Strikeforce thoughts

It was pretty good once it got to the championship fights.

Diaz-Cyborg went close to what i expected. I was expecting something similar to the fight with Zaromskis. Cyborg fought hard to the very end and he was hurting Diaz with those kicks but Diaz was wearing him down and Cyborg has never been known for his tank. There was no point in the fight where i thought Cyborg was going to win even though one could give him round 1. Nice patient performance by Diaz but does not really up his stock. Good fight as well.

Jacare was solid. Impressed with his takedowns as Lawler is not easy to takedown at will like that. Other than getting rocked by Lawler it was a pretty dominant performance but only slightly more impressive than recent performances.

Shamrock killed me with his commentary in this fight. Souza beating Lawler an upset? Pat had it right. He said he thought Lawler had a good chance for his striking and power advantage but avoided Shamrock's upset statement. Pat sounds like he knows his stuff without sounding like he memorized info 15 minutes before the show and rarely says stupid shit. I know Shamrock is the Strikeforce equivlent of Chuck Liddell or Stephan Bonnar meaning there is always a gig for him but he is just bad on commentary.

Gracie looked really good. It's not easy to completely tool Trevor Prangley but he is still not threat in the standup, and with his reach thats a shame.

My thoughts are simple. Gracie got hit once, that I saw, and then it was over. Walker had good GNP against a sub-par fighter (which is why he was brought in), Jacare was smart and Lawler looked winded after the first, And Santos needs to learn that being great at training camp is not the same as being great. Get a fucking gas tank man! Jesus, if he had gotten one of those, he might have eventually chopped Diaz down instead of taking him to the ground for a breather. Overall rating C-.

C-? Im guessing u would have preferred more decisions won via lay n pray?



The event was very good. Gracie made easy work of prangley, which is impressive. His standup still needs work, but that is expected, but at least he is able to use that reach to stay out of trouble.

I know Carson is a nobody, and is a true lhw and not a heavy(but so is Walker I guess), but Walker pummeled him. Bring on Frye.

Dissapointed in Lawler. He was too amped entering the ring, he was too frenetic in the 1st, and his pace clearly slowed at the start of the 2nd. More strikers need to just step back, and say get up, when they clip a high level grappler. Pretty wild that Lawler is still only 28, dude has been around for ever. I hope they can match him up with Cung.

Souza, a top 3 fighter in the division, his wrestling continues to impress, his bjj is elite, his striking, well, Lawler does have a habit of hurting guys. But he did show some nice clinch work later in the fight. SF needs Mayhem to beat Kennedy.

Diaz vs Cyborg. I though Cyborg could have used those leg kicks to win that fight. They looked brutal. But Diaz fought smart, moved inside to avoid the kicks, and then just pitter pattered Cyborg to death. I also thought Cyborg's power could be a problem, but Diaz's chin is impeccable. He got hit a couple times and was unfazed.

And how bout Diaz talking shit to whomever it was outside the cage? Drinks being thrown, I lip read a "fuck u bitch" from Diaz. Of coarse Mauro and crew were acting like it wasn't happening. Sherdog made no mention either, haven't scanned the other sites yet for word.

captain organic wrote:

And how bout Diaz talking shit to whomever it was outside the cage? Drinks being thrown, I lip read a "fuck u bitch" from Diaz. Of coarse Mauro and crew were acting like it wasn't happening. Sherdog made no mention either, haven't scanned the other sites yet for word.

I was wondering the same thing.

I thought it was a great show. A finish in every fight, 2 belts on the line, whats not to like? I could do without the whole Walker trying mma thing. But overall I thought it was great.

-I love seeing the rise of Roger Gracie, he's got a long way to go but he's def living up to the name on the ground. I would love to see an mma match between him and Jacare.

-Jacare did what we all knew he had to do to beat Robbie, take him down and sub him. Some thought Robbies takedown D could hold Jacare off and boy were those people wrong, Jacare took Robbie down when ever he wanted and imo could've subed him alot faster than he did. You got to get Robbie props for almost landing the KO shot tho in the 1st.

-Nick straight up scared the shit out of me. First not checking the kicks and then leaving himself open for Cyborgs strong uppercuts, he can't do that shit against Daley. Overall Nicks boxing was superior but I think he gets to cocky sometimes and I don't want to see him do that shit against Daley.

JerseyStyle wrote:

captain organic wrote:

And how bout Diaz talking shit to whomever it was outside the cage? Drinks being thrown, I lip read a "fuck u bitch" from Diaz. Of coarse Mauro and crew were acting like it wasn't happening. Sherdog made no mention either, haven't scanned the other sites yet for word.

