'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time.

Last edited by Wolfgangsta on Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

Strikeforce needed to change the narrative.

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time.

By Wolfgangsta
Ninjasplace.com

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. 001_Dan_Henderson_vs_Babalu_Sobral1

In sports they say "winning is the best disinfectant". In the NFL quarterback or coaching controversies can be eliminated by a few W's being strung together. The Maimi Heat's struggles will be soon forgotten if they find themselves on a ten game win streak. In MMA though it's a little different, knockouts are the best disinfectant. Strikeforce was suffering badly in the court of public opinion. Pundits and fans alike, even Strikeforce's biggest supporters and defenders(including myself), were turning their backs on the San Jose based promotion in droves in recent months. There was much conversation about Strikeforce that revolved around their absentee heavyweight champion, and M-1 and the contract negotiation hell that comes with Fedor Emelianenko. Much was made of Emelianenko's loss to Fabricio Werdum and the fallout from that hasn't been exactly healthy for the promotion. There was the marquee signing of Dan Henderson, which soon turned disastrous as he was taken down and controlled by Jake Shields that after the first round, made him look old and ineffective. Made worse by the fact Shields then bolted for the UFC and was made to look pedestrian himself by fringe contender Martin Kampmann. Mayhem Miller(a 200 pound MW) and his annoying campaign to bait Nick Diaz into moving up in weight had stolen the thunder of Diaz's revenge over KJ Noons. Pretty much if there was a Strikeforce story, it was a bad one.

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. Daley-ko-smith

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. Daley-ko-smith

But what most fans and writers lost sight of was what is ultimately most important ; the happenings inside the cage. The fighters made sure to remind us of that on Saturday. The narrative that has dominated the MMA media and blogsphere since then is Strikeforce's first round knockout of the UFC on Saturday night. While the UFC put together yet another irrelevant free card of spare parts that was only worth what we paid for, full of tentative fighters afraid of getting cut and stalemated fights, Strikeforce and their fighters went all in and delivered what fight fans are here for in the first place - brutal violence committed at the highest level. There is the argument that this was a "UFC farm league" show consisting of mostly TUF'rs who will be out of the UFC in a year - which holds some weight if you don't consider that this show actually fits into a pattern of free shows over the last couple months which disappointed on paper and in the cage over and over. There is the argument this Strikeforce show was exciting because the fights were all one sided mismatches, which is also entirely unfair. Lawler vs Lindland has been written off by some, but Rich Franklin is back in the title hunt after a KO of Chuck Liddell. Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell's million buy watershed moment that ushered in this era was predicated on a beat down of Ken Shamrock. If Paul Daley springboards off a fight with Scott Smith into a title shot, don't forget Anderson Silva did the same on the back of Chris Leben. There is no significant difference in the style of fight booking between this event and in the UFC.

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. ScottCoker_zAgkz

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. ScottCoker_zAgkz

This card was more than an isolated night of action. Not only did the event re-energize the fans, they re-energized the divisions in Strikeforce. Antonio Silva maintains his status as a top heavyweight, despite his scare at the hands of a short notice Mike Kyle, who even in a loss had his stock rise in both the promotion's and the fan's eyes. Robbie Lawler reasserts himself as a dangerous contender for the MW title, while Paul Daley and Dan Henderson did much to generate marketable title fights for the coming year. After a truly disappointing year for Strikeforce, you have to believe the promotion is happy with the way this card sets up things for next year. The building blocks for the "phase II" year Coker predicted have been placed.

Scott Coker is criticized more and more for his quiet nature, juxtaposed against the brash White who is always in your face. This weekend though Coker's fighters did their talking in the cage. And save for a few WEC fights that weren't shown on the broadcast despite time not being a serious issue, White's did not.

Good points and a nice piece Wolf. I don't think the matches were really "one sided" as much as they were mismatches in terms of style. But you can also say they were stylistically matched up for sure fire entertainment.

It was as much redemption Strikeforce could of hoped for when all things considered for 2010 are examined as a whole. It is still crucial that some kind of momentum can be generated by this last event which carries over to their division with the highest level of interest garnering potential, their Heavyweight division.

Even with the great delivery of the SF: Hendo/Babalu show, delivery at HW should be their top priority moving forward. Their other divisions are still wafer thin in some regards, but big picture, they seem to have vitality which the Heavyweight division does not but should. Silva seems like their only solid guy driving that movement. He continuously requests fights with anybody. Bringing in Valentijn for him was something, but not an appreciated effort to me. There should be better options. His replacement, Kyle, was game and made for a better fight before and after, but I think it still speaks to the main issue SF needs to address. Get that division structured and working.

