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Strikeforce 12/19 HP Pavilion (San Jose Arena)
By Zach Arnold | December 19, 2009
TV: Showtime
Dark matches
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Alex Crispim vs. AJ Fonseca
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Bobby Stack vs. Alex Trevino
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Juan Nunez vs. Luis Mendoza
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Daisuke Nakamura vs. Bryan Travers
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Antwain Britt vs. Scott Lighty
Main card
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): King Mo vs. Mike Whitehead
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Robbie Lawler vs.
Trevor Prangley - Middleweights (185 pounds): Scott Smith vs. Cung Le
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Matt Lindland vs. Jacare Souza
- Strikeforce Lightweight title match (155 pounds): Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 76 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Solid card which should answer a lot of questions about where fighters at at…. Like King Mo, Matt Lindland, and Josh Thomson.
Cung Le being so protected needs to stop.
Le is such a tough guy for them, he’s become one of their bigger draws, but fights sporadically b/c he’s making his star in the movies and is no doubt pretty selective about who he’ll sign on the dotted line for…they’ve sort of booked themselves in the corner with him.
I thought, at the time, putting him in against Shamrock was a real test for Le until (a) I saw them fight/spar/high-five for 2 rounds and (b) then I saw Shamrock-Diaz.
Word of advice to Jacare …. don’t let go of Lindland until the refs pulls you off. Ignore the tap.
I hope he leaves Woogie unconscious in a puddle of his own bodily fluids.
Eh, the best of the rest… I guess.
🙂
Hopefully its another over achiever.
@ The Gaijin
Please, stop it. I’ve sparred before, and I’ve never had my arm shattered in the process. This was a fight, not a casual day at the gym – grow up.
This “Cung and Frank were sparring” bull$hit I periodically read here and on Sherdog makes people sound like 12-year-old Kimbo Slice marks.
I’m well aware they weren’t actually sparring thanks. I’ve sparred many times too, for whatever that’s worth…which I’d like to point out is the dumbest appeal to authority type argument mma posters seem to have. I’m sure a good number of people who are hardcore interested in mma/boxing have also tried their hand in it, but how that makes their opinion or perception of a fight any more relevant or authentic than anyone else’s is just an arrogant viewpoint or a last refuge of someone with no valid argument.
I can also recognize that the fight was obviously 100% real and they were hitting each other hard, but they still looked like they were putting on some kind of exhibtion (mostly Frank’s doing) with all the constant high-fiving, glove taps, taunting, gesturing, working the crowd etc.
I’m interested in every fight but I think there’s a decent chance that every one goes to decision.
After thinking about it a bit more I think that Smith/Le may be the most interesting fight. Simply because I think Le has been pampered and eased along a bit, and I dont think that Smith will be playing along this time.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Smith just hauls off and KO’s him like Petrezulli on Kimbo to tell you the truth.
And although I do like Le, I think it would be best to go ahead and get it over with so that everybody can move on with their particular interests and agendas.
Scott Smith is terrible. He is the prototypical MMA striker©
He is terribly slow, has a bit of power, basic technique, and mma ‘huggers act like he is a KO machine. Cung Le could legitimately beat Scott Smith with both hands tied behind his back. He is going to blast the shit out of him with kicks and Smith will have no answers. I’d be surprised if it sees the final bell.
Hopefully this will be the event where Josh Thomson finally makes The Leap from “respected top 10 lightweight” to “universally recognized elite MMA champion”. In my opinion, he is the only 155lb fighter who poses a real interesting style match-up for Penn.
What DavidM said.
Smith-Le is a squash match. Scott Smith is clean cut version of Chris Leben. Actually, he’s a poor man’s Leben, as Chris actually has a respectable ground game.
Le will smash a cookie cutter MMA brawler like Smith without even breaking a sweat. Smith has a bad habit of leaving his body wide open in favor of protecting his head and Le has some of the nastiest mid-level kicks in the sport. This fight is going to look like Silva versus Griffin with the only difference being that Cung will finish his opponent with a liver kick rather than a punch to the grille.