I was wondering the same thing.

Coker said in his interview with Helwani that it was fans(though almost def with someones camp). But has the seating chart, so he should know who it is.

b

I give it a B. I thought the Walker fight was OK as was the Gracie fight. The Lawler fight had some real excitement as did the Diaz fight. My only complaint is that the matchups on the card were alittle on sided in my opinion. There was really no surprises on the card at all to me.

not really one sided if the fights were competitive. The downside for me was it was only a 4 fight card, with one fight being one i don't care about. So, i didnt get my fill last night. I wanted more solid fights with solid fighters...atleast one more.

Henderson-Babalu card turned out to be very one sided across the board, atleast in Lawler's case he had a legitimate shot and actually made a costly mistake when he originally rocked Jacare by following him to the ground, and Cyborg did some good things.

Also, Gracie's dominance was pretty surprising. Prangley has had his setbacks but has beat some solid guys in his career and has always been a tough fight. Gracie made him look really really bad...first time we could say that about a Gracie in a long time.

I think Roger Gracie will be a Demian Maia type for the LHW weight class. He'll never be the best, but he'll compile some solid wins and be a factor in the division for years to come. My suggestion for Roger is to keep working with GSP. Even if he never becomes a punching threat his reach can go a long way in setting up takedowns in many ways in which somebody like Maia is incapable.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

not really one sided if the fights were competitive.

Henderson-Babalu card turned out to be very one sided across the board, atleast in Lawler's case he had a legitimate shot and actually made a costly mistake when he originally rocked Jacare by following him to the ground, and Cyborg did some good things.

Also, Gracie's dominance was pretty surprising. Prangley has had his setbacks but has beat some solid guys in his career and has always been a tough fight. Gracie made him look really really bad...first time we could say that about a Gracie in a long time.

I think Roger Gracie will be a Demian Maia type for the LHW weight class. He'll never be the best, but he'll compile some solid wins and be a factor in the division for years to come.

Yeah i know what u are saying but when I say one sided I meant more about on paper i thought there was no doubt about who would win these fights.

great event IMO, ill give it a B+?

thought Nick took too much damage standing, but was real surprised that he took some of Cyborgs shots and ran through them, props for that. I was blown away by his Jits, not because the speed of the sub but rather the opponent, a BJJ black belt.

Jacares ground game is crazy, but we all knew that, why Robbie jumped in his guard is beyond me but I think down the line he was still gonna get subbed

Walker looked like a freak!!! Totally outclassed his opponent and with ease

Loved Rogers gameplan, he uses the jab real nice and mixes his striking with takedowns. How would you guys feel with Roger vs Babalu? i know its a big step up in competition but i think its time to test what he's really made of

killerofchicken wrote:

How would you guys feel with Roger vs Babalu? i know its a big step up in competition but i think its time to test what he's really made of

I'd be down for that. It's def time to see what Roger can do against better comp but I think he's got a solid chance to beat Babalu. As long as he can get him down. Rogers standup has along way to go if I was him I'd be pulling guard on everybody.

Think I am being harsh with a C-? I want competition, solid match-ups, not "Here is a guy we brought in so you can watch Herschel Walker beat the shit out of him." That is not competition, I could watch guys getting caned from Singapore if I wanted to watch that kind of stuff. Lawler-Souza looked like a good match, but Lawler looked slow and worn. The Main event was the only saving grace and then Santos lost steam. So I don't see how this is rated any higher than a C. I am expecting better cards over the next month, but this one was kind of a letdown.

Yeah I'd probably give it a C to. Didn't do much for me other than the main event. Not to mention the crowd at SF events always sounds so fuckin dead

on diaz, i think he's playing with fire because he wants to brawl with all these guys, he needs to develop a good take down so he can use his BJJ against dangerous strikers, it's only a matter of time before he gets KO'd imo

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

Think I am being harsh with a C-? I want competition, solid match-ups, not "Here is a guy we brought in so you can watch Herschel Walker beat the shit out of him." That is not competition, I could watch guys getting caned from Singapore if I wanted to watch that kind of stuff. Lawler-Souza looked like a good match, but Lawler looked slow and worn. The Main event was the only saving grace and then Santos lost steam. So I don't see how this is rated any higher than a C. I am expecting better cards over the next month, but this one was kind of a letdown.

Yep I think your being alittle harsh with that grade. The only downside I saw was the Walker fight, other than that there was competition. I don't think anyone thought Roger was gonna make easy work of Prangley, Lawler nearly pulled off the upset in his fight, and Nick gave Cyborg a couple chances to put his lights out. Your letting the freakfight ruin the rest of the event imo