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Two Sheds Review: Looking Back at Last Month’s Strikeforce Challengers Show

With Strikeforce having held their latest major show this past Saturday, what better time is there to look into their recent archives, and this time we’re going back just a few weeks as Jorge Gurgel took on Joe Duarte in the main event of the lat…

The show began in the light heavyweight division as Roy Jones (no, not that one) went up against Derrick Mehman.

This was a really enjoyable three rounder. The first round saw Jones coming forward and unloading with the big guns, connecting with a flying knee that rocked Mehman.

But after Jones delivered an inadvertent low blow, the rest seemed to invigorate Mehman as he scored with the take down, and although he wasn’t exactly dominant, he did enough to keep his man on the ground.

The beginning of the second round saw Mehman counter a spinning back kick attempt with a take down. However, Jones’ heel caught him about the left eye and opened up a nasty gash above his left eye. The doctor allowed him to continue, and Mehman scored with another take down and once again set about controlling Jones on the ground again.

The doctor checked Mehman again between rounds and allowed him to continue, and once again he sought to control Jones on the ground. It was enough to keep Jones down, although he was on the receiving end of a nasty jab to the left eye when the referee stood the fighters up.

So with the fight going the distance, it was on to the judges who gave the decision to Mehman.

Then it was on to women’s action with a fight made at 145 between Ronda Rousey and Sarah D’Alelio.

Now this was a confusing and controversial one. After both fighters jockeyed for position, Rousey went for an arm bar, and as Rousey went to lock in the hold, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

Confusion then ensued as D’Alelio claimed that she didn’t tap, and replays from various angles show that she didn’t. Neither fighter looked particularly happy when the decision was announced, with Rousey claiming that D’Alelio said she was tapping and D’Alelio claiming that she was crying out in pain during the post-fight interview. This was nothing more than very poor officiating.

Lightweight action followed as Grizzly Redwood look-a-like Pat Healy took on Eric Wisely.

After the disappointment of the last fight, this was just what the doctor ordered. For the first two rounds Wisely put in a good performance on the ground, and even though Healy was on top for the majority of that time, Wisely was on the offensive by going for arm bars and various leg locks as well as countering Healy’s attempts to change position.

Healy seemed to have finally figured his man out in the third round, taking more control in the fight with his ground and pound, and although Wisely still put up a good fight.

So once again the judges came into the equation, with Healy getting the unanimous decision. Just another example of how judges take into account what the fighter on top is doing more than the fighter on the ground.

It was up to middleweight for the next fight as Danillo Villefort took on Nate James.

This interesting three rounder proved to be a great back and forth affair. Both fighters put on good performances both on the ground and in the striking game.

Villefort looked particularly impressive early on, especially with his take downs, but as the fight progressed he seemed to tire while James looked fresh throughout. It got to the point where James was able to take control late in the fight with some take downs of his own, and some nice ground and pound work.

Yet again, the judges came into play as James took the unanimous decision.

The main event saw Jorge Gurgel taking on Joe Duarte in the lightweight division.

This was another of those intriguing three-round affairs. We saw some great striking from both fighters, in particular from Gurgel, although Duarte wasn’t far behind him in that respect.

The ground work proved to be just as good, especially in the third. Gurgel went for a take down, but found himself with Duarte in the mount. Later on, Duarte scored with an impressive take down himself, but by then he didn’t have much time to do any work.

More work for the judges at the end of this one as Duarte took the unanimous decision.

In conclusion, once again the up-and-comers of the Strikeforce roster delivered a quality show, and although there were no flashy finishes and no big knockouts, it was still fun to watch.

Apart from the women’s fight, that is.

The women’s division in Strikeforce is always one of the highlights for me, but this time extremely poor officiating meant that the fight between Rousey and D’Alelio was ruined. There’s an old chant in football (soccer) about referee’s needing glasses when he misses a foul, but maybe a certain Mr. Mazzgatti needs a hearing aid so he can learn the difference between someone grunting in pain and saying “tap tap”.

Apart from that misdemeanour this was a quality show, and it gets the thumbs up from this particular writer.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. There’s over a thousand articles and reviews there, some dating back as far as 1998, with some newly added fiction dating back even further.

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Strikeforce Challengers 16 on Showtime: Live Blog

We are live, watching Strikeforce Challengers 16 on Showtime. The action is coming from the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. Our announcers are Mauro Ranallo on play-by-play and Steven Quadros and Pat Miletich on color. 1. Ladies 145 pounds – Germaine …

1. Ladies 145 pounds – Germaine de Randamie (2-1) vs. Julia Budd (1-1)

These two have fought before in Muay Thai, with Randamie winning. In fact, Randamie won 46 Muay Thai fights in a row and won 10 kickboxing titles. Impressive!

Budd does not want to get her head kicked in again, so she is sticking to Randamie, first against the cage and then on the mat. Budd goes for the armbar, but Randamie spins out.