The V. Overeem fight was building directly towards an A. Overeem fight. I can't understand how they were criticized for that.

They need to fix their HW division but they also needed to get WW and LHW back on track just as badly and they did that here.

No one seemed to notice that no announcements happened on Strikeforce though.

SF has some talent out there that don't yet have the selling power behind their names. But IMO Jacare could continue to win and eventually get some serious pub in rankings and be one of those names similar to what Jake Shields was a year or so ago. I still think Shane Del Rosario will make some noise in the future.
IMO the previous superstars are just a short reminder(like Hendo's KO) away from being back in serious spotlight. In the next 18 months I expect Mo, Mousasi and Fedor to be hot names once again. SF was just in a in between period after the Hendo/Fedor losses and the loss of Shields. But IMO the names will rise again.

Wolfgangsta wrote:: The V. Overeem fight was building directly towards an A. Overeem fight. I can't understand how they were criticized for that.

They need to fix their HW division but they also needed to get WW and LHW back on track just as badly and they did that here.

No one seemed to notice that no announcements happened on Strikeforce though.

It's true about the WW and LW division, they need activity as well. With what's currently there though I feel like the conversation for the HW division shouldn't be what it is, like those other two divisions. A healthy kind of HW division is more beneficial at this point and the right pieces are there.

Valentijn was more or less matched up for that reason, but I don't think it was entirely necessary to meet that end. Silva is really right there in the mix already. SF would of been smart to end what seems like their BCS mentality of their two Heavyweight divisions for the Silva fight. Beating Kyle was good, it was a good fight. But I don't think it did anything more for him than beating Valentijn would of done, I don't know who could of aside from four or five guys. . It was to appease his requests to fight either way, and because they desperately need a guy like him, someone who they can actually make a HW fight with.

The January 29th Stikeforce card in San Jose needs to be stacked. There will be a wave of interest which carries over from the action on this card. They need to have something, on paper, that complements any of that renewed or created interest from this, then hope it can deliver even half the fire works.

GDPofDRC wrote:: The January 29th Stikeforce card in San Jose needs to be stacked. There will be a wave of interest which carries over from the action on this card. They need to have something, on paper, that complements any of that renewed or created interest from this, then hope it can deliver even half the fire works.

They might in fact strike while the iron is hot and book Diaz Daley for the title.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:: The January 29th Stikeforce card in San Jose needs to be stacked. There will be a wave of interest which carries over from the action on this card. They need to have something, on paper, that complements any of that renewed or created interest from this, then hope it can deliver even half the fire works.

They might in fact strike while the iron is hot and book Diaz Daley for the title.

They could do Diaz vs Cyborg and KJ vs Daley. Would be nice for entertainment. Or you could reverse those with Diaz vs Daley and Cyborg vs KJ. Hendo didn't break much of a sweat, it isn't out the question for him to be on this card as well. You could mix that card up with a combo of names and entertaining style matchups.

OU wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:: The January 29th Stikeforce card in San Jose needs to be stacked. There will be a wave of interest which carries over from the action on this card. They need to have something, on paper, that complements any of that renewed or created interest from this, then hope it can deliver even half the fire works.

They might in fact strike while the iron is hot and book Diaz Daley for the title.

They could do Diaz vs Cyborg and KJ vs Daley. Would be nice for entertainment. Or you could reverse those with Diaz vs Daley and Cyborg vs KJ. Hendo didn't break much of a sweat, it isn't out the question for him to be on this card as well. You could mix that card up with a combo of names and entertaining style matchups.

Hendo and Feijao are being saved for later. KJ is healing a broken jaw.

Another great piece wolf!

This card was just what strikeforce needed for a kick start, the new year should be very exciting for strikeforce as they have started forming legit contenders for their champs.

lets hope they announce some big HW fights for the first quarter

Good points. That leaves Cyborg and Daley still with Diaz. Why not showcase Shane Del Rosario? Shane vs AA could be entertaining and AA still has the name value. That fits what I was talking about with a name for selling power and a good stylistic matchup, also helps showcase an up and comer.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

OU wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:: The January 29th Stikeforce card in San Jose needs to be stacked. There will be a wave of interest which carries over from the action on this card. They need to have something, on paper, that complements any of that renewed or created interest from this, then hope it can deliver even half the fire works.

They might in fact strike while the iron is hot and book Diaz Daley for the title.

