Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

[INDYjon22]

Strikeforce Lightweight Championship

• Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

Strikeforce Welterweight Championship

• Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley

Rest of the Card

• Shinya Aoki vs. Lyle Beerbohm
  [*]Gegard Mousasi vs. Keith Jardine
  [*]Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Robert Peralta

Strikeforce returns with another stellar card featuring two title fights. In addition to the two title fights Japanese star Shinya Aoki will make his second appearance in a Strikeforce cage and a pivotal match between top Light Heavyweight fighters Mike Kyle and Gegard Mousasi which will likely give us the next number one contender for Dan Henderson's belt. The rest of the card hasn't been completely settled on but K.J. Noons is rumored to be fighting on the card as well and he always makes for an entertaining fight.

Gilbert Melendez will have his first fight of 2011 and his first fight in almost a year. He will make his return to defend his Lightweight championship against the always tough Tatsuya Kawajiri. Kawajiri is coming off of a very impressive win over Josh Thomson at the very end of 2010. It will be interesting to see how much, if any, ring rust Melendez has and if Kawajiri can capitalize on it. It will also be interesting to see if the curse of Japanese fighters not performing well in America will strike once again on Kawajiri.

The second title fight on the card is actually the one the show is named after. Why it is being billed as the second fight on Sherdog is beyond me, but it will feature the always tough Nick Diaz defending his belt against the British slugger Paul Daley. Nick Diaz is very well rounded and is coming off of a January victory over Evangelista Santos. Diaz is also riding a 9 fight win streak. Daley on the other hand is on a 4 fight winning streak including a victory over the BAMMA Welterweight champion. If the fight stays standing it should play into Daley's favor, but anywhere else will be all Diaz. It will also be interesting to see if Daley actually comes into the fight on weight or if he will be over again as he has been his last few fights.

Shinya Aoki's last appearance with Strikeforce was in a decision loss to Gilbert Melendez. He will certainly be hoping for a different outcome this time around. His opponent, Lyle Beerbohm, really shouldn't even be in this fight. Beerbohm is coming off of his first career loss to Pat Healy and is being put in the ring against one of the best Lightweight fighters in the world. I really don't like his odds. Aoki is on a 3 fight win streak including a victory over the man facing Melendez for the belt, Kawajiri. I think Aoki will be to much for Beerbohm to handle, but I guess that's why we have the fights.

Mousasi will finally make his return to Strikeforce. This will be his first fight in Strikeforce since losing the Light Heavyweight championship to King Mo back in April 2010. Since then he has won two fights in DREAM. His opponent, Mike Kyle, has been on a career high as of late. He has only lost two fights since early 2008 and those loses were to Werdum and Bigfoot Silva. The 8 wins he has amassed in that time have seen 5 TKO's, 1 submission and 2 decisions. One of his TKO victories was also over former LHW champion Feijao Cavalcante. This one should be a great slugfest. Kyle has a lot of heart and Mousasi is just a great fighter.

While K.J. Noons doesn't have an official fight set in stone yet he is always a pleasure to watch. He is very exciting and has some great striking. He gave Nick Diaz one hell of a fight in his last fight. Whoever they get to fight him, it should be a lot of fun.

This card still has a few weeks until it goes down so I expect more fights to become official in the coming weeks. Obviously they are working on getting opponents for both Noons and Takaya, but I am sure some more undercard fights will get put together as well. Regardless, the main card looks great. Two title fights, a probable Light Heavyweight number one contender fight, and Shinya Aoki will make for a great night of fights.

 

[jmt225]

I could not be more excited for this card tonight.

Nick Diaz is my favorite fighter of all time and with each fight he seems to just keep improving and improving. It's mind-blowing to see how far he's come the last few years, and I'm very proud to have witness his raise to the top since nearly the beginning.

His opponent tonight, Paul Daley, is probably the toughest fight Diaz has had in quite some time. I mean, overall, Diaz is the highly superior fighter and if he wanted to, Diaz could beat Daley in just a couple of minutes. But, Diaz likes to put a show on for the fans, so he will risk everything and stand with Daley, no doubt about it.

