Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Strikeforce: Houston Nov. 2010

More MMA, just tap out and enjoy

1) Bobby Lashly v. Chad Griggs- 5
2) KJ Noons v. Jorge Gurgel- 6
3) Jacare Souza v. Tim Kennedy- 5
4) "King" Mo Lawal v. Rafael Fejiao- 6

First fight features WWE castoff Lashley in I believe his 4th professional fight. This really should get a 6 (as in recommended to see it) because you literally get to see a man wilt through a camera lens. Griggs is a firefighter who fights part time, hadn't even been in a cage in a year and a half and as Mauro politely explains, was here to give Lashley a tune up. But after a rough 1st round, he pummels Lashley's big noggin every time he goes for a takedown. They keep saying does Lashley have what it takes and he unequivocally answers NO. Too bad, his wife had a good career as a heel in pro wrestling.

2nd bout was a fun standing battle with both guys trying some snappy kicks and deadly punches. Jorge was getting the better of him actually, and after a disappointing MMA career up to this point, that had to feel good. Jorge is Rich Franklin's running buddy and from our neck of the woods; actually he parked next to us at a Kroger Marketplace on the 4th of July in a huge tricked out utility vehicle and ambled inside to no doubt get some fresh sushi. 2nd round proved ill fated yet again for Jorge as he took a nasty clubbering; why you should see this if for Noons illegal knee at the end, clearly the ref here sucked balls and should have made a call before Jorge got blasted with it. Just for fun, i was looking up Jorge on Wikipedia; holy shit he married Zoila Frausto, a woman MMA fighter whose parents must have been a pitbull dog insemenated with Gary Busey's sperm.

This fight has to be looked at as sad. Jake Shields abandoned ship for greener pastures and left the middleweight belt empty. Mauro and Frank get their shots in saying Shield twice turned down Jacare for a fight. This is a long 5 round slugfest, with not a lot of slugs. It's about as even a fight as you'll see. It's sort of like the upcoming GOP race; not into the participants but am curious who will win. the end was dyn-o-mite though, as Jacare lit Kennedy's face up like he has multiple Iraqi insurgents with bullets but Kennedy fired back with a huge takedown that the Kurt Angle of 1996 would be proud of (not the one from 2011; he's anorexic and old.)

Main event actually was pretty good. This title had been trading hands quicker than a pipe during a Charlie Sheen house party. Fejiao has some sick power in his hands and was doing all he could to let it explode grenade-style on Mo's face. Mo basically hit a blue thunder power bomb in the 1st round which was insane. Fejiao's takedown defense was there though, he was deflecting most of Mo's stuff. 2nd round, tit for tat on the feet with Mo kind of playing to the crowd like the dream I had last night of a Beatles cover band except John had a shaved head and was wearing an Elvis jumpsuit and instead of drums, Ringo was cutting into a tree stump with a bandsaw. Fejiao took over after scoring big and even though we couldn't get a good glimpse, the ending series of elbows were more violent than anything written in Stephen King's last several novels. Just brutal, made watching UWFI like watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Fejiao wins the title but wouldn't have it long; he'd go on to be taken out by Dan Henderson months later; sort of how I envision the rest of Casey Anthony's life, except replace taken out for shot dead and Dan Henderson by any number of outraged parents in the world.

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