“I’m interested in every fight but I think there’s a decent chance that every one goes to decision.”
I don’t get why you are thinking all of these fights will go to decisions.
Le-Smith and Lawal-Whitehead are pretty obvious squash matches to make marketable stars look like heroes. I think Cung & Mo will run right through Smith & Whitehead.
I also doubt the Lawler fight will be a decision just based on the fact that Robbie hasn’t gone to decision in nearly seven years.
The only fights that are a good bet to go to a decision IMO are Jacare-Lindland and Thompson-Melendez.
On Sherdog radio, they essentially asked Mo if he felt the Whitehead fight was beneath him, and he seemed kind of baffled by the expectations being heaped on him. I don’t get it either to be honest. Whitehead is 24-6, this is hardly a squash match. Is Mo only allowed to fight top 10 fighters now that he is popular, despite only being a pro for a year?
A motivated Whitehead is a very tough out for Mo. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Mo get “exposed” by a very big and strong wrestler with some ability to swing like Whitehead.
Its a good middle of the road show equivalent or slightly better than your average UFC Fight Night. Can’t really bitch about it. Shame Prangley’s out.
Here’s another thing about Mo: I talked to him for a bit at Strikeforce in Chicago without realizing who he was. You wouldn’t think he was a 205 pound fighter. He’s absolutely tiny, probably the smallest guy I’ve ever seen at that weight. Even a converted 185 pounder like Anderson Silva is way bigger. Rich Franklin is way bigger. Maybe Vitor is comprable.
I’ll bet your wrong about Smith. He’s definitely not good, but I think he’s good enough to put away le.
A “prototypical MMA striker©”.
You realize this is an MMA card right?
Not wresting or point fighting or k1.
I’ll take a gentleman’s bet on that; You win and I’ll admit I’m a “MMA hugger”, I win and you admit your an MMA hater.
I have no problem with Mo fighting Whitehead.
Whitehead feasts on guys who fight on the regional circuit but gets whooped every time he steps up to face someone who excels on the world stage. Take a look at who those 24 wins came against and you will find a mixture of over-the-hill veterans (Kerr, Randleman, Tiger White), professional jobbers (Warpath, Bourke, Batastini, Kaszowski), and wet behind the ears noobs (Jensen, Pulu, Sarafian, Beecroft). His record is not quite as creampuff filled as Jason Reinhardt’s, but it still has more than it’s share of tasty pastries.
A guy like Whitehead is a perfect test for determining if Mo belongs on the world stage. IMO, Mo definitely belongs and will prove it by putting a one-sided beating on Whitehead.
“A motivated Whitehead is a very tough out for Mo.”
+1
I wonder who there is for a replacement to Prangley? Just spitballing here…. Lutter? MacDonald? Solomon Hutcherson?
I don’t have a clue.
Never heard of any of those dudes. And the ones I recognize dont belong on any resume in 2009.
I would think his more notable wins in modern era terms are Kozinski and Rothwell.
Whitehead is an inoffensive jobber, but if Mo beats him it doesn’t prove any more than beating Wiuff.
IE: He’s capable of beating professional almost-rans.
And if he loses… well he just better not lose.
Mike Whitehead is the perfect opponent for King Mo right now. It will show where he is at. If he can’t beat Whitehead, the hype stops immediately. If he can beat him, then he is at least somewhat of a contender at 205 pounds in Strikeforce. I just don’t see him beating Mousasi and he trains with Henderson. Having training partners who won’t fight is tough enough on the UFC with a huge roster. With a company like Strikeforce, having guys like Henderson/Mo and Diaz/Shields makes things nearly impossible.