Regardless, I still have complete faith in Diaz to still get the win. Daley has very heavy hands, but I don't think he can knockout someone like Nick Diaz. Diaz's chin is just too good. Daley might be able to drop him (and that's only because Diaz chooses to go to the ground, rather than continue to stand-up after being a bit staggered), but he won't be able to finish him.

So, yeah... no matter where the fight goes, I have Diaz winning decisively. He's just too good in every area.

I'm torn for the Gilbert Melendez/Tatsuya Kawajiri fight. On one, I'm a fan of Gil's since he fights out of the Cesar Gracie camp, and on the other... Crusher is carrying JMMA on his back. It's a damn hard fight for me to pick sides on, so I'll just say that I hope we see another absolute classic like what we saw when these two first met in Pride.

I expect Gegard Mousasi to knock Jardine's ass out in the first couple of minute. Nothing more to say about it.

And Shinya Aoki is of course a top 10 favorite of mine, so I'm definitely pulling for him tonight and have complete faith in him subbing Lyle Beerbohm and showing the American audience that he is indeed the greatest submission specialist in the history of the sport.

 

[Fizzy]

Pretty epic card from SF tonight. Wow, I think that is the first compliment I have given SF. Yea I will be watching because Gegard, Diaz, Gil, and Aoki are among my favorite fighters.

Diaz vs Daley should be a fucking war. Daley have tons of power in his hands, and Diaz has a fucking granite chin. I don't see Daley knocking out Diaz, or the other way around. In fact, I do not see how Daley wins this one at all. Diaz is just better in every single aspect of MMA besides power. If Diaz were fighting smart like GSP does then he would just take Daley down, and sub him. Diaz though likes fighting for the fans. Dude is tough as nails, and comes to bang on every fight. Diaz is the far superior fighter to Daley, and that should show tonight.

As for Gegard vs Jardine... I feel terrible for Jardine. He has a nice little two fight winning streak going, and then he gets thrown to a fucking wolf. At least we will get to see a BRUTAL KO. That's for damn sure. I must say though I admire Jardine's heart. I don't know how many people would fight Gegard on less than a weeks notice.

I hope Aoki can sub Lyle. He really has been embarrassed against Gil, but he is an awesome fucker to watch. Little guy knows how to put on a show that's for damn sure. I also find his attitude hilarious. When asked if his family was OK after the earthquake in Japan, he said "I don't care right now. I'm fighting, and that's all that is on my mind." Something along those lines. Anyway I hope he subs this guy fast.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

Pretty epic card from SF tonight. Wow, I think that is the first compliment I have given SF.

WOW, just might have to sig that, Fizzy gave SF a compliment. It totally is a great card put on by them, definitely one of the best they put together (if not the best).

Starting right away with the main event, Diaz vs. Daley is a fight I wanted to see ever since Daley was released from the UFC. Both guys have bad attitudes, some nice boxing skills, except that is all for Daley, whereas Diaz is a monster on the ground. I have the same feeling as everyone else, Diaz will stand toe to toe with Daley for a little bit before he takes him down and rips off an arm or chokes him out. Hopefully Daley doesn't try any cheap shit at the end of the fight if/when he loses, he has been out spoken since purchase by Zuffa, so he might just not care if he fights for them after tonight. Just sucks for Diaz, after Daley theres really only Woodley left for him in SF right now, and he's light years ahead of him right now.

Melendez vs. Kawajiri should be a good fight. Melendez already has the upper hand beating Kawajiri a few years ago. Last time I seen Kawajiri fight was when Aoki subbed him within two minutes. Melendez hasn't fought in a year, so we'll see how that affects him tonight, although I think he will still be able to grind out a decision win, it should still be a good fight.

Props to Jardine for getting back on one of the big shows, hopefully they'll give him at least another fight after Mousasi knocks him out, since he took this fight on only a little over a weeks notice.

Always great to see Aoki in a fight. I really don't feel as if Beerbohm has a chance to win this, Aoki is the far superior fighter. It should be another learning curve for Fancy Pants.

 

[Uncle Chester]

Strikeforce is so much more superior than the UFC in putting on good fights. Strikeforce is damn consistently good with the quality of their shows. But, once these 2 org's merge UFC's wrestlers will truimph and will weed out the quaity of the fights by the Strikeforcers fighhters.

Diaz is absolutely incredible, his chin is marvelous. Daley gassed but Diaz was very very good.