They could do Diaz vs Cyborg and KJ vs Daley. Would be nice for entertainment. Or you could reverse those with Diaz vs Daley and Cyborg vs KJ. Hendo didn't break much of a sweat, it isn't out the question for him to be on this card as well. You could mix that card up with a combo of names and entertaining style matchups.

Hendo and Feijao are being saved for later. KJ is healing a broken jaw.

Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio, March 6, 2011 is the early read on that rumored bout.

OU wrote:: Good points. That leaves Cyborg and Daley still with Diaz. Why not showcase Shane Del Rosario? Shane vs AA could be entertaining and AA still has the name value. That fits what I was talking about with a name for selling power and a good stylistic matchup, also helps showcase an up and comer.

i dont know if strikeforce wants AA to lose to a prospect...

There could be a positive in that it boosts and creates interest pushing the guy through the 'prospect' barrier to the next level.

killerofchicken wrote:

OU wrote:: Good points. That leaves Cyborg and Daley still with Diaz. Why not showcase Shane Del Rosario? Shane vs AA could be entertaining and AA still has the name value. That fits what I was talking about with a name for selling power and a good stylistic matchup, also helps showcase an up and comer.

i dont know if strikeforce wants AA to lose to a prospect...

Why not? How much more can they squeeze out of him? Another brutal loss and where does he go from there? Might as well let your prize up and comer capitalize while he can.

GDPofDRC wrote:: There could be a positive in that it boosts and creates interest pushing the guy through the 'prospect' barrier to the next level.

yea good point, they could use AA one last time, that is if he looses

if he wins they just say he beat a hell of a prospect in Del Rosario, which would be the case

either way its a hell of a fight and one id watch!

that middle picture of daley and smith is badass!

killerofchicken wrote:

OU wrote:: Good points. That leaves Cyborg and Daley still with Diaz. Why not showcase Shane Del Rosario? Shane vs AA could be entertaining and AA still has the name value. That fits what I was talking about with a name for selling power and a good stylistic matchup, also helps showcase an up and comer.

i dont know if strikeforce wants AA to lose to a prospect...

That shouldn't factor into their match making decisions here. Del Rosario is the future, AA is the past. They should fight and the winner wins. Allow the best fighters to assert themselves.

How bout using this Hendo pic instead?
'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. Dan_henderson_vs_babalu_sobral

While I appreciate your efforts and your argument, I have to partially disagree. You cannot build up Strikeforce, by tearing down the UFC, it just looks amazingly petty. I grant that I would have liked more exciting fights on UFC Fight Night, who wouldn't? But does that mean the product wasn't good? No it means it wasn't PPV quality and no one is arguing that it was. Strikeforce had a solid card and lots of KOs, but that doesn't mean a whole lot in the wide world of MMA anymore. Daley has a tarnished reputation, which he totally deserves and earned. Remember, he was fighting for a slot to fight arguably the greatest fighter of his generation on the biggest stage in the sport and not only lost the fight, but was fired for his actions after the fight. I was hoping for more from Lindland, being an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, but Lawler is no slouch and much younger and fights much more often. Scott Smith? Love the guy, but he hasn't really matured as a fighter, he is a brawler who has seen his best years. Then there is Dan Henderson. A great fighter? Yes. A legend of the sport? Absolutely. A star like quality of personality to help sell the sport? Not even close. Shields did beat him. He beat him for five straight rounds. Now the re-named (by you no less) Martian Kampmann, is a fringe contender? That guy fought one of the finest in the sport and gave him fits and would not go away, regardless of Joe Rogan's enthusiastic commentary towards the former.

Wolf in the ever growing world of MMA, Strikeforce has continued to sell us the same damn dinner they always have. Sure Hendo and Daley are new to the organization, but that doesn't mean they are not already known. Living off the droppings of a company that tries to improve itself every month of every year, while selling the shadow of Fedor's greatness, just doesn't cut it anymore. Also wishing the UFC to fail, while clamoring for the re-birth of other failed/failing companies is just bad sport.

