Tag: Pat Healy

Gilbert Melendez Finally Booked to Fight Someone Other Than Josh Thompson on September 29th


(And to think, if I hadn’t accidentally called Dana “Baldfather” during that interview, I’d be fighting Ben Henderson right about now.) 

When we first heard word that Strikeforce was considering booking a completely unnecessary fourth match between lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson, we more or less saw it as a sign that Strikeforce’s lightweight division, not unlike their heavyweight, welterweight, and pretty much every other division, was simply biding its time until the UFC inevitably absorbed it. We were elated to find out shortly thereafter that Thompson was making the whole thing up, possibly under the belief that if the rumor gained enough steam, Scott Coker would sit idly by and let the match happen again and again until Thompson finally emerged victorious.

Fortunately, someone had good enough sense to book Melendez a fight against top contender Pat Healy on September 29th instead, which will make for Melendez’s fifth title defense should he be successful. Although Healy can’t hold a candle to Thompson as far as turning in exciting performances goes (Thompson’s snoozer against K.J. Noons outstanding), it will be nice to see Melendez finally face off against the only other lightweight in the division who stands at least a snowball’s chance in Hell of beating him.

More details after the jump. 


(And to think, if I hadn’t accidentally called Dana “Baldfather” during that interview, I’d be fighting Ben Henderson right about now.) 

When we first heard word that Strikeforce was considering booking a completely unnecessary fourth match between lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson, we more or less saw it as a sign that Strikeforce’s lightweight division, not unlike their heavyweight, welterweight, and pretty much every other division, was simply biding its time until the UFC inevitably absorbed it. We were elated to find out shortly thereafter that Thompson was making the whole thing up, possibly under the belief that if the rumor gained enough steam, Scott Coker would sit idly by and let the match happen again and again until Thompson finally emerged victorious.

Fortunately, someone had good enough sense to book Melendez a fight against top contender Pat Healy on September 29th instead, which will make for Melendez’s fifth title defense should he be successful. Although Healy can’t hold a candle to Thompson as far as turning in exciting performances goes (Thompson’s snoozer against K.J. Noons outstanding), it will be nice to see Melendez finally face off against the only other lightweight in the division who stands at least a snowball’s chance in Hell of beating him.

Strikeforce made the announcement earlier today via its official Twitter account:

We’re coming to Sacramento, and we’re bringing @GilbertMelendez@BamBamHealy & @dc_mma with us…http://www.strikeforce.com/news/SF4-pressrelease-news … Tix on sale this Sat!

Healy has been playing the role of hype train derailer for his past few fights now, submitting prospects Maximo Blanco and Caros Fodor in back-to-back contests before most recently earning a hard fought unanimous decision over a guy that is best known for becoming Shinya Aoki’s eternal bitch at K1 Dynamite!!! 2009. Now 6-1 in his past 7 Strikeforce appearances, Healy has more than earned his shot at Melendez in a division that has less than 5 contenders still remaining.

Who you got?

–J. Jones

Oh, For God’s Sake: Strikeforce Considering a Fourth Match Between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson


(Come on. I know gay Irish couples who get into less scraps less than these two. Photo via Sherdog.)

In May, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez took a unanimous decision in his rubber-match against Josh Thomson at “Barnett vs. Cormier,” settling their rivalry once and for all — OR DID IT?? Due to the relative lack of big-name challengers in the Strikeforce lightweight division and the promotion’s total lack of imagination, Strikeforce is actually considering a re-re-rematch between these two. Yaaaaaaay.

According to Thomson on an appearance on MMAJunkie.com Radio on Friday, Strikeforce plans to offer Melendez a fourth fight against him. Said the Punk: “From my understanding, they’re going to offer him the rematch, and if it doesn’t happen, it’s not because of me. I just want everyone to understand that.”


(Come on. I know gay Irish couples who get into less scraps less than these two. Photo via Sherdog.)

In May, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez took a unanimous decision in his rubber-match against Josh Thomson at “Barnett vs. Cormier,” settling their rivalry once and for all — OR DID IT?? Due to the relative lack of big-name challengers in the Strikeforce lightweight division and the promotion’s total lack of imagination, Strikeforce is actually considering a re-re-rematch between these two. Yaaaaaaay.

According to Thomson on an appearance on MMAJunkie.com Radio on Friday, Strikeforce plans to offer Melendez a fourth fight against him. Said the Punk: “From my understanding, they’re going to offer him the rematch, and if it doesn’t happen, it’s not because of me. I just want everyone to understand that.”

Duly noted. Thomson went on to state that if Melendez turns down the fight, Pat Healy would be the next in line. Healy’s decision win over Mizuto Hirota during the Rockhold vs. Kennedy prelims on Saturday increased his Strikeforce win streak to five, including impressive victories over Lyle Beerbohm and Maximo Blanco.