Announcers say neither fighters is ready to challenge Chris “Cyborg” Santos for the Strikeforce women’s welterweight belt. Give that round to Budd.

Round 2: Budd is outgrappling Randamie but can’t take her down. Finally she does. Randamie walks the cage to escape side control. Budd with another takedown, refusing to let Randamie use her striking skills. Budd wins Round 2 as well.

Round 3: Finally, Randamie outslugs Budd and is on top, dropping some bombs. Budd back with another takedown and needs to run out the clock. Randamie tries for a triangle with no luck. Ref stands them up, Budd eats a knee but lands right back on top.

Winner: Julia Budd by unanimous decision (29-28)

2. Welterweights: Quinn Mulhearn (15-1) vs. Jason High (13-3)

Mulhearn comes out to “Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes. High is rockin’ the KC Royals hat and gold chain. Mulhearn is 6-3, with a six-inch height advantage.

High with a pair of takedown but then steps away to avoid Mulhearn’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Third takedown for High but Mulhearn is going for a heel hook. High escapes. Have to give Round 1 to High with all the takedowns.

Round 2: More of the same as Mulhearn runs into a GIANT takedown by High. Miletich stuffs a Steven Seagal reference by Ranallo on commentary. Round 2 goes to High, who can’t finish Mulhearn but can take him down at will.

Round 3: Mulhearn keeps getting dumped on his head. His only hope is to hit a BJJ submission on his back. Can he do it? No.

Winner: Jason High by unanimous decision (30-27)

3. Light heavyweights: Lorenz Larkin (10-0) vs. Gian Villante (7-2)

We see highlights of Larkin’s win over Scott Lighty on the last episode of Challengers on April 1. Larkin came out to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” after that song was mistakenly played for Villante.

Villante starts with leg kicks and then a nice takedown. He controls the action for the rest of the way. That’s a 10-8 round for Larkin.

Round 2 features more standup, which should favor Larkin, who is up against the cage but is landing knees and punches to the legs of Villante. Larking opening the offense with kicks, uppercuts and a big knee that Villante shrugs off.

With 11 seconds left, we get a timeout as Larkin lands a kick to the groin. Villante should have taken the full five minutes because he’s just been standing there. Villante gets cussed out by his cornerman at the break.

Round 3 starts with another break for an eyepoke? No, the ref says fight on. Slower pace as Villante is having a hard time pulling the trigger. Nice jabs by Larkin. He’s going to win this fight as he ends it with a takedown.

Winner: Lorenz Larkin by unanimous decision (all 29-28)

Lightweights: Ryan Couture (2-0) vs. Matt Ricehouse (4-0)

Ricehouse comes out to “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel as we see highlights of his win in December 2010 over Tom Aaron. Big ovation for Couture, and then we see clips of his victory over Lee Higgins in February.

Both men evenly matched in the early going. Couture channels his dad (who is in his corner) by working Ricehouse over against the fence. Ricehouse responded in kind. Couture on his back but Ricehouse not coming in to take the bait. Even 10-10 round.

Round 2 and neither man can get a clear advantages, and they are both switching from righty to lefty stances and back. Both men stop takedown attempts as well. Ricehouse steals the round at the end with a superman punch and liver kick.

Round 3 sees Couture land some more strong strikes as he knows he’s behind. Ricehouse dumps Couture with two minutes left. Both men fighting for that last big punch as time runs out. Couture won the round. I score it a draw, but I think Ricehouse will win the fight by a hair.

Winner: Matt Ricehouse by unanimous decision (29-28)

MAIN EVENT: Lightweights: Caros Fodor (8-2) vs. James Terry (10-2)

We hear Nirvana (YES!) play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as Terry comes out and we watch him KO Josh Thornburg on the last Challengers show. Fodor is from Kirkland, Wash. and the crowd loves him. We see clips of him also winning on the last show over David Douglas.

Terry controls the action early against the fence, but Fodor turns things around with constant forward movement and aggression. Terry is bleeding, and Fodor wins Round 1.

Round 2: Terry fights for a takedown and finally gets it and goes for an arm-triangle. Fodor pushes him off. Fodor outstriking Terry in quality and quantity.

Round 3: Terry’s striking is looking a lot better. Low knee by Fedor leads to a brief timeout. Another low knee. “Come on, man! Terry says. Battling and brawling at the end, but Terry, I believe has run out of time.

Winner by unanimous decision: Caros Fodor (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

All decisions. Good fight and good night!

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Don’t Cut “The Ultimate Fighter” Kendall Grove, UFC, Send Him to Strikeforce

At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—the winner of season three of The Ultimate Fighter—lost the fight by lopsided unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 for his opponent.

The disappointing performance by Grove came on the heels of his uninspiring, unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, and in the UFC, two losses in a row is sometimes enough to give you your walking papers. By that accord, no one should be surprised if Grove is cut from the UFC this week.