Meledez compeltely dominant. Kawajiri is too small abd should be fighitng in the featherweigt division.

Mousasi won that 29-28. Did more damage and Jardine didn't do anything on top. Pereception of fights will have to change to stop giving so much leverage for simply being on top.

9.5/10 show from Strikeforce and card of the year.

 

[jmt225]

Incredible show last night, just as expected.

Diaz vs. Daley was one of the greatest, most dramatic one round fights in MMA history. Diaz did his talking, Daley rocked him and then went for a fucking soccer kick, Diaz got back up and took control of the stand-up, Daley rocked Diaz again, Diaz got his barrings and boom... put Daley away in one of the weirdest knockouts I've ever seen.

First, let me say that I completely agreed with the stoppage. Daley's lights were on, but his legs were completely stiff. He absolutely could not intelligently defend himself. Sure, there were only a couple of seconds left on the clock, but we don't know whether or not BJM realized that, and it is his job to protect the fighter at all times and Daley was about to take at least three more undefended shots if BJM hadn't stopped it.

But yeah... that doesn't make the knockout any less strange, lol. I mean, after watching the fight and replay a couple of more times... it's still hard to see what the fuck put Daley on his ass like that.

Regardless, great fight and great win for Nick Diaz. I couldn't be more happy for the guy.

Props to Paul Daley, too, though. He earned my respect last night. He went in there and fought his ass off. If he keeps improving on his takedown defense, then he will be around for quite sometime in the Welterweight picture.

Gilbert Melendez looked like the best Lightweight fighter in the World last night, that's all there is to it. Kawajiri has been a legit top 10 Lightweight since 2005, and Gil beat his ass like it was nothing. I was shocked, but major props to Gilbert Melendez. I definitely believe he is currently the best Lightweight in the World and that he could beat any Lightweight in the UFC (that is, unless BJ Penn decides to drop down).

As much as I disagreed with the decision to Mousasi vs. Jardine, it was Mousasi's own fault the more I think about it. I mean, first let me say that Mousasi CLEARLY won that fight, even with the absolute horseshit point deduction. However, there were times in the fight where I thought Mousasi could finish Jardine off, but he lacked that killer instinct for some reason. If Mousasi wants to become one of the best Light Heavyweight fighters in the World like he most certainly has the potential to be, he's going to have to get a lot more aggressive in there. There was no way that fight should have gone to the judge's scorecard... no way.

Props to Jardine though. He took the fight on short notice and fought his ass off. Dude is a true warrior.

And Shinya Aoki looked absolutely incredible last night. I believe this is the start of a big streak for him in the USA and him climbing back up that Lightweight ladder. Hopefully he fights again real soon, against a big name.

All in all... fantastic show. Every fight was great, and it just goes to show that Strikeforce by far puts on the superior shows compared to the UFC. Hopefully Dana White realized that last night sitting in attendance and the UFC takes notice how fights and fighters are being handled in their company for so many of their fights and shows to end up being so fucking dull.

 

[Cookie]

I don't normally comment in these threads to avoid sounding like an idiot but I have to throw my two cents in regarding last night's event, which was fucking awesome. I really enjoyed every single fight and I loved the fact that the event was wrapped up by 11:30pm. I'm so used to living on UFC time so that took me by (pleasant) surprise.

Aoki vs Beerbohm: Sweet submission. Loved seeing the transition of the RNC into the crank as well. Not to mention it looked damn painful and Beerbohm was completely fucked. I was reading online that if Beerbohm wanted to escape the face crank he'd have to go up and to his left but if he wanted to escape the body triangle he'd have to go down and to his right - genius work by Aoki. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to grappling technique but even I can tell that was incredible.

Mousasi vs Jardine: Despite the final decision, this fight was still a treat. Even in defeat Jardine showed a lot of heart. I have a question for all you MMA section regulars: illegal move equals automatic point deduction? Or does it depend on the ref/how much damage the illegal hit did? I'm assuming you'd be warned first and only deducted if you seriously damaged the guy, but I'm a little foggy on that.

