Monday, April 13, 2009

Strikeforce on Showtime 4/11/09

I started this as an e-mail to some buddies but figured it'd be worth sharing here, too. Download this show like I did -- it's worth it.

wow.. opening video production made UFC look like TNA.. - really awesome, movie-like opening that came off very high class.. - Strikeforce 2.0 looks like it's officially the #2 dog and will be tough competition..

current champs:
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- Cung Le
- Robbie Lawler
- Jake Shields (anyone catch him on Bully Beatdown last night? great stuff)
- Alister Overeem (seen him in K-1.. super big, tough)
- Josh "the Punk" Thompson
- Renato Babalu
and are rumored to sign Tito Ortiz, returning Kevin Randleman, Gina Carino, Shinya Aoki (who i've seen in DREAM and is crazy skilled on the ground), Andrei Arlvoski, etc. etc.

brett rogers beat abongo humphrey :

two heavyweight sluggers.. - brett rogers is now 9-0.. - could be scary in UFC or anywhere.. - remember, he was in the first MMA fight in broadcast television history for Elite XC.. - he hit over 23 knee strikes and bloodied Abongo's face real bad and Ko'D him.. - brett's nickname is "Grim" and he fits the bill.. him vs. Overeem would be HUGE!

cris "cyborg" santos beat Hitomi Akano :

cyborg came in massively over weight limit.. - cyborg starts off intense.. - Akano comes from the SmackGirl promotion in Japan (where they beat the hell out of each other) but Cyborg is too strong and just beats her at will.. - Hitomi keeps falling to back trying to get fight to ground.. - Akano attempts a flying armbar that was tits.. but cyborg smashes her into oblivion

scott smith beat benji radach :

two razor sharp strikers... - bas rutten is in radach's corner.. says he has the toolset to beat Anderson Silva.. - really? - first round one of the damnedest slugfests i've seen in ages.. AWESOME! - second round.. damn.. Smith was out on his feet but survived.. - he's one of the most resilient fighters in MMA.. - remember him vs. Lawler? - he ate some nasty shots in that round.. rocking a crimson mask.. - round 3.. benji gets crushed but counters with a giant, wild slam.. - both men bloody like camp crystal lake kids.. - WOAH! - smith just KO'd Radach with a right hook and then collapses in the center of the cage.. - great fight.. - smith embraces his two little boys after the fight.. his youngest, five, askes "are you alright?".. classic..

gilbert melendez beat rodrigo damm:

gilbert was supposed to have a re-match against champion and friend "Punk" Thompson but the match was changed due to a last minute injury.. - saw their first battle on the Strikeforce on NBC (Saturdays @ 2AM - DVR it!) show and enjoyed it.. - Damm taking a five minute, five round fight (for interim title) on one-week notice is rough.. - melendez grinds him down wtih ground & pound the whole 1st round.. - gilbert backing him up throughout the second round until he catches him with a vicious right for the KO..

nick diaz beat frank shamrock:

big main event.. lots of electricity with the trash talk and the big face-off at the press conference.. - built as nick being a younger version of frank.. - somebody should give Diaz RVD's phone number.. - could get him that hook-up on the sticky icky bud.. - Big John McCarthy refs for the 1st time since stepping away.. that shows the scope of this re-launch.. - second round its clear Diaz's reach is just too much for an older (46 yrs. old vs. 25) Shamrock who hadn't fought in a year since Cung Lee smashed his arm to bits with a kick.. - Diaz starts landing stuff at will, knows he has him, starts playing to the crowd, sticking his neck out, etc. then ground and pounds a fallen Frank for the TKO.. - Diaz immediately helps up Frank afterwards in a nice showing of respect..

overall, a real tight, good show.. - had Thompson not got injured this would have been super stacked.. - i'd rank it up with UFC 96 (Rampage vs. Jardine) and DREAM 8 as the best MMA shows of '09 i've seen so far.. - their next Showtime show in June has Lawler vs. Shields and Babalu defends so i'll be downloading it the day after, too.. - good time to be a combat fan..

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