Andrew the Raider King wrote:: While I appreciate your efforts and your argument, I have to partially disagree. You cannot build up Strikeforce, by tearing down the UFC, it just looks amazingly petty. I grant that I would have liked more exciting fights on UFC Fight Night, who wouldn't? But does that mean the product wasn't good? No it means it wasn't PPV quality and no one is arguing that it was. Strikeforce had a solid card and lots of KOs, but that doesn't mean a whole lot in the wide world of MMA anymore. Daley has a tarnished reputation, which he totally deserves and earned. Remember, he was fighting for a slot to fight arguably the greatest fighter of his generation on the biggest stage in the sport and not only lost the fight, but was fired for his actions after the fight. I was hoping for more from Lindland, being an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, but Lawler is no slouch and much younger and fights much more often. Scott Smith? Love the guy, but he hasn't really matured as a fighter, he is a brawler who has seen his best years. Then there is Dan Henderson. A great fighter? Yes. A legend of the sport? Absolutely. A star like quality of personality to help sell the sport? Not even close. Shields did beat him. He beat him for five straight rounds. Now the re-named (by you no less) Martian Kampmann, is a fringe contender? That guy fought one of the finest in the sport and gave him fits and would not go away, regardless of Joe Rogan's enthusiastic commentary towards the former.

Wolf in the ever growing world of MMA, Strikeforce has continued to sell us the same damn dinner they always have. Sure Hendo and Daley are new to the organization, but that doesn't mean they are not already known. Living off the droppings of a company that tries to improve itself every month of every year, while selling the shadow of Fedor's greatness, just doesn't cut it anymore. Also wishing the UFC to fail, while clamoring for the re-birth of other failed/failing companies is just bad sport.

As a whole this is a pretty baseless comment that doesn't make much sense. I'm not tearing anything down nor am I building anything up. This is just the narrative that has dominated. Go to any weblog on MMA and take a look at the posts from Saturday and since. Most of your reply is just the usual "this guys because of this this or that" stuff that comes from Strikeforce critics and really doesn't need justified with a reply.

No one clamoring for the UFC to fail, or wishing resurrection on anything. Your post in general is a contrived piece of contrarianism with dubious motives.

Andrew the Raider King wrote:: While I appreciate your efforts and your argument, I have to partially disagree. You cannot build up Strikeforce, by tearing down the UFC, it just looks amazingly petty. I grant that I would have liked more exciting fights on UFC Fight Night, who wouldn't? But does that mean the product wasn't good? No it means it wasn't PPV quality and no one is arguing that it was. Strikeforce had a solid card and lots of KOs, but that doesn't mean a whole lot in the wide world of MMA anymore. Daley has a tarnished reputation, which he totally deserves and earned. Remember, he was fighting for a slot to fight arguably the greatest fighter of his generation on the biggest stage in the sport and not only lost the fight, but was fired for his actions after the fight. I was hoping for more from Lindland, being an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, but Lawler is no slouch and much younger and fights much more often. Scott Smith? Love the guy, but he hasn't really matured as a fighter, he is a brawler who has seen his best years. Then there is Dan Henderson. A great fighter? Yes. A legend of the sport? Absolutely. A star like quality of personality to help sell the sport? Not even close. Shields did beat him. He beat him for five straight rounds. Now the re-named (by you no less) Martian Kampmann, is a fringe contender? That guy fought one of the finest in the sport and gave him fits and would not go away, regardless of Joe Rogan's enthusiastic commentary towards the former.

Wolf in the ever growing world of MMA, Strikeforce has continued to sell us the same damn dinner they always have. Sure Hendo and Daley are new to the organization, but that doesn't mean they are not already known. Living off the droppings of a company that tries to improve itself every month of every year, while selling the shadow of Fedor's greatness, just doesn't cut it anymore. Also wishing the UFC to fail, while clamoring for the re-birth of other failed/failing companies is just bad sport.

I think your off key here. The UFC isn't going to be tore down, and to imply that from this article, I don't follow. Card to card though, it was torn down on Saturday night. SF and UFC had shows on the same night at the same time. That makes them easy subjects of comparison. And in comparing them, SF blew UFC out of the water in the entertainment that was delivered. The names, history, reputations, etc., are nearly irrelevant for me in this comparison. It could of been all of my favorite fighters on one card and nobodies on the other. The delivery is what made the impact, the delivery is what I will remember about December 4th.

I read some of this as a contradiction to the point your attempting to make in your criticism. Your trying to discredit were credit is due in regards to the SF card, externalities can take nothing away from the recognition I feel that card deserves because at the end of the day it usually isn't about that stuff to me. I tune in to see two combatants satisfy my blood lust!!!.

Strikeforce has something positive to move forward with after this weekend. Which is important. They are not the UFC. The UFC could put on terrible shows for days before having a concern.

» Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu (Dec 4th)
» Forrest couldnt of picked a better time to get injured.
» Dan Henderson rtn to LHW, Babalu fight possible
» mousasi vs babalu on for strikeforce cyborg vs carano
» "Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson" draws 412,000 viewers

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time.

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time. :: Comments

'Strikeforce : Henderson vs Babalu' couldn't have come at a better time.

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