Melendez vs Kawajiri: Well, damn. I have never actually seen Melendez in action before and holy shit, what a beast. That was explosive from start to finish. When there's UFC/SF crossover fights, I don't see how Melendez wouldn't be successful against most of the UFC top LWs. And fuck me, I really do hope we get to see Melendez/Edgar some time in the future... I don't care when, it just needs to happen at some point and I hope it goes the full 25.

Diaz vs Daley: What more can I say? Incredible fight filled with excitement and (literally) nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat action. Last time I was this into a fight was Edgar/Maynard 2. There was so much back and forth and I loved the lingering possibility that either of these guys could end this fight at any given moment. Shout out to Diaz's amazing chin and his epic body punches. Personally, I didn't see a problem with the stoppage. How much time is left in a round shouldn't affect stopping or not stopping a fight, IMO, it's about keeping the guys safe and Daley looked done after the fight was stopped.

Can't wait for the next SF card now. I'll definitely be tuning in.

 

[Paramount]

I loved the card, great submission but Aoki even though I would of wanted Beerbohm to win. I think the Jardine vs Moussasi fight was amazing, great show, I think Jardine is showing that the end isn't as close as everyone might of thought it was, and its good to see him fighting at a solid level, can someone say Rematch? As for Melendez, strong showing, what a tank, would love to see him fight Edgar some day.

As for Diaz vs Daley, I dont think I could say to much that hasn't already been said, if there was an award for Best 1 Round Fight of the Year then that would win hands down. I loved seeing Daley get beat, and the fight itself was incredible. Id love to see a rematch some day however I dont think it should happen in the near future.

The question now is though, would you rather see Diaz vs GSP or Silva vs GSP?

 

[Fizzy]

Cookie, if the illegal hit was intentional than a point will be deducted, or if it happens continually.

Anyway, this was a fantastic card from SF. I figured it would be seeing as they stacked it with their top fighters. Diaz vs Daley may be fight of the year even though it only went one round. I am really feeling Diaz at this point. The guy has balls the size of my fucking head. Daley ROCKED him twice. Diaz was barely surviving the punches, then he decides to get up and taunt Daley. Fucking love this guy. I love his confidence, and the difference between his shit talk, and a bunch of other fighters is he backs it up. He goes out, and does what he says he will. I am proud to say i am a huge Nick Diaz fan.

As for Daley, I give him props for going out there, and swinging for the fences. He fought to win that is for damn sure, and he almost did on a couple of different occasions. I also whole heartedly agree with the stoppage. Daley couldn't even get to his stool by himself. The job of a ref isn't to bend the rules because there are only a few seconds left in the round. Big John made a perfect call last night.

Gil is my favorite LW in MMA now, and in my top five favorite current fighters. I always thought that Gil with elbows would quite possibly be the most dangerous fighter in the world. Holy fuck he DESTROYED Kawajiri. Kawajiri is a fantastic fighter, and no easy fight for any man. Gil systematically destroyed the guy. I am happy to say I am sold on Gil, and will be a long time fan of the guy win, or lose. Guy is a great person, and an even better fighter.

Fucking Gegard man... I mean why did he have to throw that kick? The guy has these flashes of brilliance, but he really needs to work off his back, and hid TDD. If fucking Jardine can take him down at will, imagine what Jon Jones would do? Jesus that would be scary. He has all the time in the world to improve, and get that aggressiveness that he needs, and I really hope he does. As for Jardine, while I am not a fan he has tons of heart. He is a true fighter. He took a fight on like nine days notice against one of the most dangerous strikers in MMA, and he performed admirably. I love fighters with that attitude.

Aoki is an animal enough said. His striking sucks, but he is such a fucking pit-bull on the ground it's ridiculous. If that dude grabs a hold of something, you aren't walking away. Glad to see him get a win, but anybody who is smart enough to stay standing with him, and stay off the ground will give him trouble.

Great show by SF. It pains me to say that, but it is the truth. Aside from the fucking commentators who deserve to be beaten with a bat, there was nothing to complain about. Congratulations SF, you have made me happy for the first time.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

Such a great show last night. All four fights were action packed.

Aoki just looked great last night. I thought he would beat Beerbohm decisively, but not that quick. Beerbohm biggest mistake, was looking to clinch and take the fight to the ground, I guess he affects of his meth smoking days still lingered, because he must of not realized he was going to the ground with one of the best submission guys in the world. Once Aoki slipped to take his back, everyone new it was a matter of seconds before the fight would be called, very nice neck crank sunk in by Aoki to get Beerbohm to tap in a little over 1½ minutes into the first round.