So yeah, Healy should get the shot, if you want to be fair about it. But do enough fans know Healy to make that fight marketable? You know, because Strikeforce keeps burying him on prelims? (If you were paying attention during this weekend’s main card broadcast, Healy was the guy with the horribly twisted nose who pleaded his case to Heidi Androl about how he’s earned his title shot, man.)

Anyway, would you be interested in seeing Melendez vs. Thomson 4? And what comes after “rubber match”? What do we call the fourth fight in a series that’s already been decided in three previous fights, and is only being considered out of desperation and promotional apathy? Glue match? Rubber-duckie match? Zombiematch? Is anybody listening to me?

Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov Fighter Salaries

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsThe Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov fighter salaries are out and Josh Barnett received the biggest payday with $150,000 for his win over Sergei Kharitonov, $100,000, Saturday at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

All …

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The Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov fighter salaries are out and Josh Barnett received the biggest payday with $150,000 for his win over Sergei Kharitonov, $100,000, Saturday at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

All four of the Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinalists on the card earned at least six figures. On the other side of the bracket, Daniel Cormier was paid $50,000 to show and another $50,000 to win for a total of $100,000. Antonio Silva, who suffered a first-round TKO loss to Cormier, made $100,000.

Check out below the rest of the fighter purses, courtesy of the Ohio athletic commission.

Please note: The numbers below are the salaries Strikeforce reported to the commission and may not accurately reflect a fighter’s final earnings. Fighters earn additionally through sponsorships and possibly, other bonuses handed out by the promotion.

Showtime Bouts
Josh Barnett ($150,000) def. Sergei Kharitonov ($100,000)
Daniel Cormier ($50,000 + $50,000 win bonus = $100,000) def. Antonio Silva ($100,000)
Luke Rockhold ($25,000 + $25,000 win bonus = $50,000) def. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza ($70,000)
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal ($85,000) def. Roger Gracie ($80,000)
Pat Healy ($12,500 + $5,000 = $17,500) def. Maximo Blanco ($13,000)

Preliminary Bouts on HDNet
Mike Kyle ($22,000 + $22,000 win bonus = $44,000) def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima ($5,000)
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante ($30,000 + $30,000 win bonus = $60,000) def. Yoel Romero ($10,000)
Jordan Mein ($8,000 + $8,000 win bonus = $16,000) def. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos ($20,000)
Alexis Davis ($3,000 + $3,000 win bonus = $6,000) def. Amanda Nunes ($7,500)
Dominique Steele ($3,000 + $2,000 win bonus = $5,000) def. Chris Mierzwiak ($3,000)

 

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‘Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov’ Aftermath: UFC Auditions, Sans Mansion

King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports

Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.

Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.


King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports

Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov” had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.

Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.

Oh, about that: Looks like the answer to overcoming Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s sheer size and strength lies in exploiting that glass chin. Much like he did in his fight with Jeff Monson, Cormier kept the one dimensional grappler standing as often as possible. Although he showed off his wrestling credentials with an occasional takedown, Cormier refused to fight Silva in his comfort zone by forcing the fight to be stood up every time Silva was on his back. That strategy will work against Antonio Silva, but is his striking good enough to do that against Josh Barnett? For that matter, is Josh Barnett’s grappling going to prove too much for Cormier at this point in his career? We’ll have to wait until Cormier recovers from the hand injury he suffered, which will more than likely be early 2012. Assuming that Strikeforce is around at this time, of course.

If there’s one fighter who didn’t seem to realize that last night was an audition, it was “Jacare” Souza. Souza seemed to buy into the nonsense that some people were spewing about how Jacare vs. Anderson Silva would be a fight worth watching, and seemed to believe that as long as he could go the distance against Luke Rockhold, the judges would give him the fight. Yes, it was far closer than the 50-45 fight that some people seemed to believe it was. Yes, Jacare probably should have lost by split decision instead of unanimous decision. But does it really matter? A losing effort, no matter how close, is still a losing effort. Still, give Luke Rockhold the credit that he deserves for his performance last night. After shaking off the cobwebs that come with over a year and a half away from competition during the first round, Luke Rockhold fought like someone who saw the fight for the audition that it was. It’ll be interesting to see who he gets to defend the title against (again, assuming Strikeforce is around long enough for him to do so).

Other than that, King Mo showed that having “good striking for a Gracie” is like being “a good fighter for a professional reporter”, shutting out Roger Gracie’s lights early. Do we even bother angling for a fight against Dan Henderson, or do we just assume that both guys will be in the UFC before the next Strikeforce card? That isn’t rhetorical, comments section. Also, Pat Healy managed to survive Maximo Blanco’s wild strikes- some of which illegal- long enough to spoil Blanco’s hype. Healy sure has a habit of killing the hype for Strikeforce prospects. Let’s see if that translates into a step up in competition for him.

