Strikeforce: Evolution

[jmt225]

Main card

• Lightweight Championship unification bout: Josh Thomson (c) vs. Gilbert Melendez (ic)
• Middleweight bout: Cung Le vs. Scott Smith
• Middleweight bout: Ronaldo Souza vs. Matt Lindland
• Light Heavyweight bout: Muhammed Lawal vs. Mike Whitehead

......................................................................................​

Okay, I know the card is not full yet, but I promise to update this post every time something is announced. But for now, it's actually shaping up to be an alright show. It airs December 19, 2009 on Showtime, so check it out if you have the channel.

Anyway, very excited to see Cung Le back in the cage. While I think Strikeforce is purposely giving him someone he could defeat easily in Scott Smith, it's still going to be a very exciting fight. Smith comes to fight every time and there's no doubt there's going to be some banging in this one. That said, if Le is as good as he was in his fight against Frank Shamrock, than Smith will get KOed by the 2nd Round, if not the 1st.

I'm very excited to see Jacaré (Ronaldo Souza) fight, but again... they're feeding him somebody instead of giving him a worthy opponent. Sorry, but that just rubs me the wrong way. But whatever. Jacare is a tremendous fighter and it's always a pleasure to watch him fight.

It's always fun to watch Robbie Lawler fight as well. I have a big suspicion his opponent will end up being Nick Diaz, and while you all know how big of a fan I am of Diaz, Lawler vs. Diaz 2 is just something I'm not interested in. Strikeforce keeps giving Diaz these opponents who aren't on his level, and it pisses me off, to be blunt. I'd like to see Lawler get about 2 more wins before stepping in there with Nick Diaz. But if the fight does happen... then I'll be looking forward to it nonetheless. Nick will destroy him, of course, but Lawler won't go down like a chump, that's for sure.

King Mo (Muhammed Lawal) has a fight scheduled, but I have a feeling Strikeforce is going to feed him a can like they're doing with all their potential superstars (except Nick Diaz, who they just treat like shit for some reason), so I'm sure this won't be anything to get excited about. I'm not even really a fan of King Mo to be honest.

And I'm sure Cyborg (Cristiane Santos) will get a can as well, but that's honestly no one's fault, as the women's division just doesn't have a lot of good competition.

Overall, decent show that should have some great knockouts. Definitely worth watching.

 

[INDYjon22]

This card has a lot of potential and should really show the depth of the Strokeforce middleweight division. That being said I would still like to see the rest of the card filled out before to long.
I am not as excited as you are to see Cung Le return but then again ive never really watched the guy fight. I just thought it was a total discrace with what he did with the middleweight belt and all. I mean the man won the belt but then didnt defend it and decided to retire because he was ducking the competition in Nick Diaz, Jake Shields and Jason Miller. I hope Le does well in his return but ill be cheering for Scott Smith in that one.
I absolutely love Robbie Lawler and Matt Lindland and think it will be great to see them back in the ring finally. Hopefully both can get back on track and maybe even lead to crash course between the both of them. That would be a great fight right there. I also enjoy King Mo as well, he is quiet the character.
Hopefully Cyborg gets a good opponent and can further the future of women in mma. It'll be good to see her step back into the cage as well.

 

[Rizza]

Ok card here I suppose, good to see Robbie Lawler, I've been a fan of sorts of him for a while now, and I'm glad that Cung le is back. This card is a huge step down from the last Strikeforce card but I guess every event can't be stacked. It also doesn't help that I'm not familier with King Mo or Ronaldo Souza. I hear good things about both and will be excited to watch them for the first time, and I will be rooting for them against their oppenents.

If Cung Le is in great shape after such a long leave from the cage, then he will win this easily. Scott Smith looks to be no competition, he seems to be a easy win for Cung Le. This is MMA though, and one punch can stop the best fighters sometimes, so I guess he has a punchers chance. He can't have much more than that though, Le was pretty impressive in his last run. I think a late fight KO from Cung gives him the W here.

I like Robbie Lawler I hope he takes this fight after the loss to Shields. Don't know who he is fighting so can't comment too much here, but I will be keeping and eye on who his opponent will be. Probably will be a can of some sorts as there is not much Middleweight competition outside UFC thats not in Japan.

