So yeah, CBS is giving Strikeforce another shot. Hope they put on a good show. LIVE FIGHTS Middleweight Title Fight: Jake Shields (c) vs. Dan Henderson Light Heavyweight Title Fight: Gegard Mousasi (c) vs. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal Lightweight Title Fight: Gilbert Melendez (c) vs. Shinya Aoki TAPED FIGHTS Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Stout Zach Underwood vs. Hunter Worsham Josh Schockman vs. Cale Yarbrough Dustin Ortiz vs. Justin Pennington Andrew Uhrich vs. Dustin West Chris Hawk vs. Ovince St. Preux Thomas Campbell vs. Cody Floyd -- This is the last fight on Shields' contact and he's on Chuck Liddell's coaching team on TUF11. If he wanted to go to UFC after this fight, he's in a good position to do so. -- If they want to get fighters over with the crowd/TV viewers - and they'd better want to - they really need to show King Mo and Miller's ring entrances. Straight out of Pride. -- I hope Melendez wins. I like him as a fighter, and Aoki was a jackass on NYE.
Just to lend a helping hand, here's a video... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wapgu5ocyFA]Strikeforce: Nashville[/ame] BTW, Bobby Lashley was suppose to be on this card, but dropped due to a Nasal Surgery. Rumors are he will fight on May 15th @ Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery in St. Louis, MO.
The last few Strikeforce cards have all been good. With the three title matches all of them look to be entertaining fights. Go Hendo! Shields can conveniently lose the title and go to UFC afterward. Which he never meant to be in Strikeforce anyway after EliteXC folded, so the power to him, and Dana needs someone to throw at Anderson Silva anyway. Mousasi is leaps and bounds better right? Aoki has to be happy B.J. Penn lost. If any of the title fights go short, supposedly Miller is going on.
--I believe Scott Coker said that they have an option to another Shields fight after this one, and that he plans on exercising it. --I think Mayhem did a variation of his Dream entrance with the Japanese school girls when he fought against Shields. --While I do like Melendez, I honestly don't see what he brings to the table that Eddie Alvarez doesn't.
Be careful for what you wish for. I believe Shields stand-up is about the same as Maia. Also Shields is a light Middleweight. I believe he would be better for the 170lbs weight class, so he might be a target for GSP. True, Mousasi is the real deal. I hear he trains w/ Fedor. However this is King Mo's breakout fight. He always fights heavyweights. So this will be a test for Mousasi too. Great match-up!!! He still couldn't beat BJ. Aoki doesn't want any parts of the UFC. Just look at what happened to Gomi & Caol Uno.
King of The Cage on Friday was so much better. Epic Fail IMHO. Fights all going to the judges scorecard? And that little brawl in the end might appeal to toothless WWE type of folks, but for the interviewer to say that this stuff happens on occasion in MMA? Countdown to Strikeforce's end on CBS.
When you get two opponents that can nullify each other skills, that is what you get. I don't see nothing wrong w/ that. Not every fight is going to produce a ko or a tapout. Especially when the fighters are top of the food chain.
Hmmmm true in some respects, I mean, I've seen my share of kick-ass ground matches (Dream comes to mind) that were transition delights. But IMHO to be top of the food chain, one has to recognize that okay, this guy is negating my skills, what do I have to do outside the box that will take me above and beyond this guy, even finish him? Those type of fighters to mean bring more substance and for the casual fan may be more exciting because they have a higher rate of finishing a fight.