Strikeforce Recaptured

Cyborg smashes Carano to become the first Strikeforce 145lb women’s champion

It’s been a long time coming, but women’s MMA took a huge leap forward Saturday night at the HP Pavilion Center in San Jose. Gina Carano, the poster child and face of women’s mma notched up win after high profile win to set the stage for the first women’s super fight against Christine “Cyborg” Santos. Months of hype and a national media tour brought the faces of both fighters to America’s mainstream. It is yet to be seen whether or not women’s mma will be easily embraced by the general American sporting audience but one thing is for sure, those at seated in Hp Pavilion center sure were.

An ecstatic pro-Carano crowd cheered her on as she made her way to the cage a complete night and day as to when Cyborg came into the ring with a rain of boos. Two women came in, but only one became champion. Christine cyborg proved her power was too much for the much smaller Carano as she bullied the superstar to capture the title in exciting fashion at 4:59 of the first round. For that entire one round, it was cyborg pressing the action and landing the harder shots, imposing her will on Carano. The very start of the round saw cyborg landing a hard flurry on the face of Carano that backed her up. Cyborg attempted to take Carano down but ended up on her back, immediately transitioning into a heel hook which she could not sink in. The two women’s fighters worked on the ground for a bit with Cyborg springing up and landing another flurry that ended with a well place right kick to the body. The Brazilian attempted a Greco clinch takedown but landed on her back. Carano gained mount position and landed a few blows but unexpectedly gave her position up. The two stood up and exchanged solid shots with Carano showing great counter striking. She followed up with a great superman punch but the Brazilian’s power was too much as she walked thru everything Carano had for her. Late in the first round, Cyborg was able to muscle into side control and attempted an Americana. Carano defended but Cyborg was pressuring too much and in the final ten seconds landed blow after blow in dominant position to become Strikeforce women’s champion via TKO at 4:59 in round one.

Mousasi rolls thru Babalu to become Strikeforce lightweight champion

Much thanks to Strikeforce as this bout was saved after the drama that was the death of Affliction came to pass. Gegard Mousasi, the Dutch-Armenian striking stand out had notched some big wins up to this point. Looking to bounce up and down weight divisions, he maybe on his way to becoming a legitimate threat to anyone in multiple divisions. Are we seeing the next the pound for pound stand out? There’s still much to see but what was made apparent on Saturday night was that Mousasi is dangerous from all positions. He put on an incredible performance out classing Strikeforce Lightweight champion Renato “Bablou” Sobral. The fight was quick and exciting as the two landed low leg kicks at the start of the bell followed by both of fighters falling into a body clinch. Mousasi was able to execute an inside leg trip and put the former champion on the ground and secured side control. Bablou attempted to scramble but had no where to go as he was pinned against the cage. Mousasi unleashes a flurry of shots that KO’s the Brazilian at 1:00 in the first round. With this win Mousasi proves he is no fluke he is a legitimate force to be reckoned with.

Melendez avenges defeat, retains his title

There is an old saying in the fight business. Styles make fights. It’s no different in mma as well. The particular style of Mitsuhiro Ishida, the game wrestler with nearly endless stamina as his nick name implies was speculated to cause some major troubles for Gilbert Melendez. The last time these two fought, it was a takedown storm with Ishida scoring at will. Melendez was criticized for his poor takedown defense but it would be a different story tonight. Showing that his game overall as a fighter has improved, Melendez dominated Ishida to clutch a third round TKO over the Dream FC fighter.

Ishida looked very one dimensional perhaps hoping that Melendez would fall into the same traps as the first fight. It was a game plan that completely backfired on him. In the first round it was actually Ishida for a brief bit that was looking like he might be the aggressor in the fight. Landing low leg kicks and changing his level, Ishida flustered Melendez for the first half. A Melendez striking clinic was put on display from that moment on. Being a little tentative, Melendez first opened Ishida up landing good jabs which caused the Japanese star to rely on his wrestling. Though he was able to take down his opponent a few times during the fight, Melendez was able to negate a majority of his attempts and land some vicious body knees in the first and second rounds. Ishida would have no chance to gain any momentum in the reminder of the fight. Melendez was landed great counter jabs and pressed forward backing Ishida and landing punches in bunches. The key moment came late in the third with a Melendez uppercut that rocked Ishida down to one knee. Melendez quickly took his back and transitioned from rear naked choke attempts and landing strikes with Ishida on his stomach. Not wanting to get subbed, Ishida had no choice but to cover up, allowing the referee to stop the fight via TKO in the third round at 3:56.

Werdum impresses as all roads led to Fedor.

The race to which heavyweight fighter will fight Fedor Emelianenko started heated up. With UFC veteran Fabricio Werdum now in the running to be the first to fight the heavyweight king in the Strikeforce cage. Werdum notched his twelfth win overall and sixth submission victory with a guillotine win over Mike Kyle. The two fighters fed off of the energetic crowd as Kyle came out swinging at the start of the bell. Great standup was shown in the opening moments but it was obvious that Kyle was incurring most of the damage early on. He was able to land clean jabs while circling to Werdum’s left. A straight right in the early first Stunned his opponent but Werdum quickly took the fight to the floor with a single leg takedown. Kyle quickly pulled guard and surprised with an arm bar attempt. Werdum quickly escaped as both fighters scrambled to get up. Werdum locks in a guillotine during the scramble as Kyle tries to position out but it is in too deep. Kyle is forced to tap at 1:24 in the first round.

In other bouts:

Jay Hieron defs Jesse Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27 on all score cards)
Scott Lighty defs Mike Cook via TKO in R1 (2:05)
Justin Wilcox defs David Douglas via submission in R3 (3:16)
James Terry defs Zak Bucia via TKO R1 (1:23)
Alexander Trevino defs Isaiah Hill via submission in R1 (3:56)