Full results, courtesy of MMAJunkie:

OFFICIAL MAIN CARD RESULTS

Josh Barnett def. Sergei Kharitonov via submission (head-arm triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:28
Daniel Cormier def. Antonio Silva via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 3:56
Luke Rockhold def. Ronaldo Souza via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal def. Roger Gracie via KO (punch) – Round 1, 4:33
Pat Healy def. Maximo Blanco via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:24

OFFICIAL PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS

Mike Kyle def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante def. Yoel Romero via KO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:51
Jordan Mein def. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 3:18
Alexis Davis def. Amanda Nunes via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:53
Dominique Steele def. Chris Mierzwiak via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)

Pat Healy Couldn’t Live With Himself if He Stopped Fight After Illegal Kicks

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CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Pat Healy following his submission win over Maximo Blanco on Saturday about overcoming the illegal kicks Blanco landed in the first round, how he set up the submission, getting the respect he thinks he deserves after the win, taking this fight on short notice and wanting to a rematch against Josh Thomson next.

 

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CINCINNATI — MMA Fighting spoke to Pat Healy following his submission win over Maximo Blanco on Saturday about overcoming the illegal kicks Blanco landed in the first round, how he set up the submission, getting the respect he thinks he deserves after the win, taking this fight on short notice and wanting to a rematch against Josh Thomson next.

 

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Strikeforce Live Blog: Pat Healy vs. Maximo Blanco Updates

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CINCINNATI — This is the Strikeforce live blog for Pat Healy vs. Maximo Blanco, a lightweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event at the U.S. Bank Arena.

Healy (25-16) is coming off wins this year against Lyle Beerbohm and Eric Wisely. Blanco (8-2-1) is making his Strikeforce debut after compiling a 6-1 record with Sengoku.

The live blog is below.


Round 1: They collide in a clinch to start things off, then Blanco stings Healy with a kick to the body. Nifty little takedown by Blanco puts Healy on his back, and Blanco is on top in half-guard. Healy pushes him off and manages to get to his feet, though he does pay for it a bit by eating a punch or two. Back on the feet, Healy paws with the jab, but can’t find the smaller, quicker Blanco. Blanco unleashes a kick and then several punches in close, following with another front kick to the face. Healy shoots, but ends up on his back when he can’t finish the desperate takedown attempt. Healy tries for an oma plata, then reaches for a foot lock when Blanco sticks his feet in his face. Apparently forgetting the rules entirely, Blanco begins kicking Healy in the face as they’re both down. That’s a no-no, and the ref moves in to halt the action. Healy gets examined by the doctor while Blanco has a point deducted. They restart in the center and Blanco goes right back on the offensive. He peppers Healy with punches and slams him with another body kick. Healy dives for a leg and stays after it, putting Blanco down even after Blanco grabbed the fence to prevent it initially. Healy ends the round holding Blanco down and working short rights to the side of his head. MMA Fighting scores the round 9-9 after the point deduction.

Round 2:

Round 3:

 

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Filed under:

CINCINNATI — This is the Strikeforce live blog for Pat Healy vs. Maximo Blanco, a lightweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event at the U.S. Bank Arena.

Healy (25-16) is coming off wins this year against Lyle Beerbohm and Eric Wisely. Blanco (8-2-1) is making his Strikeforce debut after compiling a 6-1 record with Sengoku.

The live blog is below.


Round 1: They collide in a clinch to start things off, then Blanco stings Healy with a kick to the body. Nifty little takedown by Blanco puts Healy on his back, and Blanco is on top in half-guard. Healy pushes him off and manages to get to his feet, though he does pay for it a bit by eating a punch or two. Back on the feet, Healy paws with the jab, but can’t find the smaller, quicker Blanco. Blanco unleashes a kick and then several punches in close, following with another front kick to the face. Healy shoots, but ends up on his back when he can’t finish the desperate takedown attempt. Healy tries for an oma plata, then reaches for a foot lock when Blanco sticks his feet in his face. Apparently forgetting the rules entirely, Blanco begins kicking Healy in the face as they’re both down. That’s a no-no, and the ref moves in to halt the action. Healy gets examined by the doctor while Blanco has a point deducted. They restart in the center and Blanco goes right back on the offensive. He peppers Healy with punches and slams him with another body kick. Healy dives for a leg and stays after it, putting Blanco down even after Blanco grabbed the fence to prevent it initially. Healy ends the round holding Blanco down and working short rights to the side of his head. MMA Fighting scores the round 9-9 after the point deduction.

Round 2:

Round 3:

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