Filed under: Strikeforce
On paper, Strikeforce: Houston looked like it would be a night where a series of favorites stampeded to easy victories. Then again, they don’t fight on paper.
“King” Mo Lawal got off to a good start in his first Strikeforce light heavyweight title defense. He slammed Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante to the mat, deftly avoided most of his offensive assaults, and seemed like he was in complete control.
Then in the third round the Brazilian challenger found his range in the stand-up game and unloaded on Lawal with hard right hands and a series of knees to the head that left the champion wobbled. After dropping Lawal with a left-right combination, Cavalcante poured on the elbow strikes until referee “Big” John McCarthy called a stop to the bout at 1:14 of round three, making “Feijao” the third man to hold the Strikeforce light heavyweight strap in 2010.
“My strategy was to block his takedowns in the first and second rounds, because I knew he was going to get tired, and that’s what I did,” Cavalcante said in the post-fight press conference.