QUADROS JOINS DEC 19TH BROADCAST OF STRIKEFORCE: EVOLUTION
“The Fight Professor” Stephen Quadros will join Mauro Ranallo and Frank
Shamrock in the broadcast booth for the big, year end Strikeforce
extravaganza, “Evolution” in San Jose, CA on Saturday, December 19th. The
event will air live on SHOWTIME and will feature:
-Former middleweight champion Cung Le going head to head with ‘crash-and-burn’ king Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith
-The long awaited Strikeforce title rematch of lightweight champ Josh “The
Punk” Thomson (AKA) putting his title on the line against former belt
holder Gllbert “El Nino” Melendez (Cesar Gracie)
-Olympic silver medalist wrestler Matt “The Law” Lindland clashing with
two-time jiu-jitsu world champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
-The Strikeforce debut of “King” Mo Lawal vs. “Iron” Mike Whitehead
-And more…
Don’t miss Strikeforce: Evolution, this Saturday, December 19th, 10PM
ET/PT…only on SHOWTIME!
Just four days for Thomson’s next injury to manifest….any bets on what it might be?
I’m going to bet that he makes it to the fight. Odds are 3 to 2.
robthom: the fact that I can be objectively critical doesn’t mean I hate mma, it means I’m realistic.
Scott Smith is not a good striker on any kind of technical level, the fact this this is not boxing or K1 does not preclude good striking (go watch BJ Penn).
Mo is going to destroy Whitehead. That is a squash match. Mo may be the best athlete in mma. He would beat Jake Shields tomorrow at 185.
Why in God’s name is Mauro Ranallo allowed on television? They should have Gus and Frank Shamrock or Quadros and Frank; Mauro adds nothing.
David M;
You would really prefer Gus Johnson to Mauro Ranallo? Yeah Ranallo is annoying as hell, but Gus Johnson is MUCH worse. At least Ranallo knows MMA, whereas Johnson knows very little on the subject, and yells in excitement just for the sake of trying to make what’s happening exciting. It’s almost like he thinks people will be bored out of their minds if there isn’t a commentator screaming at the top of his lungs.
I would prefer anyone over Mauro. Gus brings some excitement, and even better, he doesn’t ruin the experience by making incredibly corny analogies every 30 seconds to describe what is going on. I have nothing against him as a person, I just find his commentary to be quite annoying.
I’d take Mauro over you know who.
🙂
I understand that BJ Penn has good hands. But I dont think Le is a BJ Penn level striker.
One thing that bothers me about Le is he seems to stand bizarrely upright at all times. Like he’s in line at KFC or something. This may just be a unique yet effective style, although I wonder if its a hold over from point fighting. So combining that peculiarity with I dont think that he’s really been tested by a reliably modern MMA fighter makes me still unconvinced whether his San Shou is actually so effective under real fire.
Yes, I am also one of those who think that Frank was cruising in their fight for the benefit of the San Jose audience. And then to see Frank completely spanked by Diaz just leaves so many questions in my mind about Le in MMA.
Smith isn’t good, but AT BEST he’s probably better than Von Flue or Morgan or Frykland. I dont know if he’ll win, but I suspect that he’s not so severely over matched as someone holding the belt would usually indicate.
This just in, via Sherdog, the Robbie Lawler fight is canceled. Reason given was that they couldn’t find a suitable replacement for the various fighters who pulled out against Lawler.
Well, that derails that particular drawing card (more than likely). And with Strikeforce splurging on a Fedor & Henderson double header in April, I can see their decline coming faster than expected.
Wow!
Scott Smith sucks!
I didn’t think he was good in the first place, and I severely over-rated him at that!
I didn’t think he was ever gonna land the culmination of his martial arts training, a power punch, the way he kept folding to the same spin kick over, and over, and over, and over….
Melendez/Thompson was a great fight though. A trilogy is justified IMO. Even though Gilbert pretty much ran circles around him and will probably take the third too.
Glad to see the Cung Le hype gone…..
I’ll just copy and paste what I said in another thread here;
“I couldn’t catch the WEC fight because it isn’t on DirecTV, but I did see the Strikeforce event. Very good fight event. I thought the Thomson/Melendez fight was great, but yeah Thomson was a little sloppy, mostly because he was gassed and throwing wild punches. Melendez looked okay, but it was a good scrap. Thomson really should have taken it to the ground. Oh well.