 

[INDYjon22]

If Cung Le is in great shape after such a long leave from the cage, then he will win this easily. Scott Smith looks to be no competition, he seems to be a easy win for Cung Le. QUOTE]

Well I could not disagree with you more on this point. Scott Smith is a very dangerous opponent for someone like Cung Le. Le likes to throw bombs from what I have seen and Scott Smith has great hands. He could easily knock Le out in this fight. Le has never truly impressed me anyways and I have a strong disdain for him for vacating the Middleweight championship. I hope Scott Smith knocks his fuckin head off.

 

[Rizza]

Well I could not disagree with you more on this point. Scott Smith is a very dangerous opponent for someone like Cung Le. Le likes to throw bombs from what I have seen and Scott Smith has great hands. He could easily knock Le out in this fight. Le has never truly impressed me anyways and I have a strong disdain for him for vacating the Middleweight championship. I hope Scott Smith knocks his fuckin head off.

I agree on the the holding the title bullshit, I very much understand why people don't like him for it. The reasons I am putting Le above Smith in this fight is becuase Le impressed the hell out of me by deafeating Frank Shamrock.At the time I thought of Frank Shamrock as a MMA legend and Le as a can, well not exactly a can maybe just unproven. When he beat Shamrock he proved me wrong, and his striking is great man, he is a undefeated in chinese boxing(Sanda)(14-0) and undefeated in K-1 kickboxing(3-0). That should speak for itself about his striking abilities.

Scott Smith just really isn't a good fighter, he has tons of wins from beating cans every single time he steps in the cage with a quality fighter,(which Cung Le was, if he still is a good fighter is what I am worried about) he loses, its happened with Patrick Cot'e, Robbie Lawler, and Nick Diaz. Even Ed Herman, and James Irvin who are not great fighters hold victorys over him. It looks like a Cung Le victory to me man.

 

[INDYjon22]

Well in reality I will agree with you that Cung Le should run through Scott Smith, but dont underestimate Scott Smith and his hands of stone. The dude may hold wins over cans but he throws some hard fucking punches and there is no denying that. I would never say Cung Le can't strike because the facts and the wins show that he obviously can and what he did to Frank Shamrock is going to end up being legendary down the road but I just think you need to take into account that he isn't the greatest puncher ever, neither is Smith, and that he can expect a war be it the whole 15 minutes or 1 minute.

 

[Rizza]

Yea I know what your saying man, Like I said in the original post that it is MMA and that the best fighters can get stopped by a single punch, but I don't know if Scott Smith has one punch KO power, and Le has shown he can take some punishment, but it will be interesting to watch none the less. If Scott Smith knocks out Cung Le I will glady rethink the guy and eat my words, but going on the statistics leading up to this point it looks like Cung Le should take it, but it also has been a long long time since he has been in a cage fight and if he has ring rust and hasn't trained hard enough, then that gives Scott Smith a significant advantage. I know Le isn't the best striker but I think he is a good one and I think he is better then Scott Smith.

 

[INDYjon22]

Yeah, I understand as well that it is like a 90% probability that Cung Le is going to knock Scott Smith the fuck out, but I am still going to hold out hope and cheer for Smith to win this one. Like I said, I am biased and am not a fan of Le even though he is an AKA fighter. I think his actions in regard to the title being vacated are worse then anything Kos has ever said.

This card looks solid for what it is, I mean you said it best, you can't always have a stacked card. But this card does have a lot of solid fighters on it. Not fighters of Mousasi, Shields or Fedor's caliber but still some damn fine fighters. If it is on CBS or whatever channel it was on last time I will be tuning in for sure.

 

[jmt225]

Scott Smith definitely has a puncher's chance, but if the guy is still the same fighter who fought Nick Diaz, then the fight isn't going past the 1st Round, because Smith is the absolute worst defensive striker I've ever seen. In every single fight he's in, he takes countless blows, just hoping and praying to finally land one shot. Seriously, that's no way to fight, no matter how hard you punch. Smith is going to get seriously injured one of these days if he continues to fight like that, and that would be a shame because he seems like a really good guy, who loves and is loved by his family.

But hopefully he realized after the Diaz fight that he needs to desperately change his style. The way he fight isn't going to work against top tier fighters, especially those like Cung Le, who is a very unorthodox striker and has huge knockout power.

 

[jmt225]

The main card has been updated at the top of the page.

