Strikeforce on Showtime Debut was Impressive

I had imagined that Strikeforce would not keep the EliteXC feel of things on Showtime/CBS and I'm glad I was right. I sure did not miss the bimbo cheerleaders.

The fight card itself was pretty good. I saw Brett Rogers as well as Benji Radach on Inside MMA last week so I was interested in their fights already. It was also pretty cool to see Cyborg back in action. She's definitly IMO the top female fighter in the US right now. But on to the fights.

Rogers vs Humphrey was pretty much what was expected, a standup battle. There were some issues with "hair pulling" early on that kind of slowed down the pace but Rogers pulled it out with some brutal knees and lovely use of the uppercut. It was pretty back and forth at times but I have a feeling Rogers will shape up to be a pretty solid heavyweight in the future.

Santos vs Akono was our second fight on the card. I don't know about everyone but I enjoy womens MMA so I was happy to see it back in action (most organizations do not have it). Cyborg came out with bad intentions early on. She did some pretty sick throws, actually more or less (wo)man handled Akono who was out weighed a good bit. The fight went 3 rounds by some miracle before Akono fell to a barage of punches and the fight was stopped. As much as I'm a Gina Conrano fan I have to say Watch out Gina, you're next.

Smith vs Radach was our third fight and an excellent fight it was. I'm a Scott Smith fan and did not give much credit to Benji Radach but that changed quick. Smith did well in the early first but Benji started landing lots of devistating hooks but somehow could not finish Smith. More of the same in the second round with Smith getting dominated. The last round Smith came out with a game plan and started rattling Benji a few times before landing a massive shot to KO Radach. This great war was easily fight of the night and I would love to see Radach step in the cage against Robbie Lawler in the future sometime.

Melendez vs Damm took the co-mainevent for the lightweight title. Melendez was originally scheduled to fight Nick Thompson who had to bail out due to an injury. Melendez from the get go just unleashed massive punishment on Damm. Brutal ground and pound secured an easy victory for him as he regained his title belt with releative ease.

Shamrock vs Diaz was our main event and the fight I was anticipating the most. I'm such a big Nick Diaz fan, and whether you love him or hate him he always puts on a good show. I suppose he's our modern day Tito Ortiz. Anyways, his boxing is solid and he had no problems landing numerous shots on Frank who really mounted little offense during the whole fight. Diaz continued to taunt him verbally while peppering away with jab after jab and some nice body shots, finally dropping him near the end of the 2nd round with right body shot to the ribs and follow up gnp.

Overall I was impressed with the card. Strikeforce always puts on great cards but I was unsure how their production would be (I'll assume NBC handled that on the NBC-Strikeforce deal) but it was pretty good and the commentating was nice. I was glad to see Mauro back. I have to say, I Mauro. It's also nice to see someone who knows something about the Japanese MMA talent.

I'm looking forward to the next Showtime Strikeforce card as I'm sure thousands of other people will be too. I have a feeling Scott Coker will be having a big impact on MMA in the next few years. I don't want to eat my worlds later on, but even with the demise of elitexc, the failure of the ifl, and the lack of ability by the UFC to secure a network deal, I have a strong feeling Strikeforce will be the one to make it. Prove me right, prove me right.