In the back of my head, I figured that Scott Smith would be able to catch Le and KAYO him, but figured Le would just have his way with him. Clearly I was correct on both accounts, but man that was a hell of a knockout. It was pretty obvious that Le’s long layoff affected his cardio. Well, that and all of those sidekicks that Smith ate. Le was awesome to watch, once again, but so was Smith in the last round. I bet Scott Coker shat his pants when Le lost. Because, going by that match-making, he wanted to build Le back up into contendership, but……aw, what the hell am I saying? He will still build Le back up, probably starting with a rematch against Smith. Or he will make Le avoid Smith like rape and feed him some cans.
As one-dimensional as Smith is, he is a dangerous opponent who will ALWAYS have his punching power and his almost granite chin to fall back on. But he doesn’t just fall back on them……he solely relies on them. Not good! Imagine if Smith just used a few more combinations, a few low kicks, and the usage of angles with his boxing would do to his game? The man has some great God-given attributes (punching power and chin as I mentioned), but he will always falter because he just doesn’t use anything else, except for the occasional underhooks. Well Mr. Smith, enjoy the Gatti complex…
Sorry for the double post, but I should mention that the Smith/Gatti comparison isn’t really fair on my part because Gatti usually always used angles when he fought. But my point still stands otherwise.”
This was a fun show and highly entertaining. Can’t wait for the next one.
Le losing that fight was embarrassing. Scott Smith looked like someone off the street with no fight training for most of the fight.
Thompson-Melendez was quite entertaining; I feel bad that Josh had to jump in against a top 10 guy in his first fight after such a long layoff, but such is the fight game. Gilbert is really fun to watch and I think he would beat a lot of UFC 155ers.
Awesome show. I don’t think Le losing is the end of the world. There’s always the rematch as a non main event. He owned Smith in the first but you gotta give respect to Smith for another great comeback victory.
Thompson/Melendez was FOTY. I disagree with whoever said Thompson looked sloppy. He looked like he gassed in the 4th which is better than most after a fight that high paced. And the 4th & 5th rounds were still great…he may have even won the 5th.
I hope Matt Lindland retires
As I said before in a different thread, thought the LW bout was sloppy, liked the progression of Mo and Jacare, didn’t care about Le/Smith until Le was getting dropped. The idea that its “the end” of Cung Le is ridiculous. Now they have another fight for him he might actually be motivated by; a rematch with Smith. And there will be much more heat for that than this fight. But that doesn’t fit into the “Strikeforce has to fail!” MO of a lot of people.
I have to strongly disagree with those shouting, “fight of the year!”, with regard to Thompson/Melendez. After the first round, Gilbert basically ran rings around a spent Thompson, who was only able to manage a few decent shots. Melendez tried to do a quick ‘Ortiz-Machida’ in the last round, providing Thompson with an opportunity to snatch victory. Josh couldn’t take advantage, wasn’t really even close, and that was that.
I hope the silly school-yard style punching exchanges don’t result in this fight overshadowing something like Sanchez-Guida, which was truly excellent.
I personally am kind of gutted that Cung Le lost that fight, he was gassed in the first round but you never count out Scott Smith who seems like a cross between a Romero Zombie and a considerably smaller Mighty Mo.
One thing that annoyed me was Frank Shamrock’s insistence that Cung Le’s strikes don’t hurt or as he put it “DO NOT HURT!!!”…..if that is the case then how did your arm snap then Frank?
Thomson-Melendez was good, but FOTY not quite.
I wanna see Jacare-Shields, even though there is high probabilty it will suck.
