later by tapout.   

Preliminary Bouts:

Alex Trevino Defeated Isiah Hill via Submission (Side Choke) at 3:56 in the 1^st round

James Terry Defeated Zak Bucia via TKO at 1:23 in the 1^st round

Justin Wilcox Defeated David Douglas via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 3:16 in the 3^rd round

Jay Hieron Defeated Jesse Taylor via Unanimous Decision (30-27 on all three scorecards)

Also,  don't forget to follow me at Twitter.com/MMAHotStuff 

UFC 100 FanExpo - Who will be there?

Today the UFC® confirmed the fighters that will be attending the first ever UFC^® Fan Expo™. The two day expo will be held at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas July 10th and 11th. The fighters that will be at the expo for meet and greets will be UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, UFC Hall of Famers Royce Gracie and Randy “The Natural” Couture,  and former world champions Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, “Suga” Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. UFC contenders Kenny Florian, Steve Cantwell, Shane Carwin, Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis, Tyson Griffin, Clay Guida, Dustin Hazelett, Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, Josh Koscheck, Joe Lauzon, Junie Browning, Nate Marquardt, Gray Maynard, Karo Parisyan, Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez, Sean Sherk and Mike Swick will also be meeting fans, along with The Ultimate Fighter winners Nate Diaz and Efrain Escudero.

 Fans of the PRIDE Fighting Championships will have the chance to re-live the excitement of Japan’s classic organization as well, with MMA icons Renzo Gracie and Gary Goodridge being joined by “The Texas Crazy Horse”, Heath Herring, and Brazilian superstars Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

And if that’s not enough MMA star power, the premier fighters of the WEC will be on hand to sign autographs, with current champions Miguel Torres, Mike Brown, and Jamie Varner sharing the convention center floor with Urijah Faber, Jens Pulver, Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez, Donald Cerrone, Leonard Garcia, Ben Henderson, and Alex Karalexis.

For a list of bars/restaurants showing the historic UFC 100 Pay Per View event - check out this link.

UFC: TUF 9 Finale to feature Nate Diaz VS Joe Stevenson

GracieFighter.com has confirmed that Nate Diaz will be fighting Joe Stevenson at UFC Fight Night on June 20th, which happens to be the TUF 9 Finale.

The two lightweights and TUF alumni, will both be looking to get back to their winning ways. Diaz is coming off a razor close decision loss to Clay Guida, while Stevenson is trying to bounce back off of a two fight losing streak. Stevenson suffered a loss to Kenny Florian at UFC 91 and another loss to Diego Sanchez at UFC 95.

Speaking of Guida and Sanchez, those two will be facing off as part of the TUF 9 finale as well, making for another exciting lightweight fight.

Diaz VS Stevenson is quite an interesting battle. Both have great Jiu Jitsu, but are polar opposites when it comes to body type. Diaz is tall with long limbs and will clearly have the reach advantage, while Stevenson is short and powerful. This should be a great fight!

Strikeforce April 11th Event Gilbert Melendez & Nick Diaz Both On Card!

It's been confirmed by GracieFighter that Nick Diaz and Frank Shamrock have agreed to fight on the April 11th Stikeforce card in San Jose, California. Shamrock previously fought at 185lbs while Diaz has been fighting as a lightweight. Diaz however has had to cut tremendously for his fights and doesn't expect size to be a factor. Both competitors will be fighting at a 179lbs catch weight!

Also, a source close to Gilbert Melendez has stated it's possible Gilbert will face ex-UFC fighter Jorge Gurgel! Jorge is best known for being on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter and for his "Fight of the Night" performance at UFC 73 against Diego Saraiva.

**Update.. Strikeforce told me Gilbert will most likely face either Jorge Gurgel or Mitsuhiro Ishida***

I know personally that Gilbert would be happy with either fight, but a rematch with Ishida (the first man to defeat Melendez) would be desirable!

Either way, I can't wait to see Gilbert fight again. Both fights would provide for great action.

Diaz VS Guida at UFC 94!!!

GracieFighter.com is reporting that Nate Diaz's next fight will be against the fast-paced and talented Clay Guida. The two lightweights are scheduled to face off at UFC 94 in January as a prelim to the much anticipated rematch between GSP and BJ Penn.

This will be a very interesting fight as the two have such different styles. Will Guida's aggressive style land him in some hot water with Diaz's slick submissions? Or will it control the fight and put Diaz on his heels?

Going into this fight Diaz certainly has one advantage on his side... a training partner in Gilbert Melendez that has fought and defeated Guida.

Regardless, this will be a great fight and I for one can't wait!

What's next for Nate Diaz?

After a victory over Josh Neer in December, it appears that Nate Diaz may not return to action until 2009.

As reported by GracieFighter.com, there had been a possible showdown between Diaz and Clay Guida for December, however it appears that will not happen due to a foot injury that Guida sustained in his last bout against Mac Danzig.

According to GracieFighter, it doesn't appear there are any viable opponents for Diaz available until early 2009, and they hope to see Nate on the January UFC card in Vegas featuring BJ Penn VS GSP.

Here's hoping we see Nate back in action very soon!

EliteXC: Diaz camp responds to KJ Noons "cryfest". I love it!

Much has been made of the back and forth between KJ Noons and EliteXC, and now Nick Diaz's camp gets into the mix via response to the KJ Noons "cryfest" via GracieFighter.com.

For a quick recap, EliteXC had offered KJ a fight with Nick Diaz for the October 4th CBS card. After being non-responsive to the offer, EliteXC pulled the offer from the table and let it be known how unprofessional KJ had been acting. KJ then retaliated by making his "case" that Nick Diaz was not the #1 contender and that EliteXC has not been treating him well.

Well, now Diaz gets into the mix by reacting to Noons' comments. It's a bit lengthy but absolutely hilarious with comments like "This is a business not Burger King, you can't have it your way"; and my favorite "Your (I could have been a contender) drunk father, started a near riot and should be banned from further events and immediately placed in an Alcoholics Anonymous treatment center for his own self respect".

Hilarious... click below to read the entire response.

Nick Diaz off DREAM 5 Card

GracieFighter has reported that Nick Diaz will not be taking part in the DREAM 5 card, where he was scheduled to fight Mach Sakuri. Apparently EliteXC has sited "contractual obligations" as the reasons for not allowing Diaz to fight in Japan in July.

It seems the rumor is that EliteXC has other plans for Diaz in July, which we can only assume would be to add him to the July 26th card which will be live on CBS. Could a fight in July with KJ Noons be added to the EliteXC card? Will we be seeing two title fights that night?

We can only hope!