I still stand by the scoring as most other people had it in the Mousasi/Jardine fight 9-9, 10-9, 10-9 in favor of Mousasi. Jardine scored almost ever takedown he attempted, but only landed two fucking strikes on the ground, hell Mousasi scored ten times that on his back. Mousasi had all the control in in the stand up, by putting a beating on Jardine, constantly backing him up. Definitely was a bullshit point deduction for the up kick, should've been a warning. If it wasn't for the couple breaks in the fight for Jardine, Mousasi probably could've finished it, but those breaks by a few miscues by Mousasi helped Jardine recover, as he was gassing. There is already talks about a rematch between these two. It will be interesting with Jardine having a full camp to prepare for Mousasi, he already went the distance with a very short camp, and not in full fight shape, so if it happens again, he stands a even better chance.

The Melendez/Kawajiri was another fast one. Just total domination by Melendez plain and simple. You couldn't tell at all that was Melendez's first fight in year. He might just have the sickest elbows next to Jon Jones in the sport today. Fucking Cecil getting in the damn way of the fighters had to piss them off, I know it pissed all of us off. He is to slow to be reffing. With the overcrowding Lightweight division in the UFC and with SF lacking depth, I think I would offer Jim Miller a fight with Melendez, he definitely deserves a title shot right now, why not let him get a crack at the Strikeforce title?

Onto the main event,

What a fucking one round war. Typical Diaz taunting Daley to come right in, by sticking his chin out and keeping his hands at his side. Diaz paid for it, as he got caught twice by Daley, but nothing new, we've seen Diaz get rocked quite a few times and survive, although it did look bad for a second. Diaz managed to get up though eating some punches on his way up. During both of those times though, I don't think to many of Daley's punches were flush to keep Diaz rocked though, if they were it didn't seem to faze him, besides the initial blow. Like JMT said that was one of the weirdest knockouts, it's so hard to see what the hell put Daley in la la land. I could see ITTG's point on the early stoppage because it was seconds away from the round being over, but at the same time my biggest argument is that Daley was clearly out of it, you could see it just on the way he fell down, it was just adrenaline and instinct that made him fight back. As reported over everywhere, Daley had trouble getting to his feet and to the corner after the stoppage. Who's to say that his corner wouldn't stop the fight if Big John didn't call it, or have McCarthy call a doctor over to evaluate him and have the doc not call it?

The question now is though, would you rather see Diaz vs GSP or Silva vs GSP?

Well, we still have to wait and see the outcome of the Shields fight first. Shields is the biggest threat to GSP in a long time. I still believe GSP will win the fight, but Shields does stand a chance. I really don't want to see Silva versus GSP, Silva would wreck him, he is just way to big for GSP, he would just dominate him with his reach. So if GSP beats Shields, then I would wanna see him fight Diaz or Silva.

 

[Paramount]

Well, we still have to wait and see the outcome of the Shields fight first. Shields is the biggest threat to GSP in a long time. I still believe GSP will win the fight, but Shields does stand a chance. I really don't want to see Silva versus GSP, Silva would wreck him, he is just way to big for GSP, he would just dominate him with his reach. So if GSP beats Shields, then I would wanna see him fight Diaz or Silva.

I dont think Silva would be able to dominate GSP as easily as you're making it sound. Although Silva would be the bigger fighter I think that GSP would create the perfect game plan to counter whatever short comings he might have against Silva. I think that GSP would do a similar game plan to that of Chael Sonnen and be able to dominate Silva on the floor.

With that said, I agree that GSP still has to get by Shields first which wont be easy but I do believe he will, and if Dana stays to his word it will be Silva vs GSP next, but I think a Diaz vs GSP fight would be just as exciting.

 

[INDYjon22]

Very happy to see Shinya Aoki pick up a victory at Strikeforce. Not only did he get the win but dominated the entire fight. Hopefully Aoki will get a bump up in competition in his next fight and show that he can hang with the best fighters in America. I also hope that he will go back to wearing the pink compression tights, those things were great.