Chuck pretty much covers what I thought about the Smith/Le fight. I had a feeling that Scott Smith would win because A) Dude has KO power B) Solid chin. He has been KO’d before (Sandman) but it’s incredibly hard to KO Scott Smith. C) Heart (he wants it badly more than Cung Le does),D) Cung Le had the long lay-off and E) I knew that Cung Le’s chin was untested
But at the same time, I figured that we could end up seeing a repeat of Nick Diaz vs. Scott Smith except with a technical kickboxing clinic instead of technical boxing clinic. I knew that Scott Smith didn’t have a whole lot of skill and could be picked apart easily.
But at the end of the day we saw both scenarios come into play. Cung was picking him apart with his technical kickboxing but then Cung’s cardio took a hit with that lay-off and the flashy kicks and that gave Scott Smith, the man who doesn’t go down easily, an opportunity to pick apart an exhausted Cung Le and KO him.
I can’t believe there are people who thought Cung Le could beat Anderson Silva. He is amazing to watch but he’s the great TMA hype. Even Machida’s TMA-style got exposed by Shogun. I had hope that Machida would pioneer karate for MMA but it looks like Shogun found out a great way to neutralize karate: leg kick the hell out of the karate guy’s lead leg and he can’t be elusive anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cung Le quits MMA after this and goes into movies full-time. But then again, his movie roles probably don’t pay him a lot of money. Whereas his MMA gig probably nets him like 200k a fight (or maybe that was just for his high-profile fight with Frank Shamrock).
Btw I do think it’s a stretch to compare Scott Smith to Arturo Gatti. Gatti had the technical boxing skills. He just liked to brawl a lot. Scott Smith on the other hand doesn’t have much technical boxing skill. He can throw a straight punch down the pipe. That’s about it. The rest is just wild hooks, uppercuts and haymakers. Scott Smith relies on his strike power, chin, ability to recover and his heart. That’s about it.
Machida was in a tight fight and now his style is exposed?
Strikeforce was great fun last night, and relatively painless on the wallet. Le is still exciting to watch and if he can fit in matches between his films I’ll always tune in. We all knew from day one he was no worldbeater. King Mo and Jacare also did what they had to do, and the lightweight fight was interesting because Thompson made it a show despite the fact he clearly didn’t have it last night after round 1. Anyone else think he was a bit too happy to have lost? It’s almost like he made sure we knew he wasn’t 100% by repeating on every show, call and post-match that he was 100%…
Let me know when Jordan Breen posts a video rant about Frank Shamrock rooting for Scott Smith.
That was fun fight.
I’d like to see Jacare vs Shields and Hendo vs Mousasi. But I bet they’re afraid to do Jacare/Shields on CBS after the Mayhem fight.
I love that they use the helmet cam.
Why is Nick Diaz getting a title fight against Zaromskis instead of Hieron? That’s just stupid. Diaz gets rewarded for ducking Hieron in August.
“We all knew from day one he was no worldbeater.”
I’ve seen too many posts online saying Cung Le could give Anderson Silva a run for his money to believe that “we all knew”. It was nice to see him get exposed just so those discussions get haulted. Cung Le has an interesting style, but is not worthy of headlining a card above Thomson/Melendez…..
Jay Hieron has absolutely been screwed here. The next interview he has, the first question should be: “So, was that small signing bonus for the EA Game worth it now?”
Yesterday is a perfect example of people hyping up a show that didn’t warrant it. Strikeforce, just because it is a competitor to the UFC, is getting touted beyond what it deserves. The WEC had more Top 10 fighters on it’s show and was more deserving of being the more highly covered show….. But if anything, this sport continues to get treated as anything but…. by even the devoted fans…
The other thing is…. Strikeforce has done a lot of “taking” from this co-promotion with DREAM. They haven’t exactly given back much in terms of handing over some of their talent for DREAM to use. What happens when DREAM expects the favor to be returned and Showtime still wants 20 shows a year….. Simple answer…. Not enough talent…. And them protecting their draws like Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, and Gina Carano….. And they still lose…. Speaks volumes….
Also, if I am Jake Shields…. I am ducking Dan Henderson. And it’s very simple why….
1) Shields is fighting up a weight class to help out Strikeforce.