But should he be cut? If one looks at his mediocre 7-6 record inside the Octagon, then one might lean towards yes. After all, the UFC is all about housing the very best mixed martial artists in the world, and for a guy who has lost four of his last six fights, there probably isn’t room, even in a relatively shallow middleweight division and even if that fighter once won The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC, by all their rights, should purge Grove from their active middleweight roster. But Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, should not let him get away so quickly. Instead, they should make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce.

When the UFC purchased Strikeforce, Dana White was adamant that there would be no super-fights featuring the best Strikeforce fighters coming over to the UFC while they still had contracts with Showtime.

This shut off all possibilities of superstar Strikeforce champions like Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez coming over to the big show, at least for the time being. Of course, once the Strikeforce fighter’s contracts were up with Showtime they were free to cross over, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller became the first one to do so, signing with the UFC just over a month ago.

But at the same time he said this, White also made it known that he wasn’t adverse to doing things the other way, with UFC fighters going to Strikeforce instead. An opportunity has presented itself for Grove to be the torchbearer of this.

Strikeforce, at present, has a relatively shallow middleweight division, especially with losing the personable and marketable Miller. Aside from middleweight kingpin Souza, the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler, American hero Tim Kennedy and the fighter-turned-actor Cung Le, there really isn’t much at 185 pounds in Strikeforce.

If Strikeforce is truly here to stay for at least a few more years, the promotion needs a new influx of middleweights because the fans are getting tired of stale rematches and want new challengers at 185 pounds, especially fighters they know. A UFC veteran like Grove, who is still only 28 years old, would be a good addition and a solid solution to this dilemma.

At 6’6” and only 185 pounds, Grove is a matchup nightmare for most middleweights, even if he has had mixed success in the cage up until this point. As seen in his submission victories over Jake Rosholt and Alan Belcher, and even in his recent loss over Boetsch, Grove’s long limbs have the capability to make fighters tap out at anytime.

And while he has been far from consistent inside the cage—he holds an overall record as a professional mixed martial artist of just 12-9—he has fought and defeated some talented fighters during his career, including the aforementioned Belcher and the late Evan Tanner.

It might not make sense to match him up with some of the top Strikeforce middleweights just yet, but at the very least, Grove would present a good challenge to the young guns trying to make a name for themselves on the Strikeforce Challengers cards.

After spending so many years developing and promoting him, Zuffa should not give up on Grove just now. He is just 28 and still has the opportunity to improve as a mixed martial artist. But it’s become obvious he is not talented enough for the UFC, at least not at this point in his career.

And after seeing Keith Jardine lose four fights in the UFC, win a few in smaller shows, and then take a short-notice (albeit controversial) draw over consensus top-15 light heavyweight Gegard Mousasi, exposing Mousasi’s porous takedown defence in the process, anything can happen in this sport.

So make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce, and let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, it would be an interesting experiment in seeing just what Zuffa is able to do now that they own the two biggest mixed martial arts promotions in the world.

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Holy Fights, Batman! June Is Going to Be a Scorcher of a Month for MMA

It was just a few short weeks ago that I listed some of the more exciting bouts MMA has in store over the next few months. There is nothing better than going through a period where we are able to watch some great fights week in and week out. As I looke…

As I looked more closely at we have to look forward to I realized that the month of June is going to be insane. The UFC has three cards in June alone with a fourth (UFC 132) just two days into July.

Just as UFC 130 is ending, Dream will be hosting their first event in some time as they present Dream 17: Fight for Japan that will air on tape delay via HDNET on June 3. MMA needs to be successful in Japan even if it means that their best fighters will be snatched up the UFC eventually.

June 4 brings us what promises to be one of the more action-packed, balls-to-the-wall fights as Clay Guida will look to make life a living hell for the last reigning WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. The two will meet in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale.

Just one week later, the UFC invades Vancouver for the second time in two years with UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin. Brock Lesnar was originally slated to face off against Dos Santos for the right to face UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, but was sidelined due to a recurrence of the diverticulitis that cost him a year away from action.

Strikeforce will continue with its Heavyweight Grand Prix on June 18 when they present Overeem vs. Werdum. The first round continues as Overeem will look to extract some revenge against Werdum who submitted him during their Pride days, many years and many pounds ago.

The Strikeforce Challenger Series continues on June 24 from Kent, Wash. This card is actually pretty loaded and includes UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture‘s son Ryan as he continues to learn the ropes and follow in his father’s footsteps.

Bellator will offer up a solid card featuring four featherweight tournament quarterfinal bouts. The event will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Bellator 46 will mark host the debut of former Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro.

Last, but certainly not least, the UFC returns to the Versus Network with UFC on Versus 4: Marquardt vs. Johnson. The main event will feature the debut of Nate Marquardt’s run in the welterweight division. He will face another fighter who is gigantic for the 170-pound division in Anthony Johnson.

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