At Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine, a welterweight fight took place between undefeated prospect Tyron Woodley and the relatively unknown 21-year-old Jordan Mein.
“T-Wood,” who was calling himself the uncrowned Strikeforce welterweight champion coming in, looked as poor as a fighter could possibly look in a winning performance.
Woodley made Jon Fitch look like Jon Jones as far as being an exciting fighter goes.
As expected, the former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler controlled the fight with his takedowns and top control, which is to be expected and makes for part of a completely logical game plan.
However, Woodley did absolutely nothing from the top position. Not once did he attempt to pass guard or improve his position in anyway and Mein actually landed more strikes from the bottom position than Woodley did from the top.
Not every wrestler can have vicious Mark Munoz style ground and pound, but for whatever reason, Woodley just had absolutely no interest in throwing strikes from inside Mein’s guard.
Woodley instead was content to just hold his opponent down and watch the time tick away on the clock rather than look to inflict any serious damage and try to finish the fight.
Although he improved his professional MMA record to 10-0, the former Missouri Tiger only earned a split decision from the judges.
One judge actually thought that Mein looked better off his back than Woodley did controlling from the top position and awarded the fight to Mein: a very rare evaluation in MMA.
How often is it that a fighter is 8-0 in a respected promotion and is still yet to receive a title shot? The answer is not very often, although UFC lightweight Jim Miller comes to mind.
The bottom line is that with Strikeforce being in shambles, as it is right now, to crown a boring champion that fans do not want to see in the cage would only bring the brand down even further.
To his credit, Woodley, who was clamoring for a fight with Nick Diaz when he was still the Strikeforce welterweight champion, has five submission wins and one knockout through 10 professional fights.
So while Woodley may not have reached Jon Fitch territory yet, we know how this story ends if the Strikeforce welterweight continues to wrestle his way to decision victories.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com