2) He loses all his bargaining power with the UFC if he loses his last fight on his Strikeforce contract.
Why risk that huge payday on a fight outside your natural weight class that you are only competing in to help out the company you don’t want a future in?
Shields should just say he is moving back down and then beat whoever they try and throw at him…. He is the best Welterweight outside of the UFC…. So the chances of him losing are slim….
The WEC had more Top 10 fighters on it’s show and was more deserving of being the more highly covered show….. But if anything, this sport continues to get treated as anything but…. by even the devoted fans…
The WEC was headlined by the #37 lightweight in the world against a complete nobody. Apparently not even the WEC cares about its top 10 ranked fighters, LOL.
Jacare is one of the only people in the entire world who has a chance against Anderson at 185. So is Mo, actually.
Strikeforce is really doing well; I’m glad to see a legitimate number 2 organization step up. Their second CBS show should be epic.
I think Melendez and Thompson are both elite, top 10 fighters. LOL at Cowboy, 9MM, 13 year old lard ass Horodecki, and most of the other fighters on that show being better than Melendez, Thompson, Lawal, Jacare, etc.
45: I agree with you about Jake Shields. He has nothing for top level guys at that weight, and Henderson would KO him badly.
David M…. Your opinion is just wrong. And here is the proof…
Sherdog Rankings
1) Gilbert Melendez – Top 15 Lightweight, as he is listed as one of the 5 fighters below the Top 10.
2) Takeya Mizugaki – #4 Bantamweight
3) Joseph Benavidez – #6 Bantamweight
4) Rani Yahya – #9 Bantamweight
5) Scott Jorgensen – Top 15 Bantamweight
Blood Elbow Rankings (Which uses Top 25)
1) Ronaldo Souza – #16 Middleweight
2) Gilbert Melendez – #13 Lightweight
3) Josh Thomson – #24 Lightweight
4) Takeya Mizugaki – #5 Bantamweight
5) Rani Yahya – #6 Bantamweight
6) Joseph Benavidez – #7 Bantamweight
7) Scott Jorgensen – #14 Bantamweight
I would say the ratings, which have constantly been in favor of non UFC/WEC fighters…. Still favors the WEC show. The WEC show had more ranked fighters and higher ranked fighters.
Then the further proof….
Muhammed Lawal’s biggest victory is against Mike Whitehead, who isn’t even Top 25 in the world. Ronaldo Souza’s biggest wins are over Matt Lindland and Jason Miller. Neither are Top 25 either.
I think people just take for granted what the WEC does and then give more credit to the Strikeforce show because it feels fresh to them and is something different. But in terms of quality of fights and quality of fighters, the WEC was head and shoulders above the Strikeforce card.
And just to show I aint completely hating on the Strikeforce guys…
Gilbert Melendez is a legit Top 10 Lightweight. Don’t ask me where he ranks within that Top 10, because that is nearly impossible to figure out, but he is absolutely one of the Top 10 guys in that division. He has a 17-2 record, avenged both of his losses to Thomson & Ishida… And also holds victories over Guida & Kawajiri. That’s an impressive resume. I wouldn’t mind seeing him fight Aoki. The winner would absolutely be the #2 Lightweight in the world.
Josh Thomson on the other hand… Is he even Top 20 or 25? I really don’t think so. Over the last 5 years, he has had three meaningful fights. He lost to Clay Guida. He then beat Melendez but got that win basically erased last night. Not to mention he took over a year off during this period of time due to injuries. To say he is Top 10 is laughable.
I think people just take for granted what the WEC does and then give more credit to the Strikeforce show because it feels fresh to them and is something different. But in terms of quality of fights and quality of fighters, the WEC was head and shoulders above the Strikeforce card.
Nah. They’ve cornered the market on extremely shallow divisions talentwise. Strikeforce has been able to do that with women’s MMA in the US too. No big deal. Yahya is P4P well below Jacare in my book, regardless of the fact that he’s more highly ranked in his current division.