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Round One: There Is A New King In Town
I was one of a very large group of people who simply assumed that King Mo would easily walk through Rafael Cavalcante in the evenings main event, but we were all wrong. In the fights second round, Rafael Cavalcante clobbered King Mo with a right and soon followed it up with a ton of elbow strikes until “Big†John McCarthy stopped the fight. Rafael Cavalcante not only shocked viewers worldwide, but shocked Strikeforce’s most marketable star as well. As for King Mo, the former champion handled himself like a true champion in his post fight interview, saying he will learn from his mistakes and rebuild.
Next Round For Rafael Cavalcante: A rematch with Mike Kyle, who handed Rafael Cavalcante his lone Strikeforce defeat.
Next Round For King Mo: A Gegard Mousasi rematch or Antwain Britt.
Round Two: Two Men, Five Rounds…One Champion
It took a full twenty five exhausting minutes for the battle to conclude, but Ronaldo Souza walked away as the Strikeforce Middleweight Champion. The fight wasn’t the most exciting battle I have ever witnessed, but it did show just how far along the striking of Ronaldo Souza has become. Credit must also be given to opponent Tim Kennedy, who scored two impressive takedowns on Ronaldo Souza. After the fight, Tim Kennedy tried to make it seem that he was screwed out of a title, but in reality, Ronaldo Souza was the clear cut winner.
Next Round For Ronaldo Souza: The winner of the proposed Strikeforce Middleweight Tournament.
Next Round For Tim Kennedy: Luke Rockhold, Matt Lindland or Joey Villasenor
Round Three: It Was High Noon For Jorge Gurgel
This fight was one of two fights that featured some of the worst officiating I have seen in a long time, which takes away from the victory achieved by KJ Noons. At the conclusion of the fights opening round, KJ Noons floored Jorge Gurgel with a right hook that left the fighter wobbling back to his corner, the problem was the strike landed a split second after the bell sounded. Following that, KJ Noons nailed Jorge Gurgel with a fight ending two punch combination in the second round, but the referees lack of intelligence cleared the way for KJ Noons to hit Jorge Gurgel with an illegal knee strike to the head. KJ Noons may have gotten the victory and Jorge Gurgel may have gotten a loss, but in the end, the fight official was the fights true loser.
Next Round For KJ Noons: Either Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez or Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz.
Next Round For Jorge Gurgel: A release from Strikeforce
Round Four: Somebody Find Bobby Lashley A Treadmill
Bobby Lashley was supposed to walk into the Strikeforce cage on Saturday Night and achieve a relatively easy MMA victory, but it didn’t happen. Following a dominant opening round, Bobby Lashley seemed to have lost all energy and was soundly pounded into exhaustion by Chad Griggs. In fact, Bobby Lashley was so exhausted and defeated that he could answer the bell for round three and the referee called the fight. In the other screwed up officiating moment of the evening, the fights official actually stood up the fighters while Bobby Lashley was in full mount on Chad Griggs.
Next Round For Chad Griggs: Lavar Johnson, Shane Del Rosario or Brett Rogers
Next Round For Bobby Lashley: Dave Bautista
Round Five: Five Fights And He’s Already A Champion
Although he is a relative newcomer to mixed martial arts, Strikeforce’s Daniel Cormier has already massed an impressive 5-0 record. In the span of three weeks, Daniel Cormier fought overseas in Australia to win the XMMA Heavyweight Title by defeating Lucas Brown, then defeating Tony Johnson Jr. to win the King Of The Cage Heavyweight Title and concluding the three week tour by destroying MMA veteran Jason Riley in under two minutes at Strikeforce: Houston. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Daniel Cormier could be a top contender to the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title by years end. Lets not also forget one other valuable point, which is that Daniel Cormier is an NCAA Wrestling Champion.
Next Round For Daniel Cormier: Bobby Lashley, Brett Rogers or Chad Griggs
Next Round For Jason Riley: Fighting outside of Strikeforce
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