Jardine vs. Mousasi was a great fight. I loved every minute of it and even though I am glad Jardine didn't lose I also don't think he won that fight. I thought Mousasi did more to pick up the win, but the judges obviously didn't think that. Hopefully we will get to see a rematch between these two in the near future.

I don't like Melendez at all but after Saturday I completely believe he is the top Lightweight fighter in the world today. He tore through Kawajiri like it was nothing. I would love to see him match up against Edgar or even see him face Penn at some point. I am also still interested in seeing him fight Eddie Alvarez, but that isn't a realistic fight at this point.

The main event was great. I have really become a fan of Nick Diaz and that first round has to be up there with the greatest first rounds ever. Both guys hurt each other several times. I don't really know how I feel about the stoppage yet, but I am leaning towards it being a bit premature. I don't really care though because Daley was obviously hurt and it isn't a stoppage I can really complain about. I also gained some respect for Daley after this fight. He came to fight and almost won, if he works on his all around game some more he could be a major player for a long time.

 

[Window Licker 101]

I'm a little late here but I'll throw my thoughts in the mix.

I felt Beerbohm vs Aoki was a bit of a mismatch heading into the fight. How come Lyle Beerbohm, a man who went on a 16 fight winning streak professionally who suffered his first loss in February get such a big name like Aoki? Shouldn't it be Pat Healy who gets that match? Never mind. The usual chat of Japanese fighters struggling in the US was brought into discussion and I was a little uneasy. 93 seconds later, Beerbohm tapped to a sick neck crank. Aoki's ground game is phenomenal. Needed that win for himself and JMMA. Nice, quick little opener.

What a battle the Jardine/Mousasi fight.I love Jardine just as much as the next guy but he lost that fight. Even with the point deduction Mousasi won. Judges *sigh*. Anyway not taking away from the fight itself, it was great! If Mousasi wants to become one of the best lightheavyweights in the world he needs to seriously improve his takedown defence because it was garbage. Jardine, primarily a striker, was near taking him down at will WHILST HE WAS GASSED! Mousasi should have rushed in the first round and overwhelmed him like he did to Sobral and Musashi in K1. With Jardine's takedowns in round one, the five of them he pulled off, he only landed two strikes. That kind of makes his takedowns ineffective IMO. Maybe we get a rematch? Who knows just I would like to see Jardine at MW fighting Robbie Lawler. (P.S Jardine looked like a botched plastic surgery victim after the fight, fuck!)

Gilbert Melendez solidified he is a top three lightweight in the world of Mixed-Martial-Arts. Kawajiri was smoked by El Nino! I didn't expect Melendez to crush the crusher like that. I think Kawajiri was his own worst enemy for deciding not to train inside a cage (Yeah I know he doesn't have a cage of his own but c'mon this is top level competition!) plus to my knowledge this was his first time competing under unified rules. Maybe someone can confirm or correct me on that. Gilbert's effective use of elbows destroyed Kawajiri. Brutal stoppage. As for what's next, Gilber Melendez deserves a unification match with the Edgar/Maynard winner. There isn't anyone really left in the Strikeforce lightweight division. Masvidal, Wilcox, Noons, Aoki rematch? Meh.

I think Daley/Diaz was the best one round fight I have ever seen. What drama! This thing was absolutely incredible. Diaz opened things up with his usually taunting of Daley to get in his head then they just started swinging! Diaz has a hell of a chin. Being able to recover twice after being on the recieving end of Daley's left hook. Props to the guy. Also got to give credit to BJM for allowing the fight to continue whe Diaz was defending himself AND allowing the soccer kick to the body by Daley. Best ref in the biz. Anyway I thought Daley seriously injured his leg the way he went down like that. I didn't see what hurt him. Diaz jumped on him like a pitbull on a fresh steak. Amazing stuff. I have one concern though. Diaz needs to protect himself at times and not just scrap. Dude has a great chin but as we have seen with Chuck Liddell and Minotauro Nogueira, great chins don't hold out. I think Diaz should fight Woodley, who is still relatively untested against major competition, next and then we can focus fully on a potential fight down the line with GSP.

Anyway Strikeforce has been churning out great events for over a year now. Great stuff. Worth staying up late to watch. 9/10