It looks like, for now anyway, that the rematch between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez will FINALLY go down, and of course the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship will be on the line. Their first fight was a bit of a disappointment, if you ask me, but I think both will come into this one looking to put on a show, and I think this time around Gilbert Melendez will come out the victor.

King Mo's opponent has been announced to be Mike Whitehead. He's decent enough I guess. At least good enough for me not to label him as a can. I think if King can put on an impressive performance here and put him away early, then I'll start believing a little of his hype. But for now... I have my doubts that he can even defeat someone like Whitehead. That's how unsure I am of this guy.

And Robbie Lawler's opponent has still yet to be announced, unfortunately, but when it is I'll make sure to update the main card and let you guys know.

 

[Rizza]

Cool, I actually don't know much about Melendez or Tompson, because I missed the card the they headlined, but bealive me, I hear great things about both, I watched the Carano vs Cyborg card and got a little glimpse of Melendez there, and I liked what I saw, but I really can't judge on this one yet. Though I am happy to see a title fight on the card regardless, It gives the card the extra flare the card it needed. Don't really mind who wins this one, I am just hoping for a good,exciting fight that leaves me fans of both.

So King MO's first fight in Strikeforce will be aginst Whitehead huh? I'l be honest here, I am have never seen a fight of Mo's,but I am still pulling for him, I guess I just want him to live up to the hype. Like JMT said Mike Whitehead is not exactly a can, it just looks like he loses to eaither top caliber fighters (Pre-2005 Tim Sylvia twice, Brandon Vera, Babalu) or he chokes on a big stage(the Babalu fight was in Aflicction,which for a quick second looked pretty legit and they were getting some pretty big names to fight under Affliction) and he lost to Jardine in his only appeareance for UFC,the biggest stage of them all. Its probaly not the latter of the two becasue some nights Jardine will hang with the best of them,and I know he beat Kevin Randleman in Strikeforce which is getting decent exposure now, but really since he left UFC, has any body had trouble beating Randleman? I know Kazahuro Nakamura sure as hell didn't and he his the definition of a can. I see on Whiteheads record he has a win over Krzysztof Soszynski, who his a decent fighter. I can't really put my finger on who is gonna when this one though, like I said I have never seen Mo fight, but if he lives up to the hype as a good fighter, then I think that history will reapeat its self and Whitehead will hit bested by a better fighter on a big stage again.

Still looking forward to who Robbie Lawlers gone throw hands with. I bealive I heard that JMT say he didn't want Diaz - Lawler 2, but personally I would love to see that, as I missed it the first time around. I doubt that will happen, and it shouldn't happen because, Diaz is above Lawler right now and needs to get to real competition, not can, after can, after can. Hey, I would not mind at all though if Lawler got a chance to prove hiself aganst Nick Diaz again. Hell that would make my day in fact.

 

[INDYjon22]

Robbie Lawler and Trevor Prangley will lock horns in a featured middleweight bout at Strikeforce “Evolution” on Dec. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., Sherdog.com confirmed with both fighters’ camps on Thursday.

Prangley replaces tentatively scheduled Lawler opponent Benji Radach, who couldn’t obtain medical clearance to resume training for the bout after breaking his right hand last April. Sherdog.com has learned that recent Dream and K-1 entry Melvin Manhoef and Sengoku participant Mamed Khalidov were also under strong consideration for the vacated slot.

The heavy-handed Lawler has ploughed through five of his last seven bouts. A former EliteXC middleweight champion and H.I.T. Squad member alongside Matt Hughes, the 27-year-old Iowan was submitted by Jake Shields in the first round of their headlining bout at Strikeforce “Lawler vs. Shields” on June 6 in St. Louis.

Prangley, a South African Olympic wrestling alternate, has won 11 of his last 12 bouts. His only loss in that time came at the hands of Jorge Santiago, who knocked out Prangley in the finals of Strikeforce’s four-man middleweight tournament in November 2007. Prangley became the Shark Fight light heavyweight champion following his first-round submission of Marcus Sursa on Nov. 28 in Amarillo, Texas.

You can now officially pencil it in boys, Robbie Lawler will be fighting Trevor Prangley at Strikeforce:Evolution. Now it may not sound like that great of a bout and maybe even a fight that is beneath Lawler, but it will be great to see Robbie back in the ring knocking heads. I don't know much about Prangley but he is an Olympic competiter and has won 11 of 12 fights so I will not be counting him out in this fight.

 

[jmt225]

Thank you very much, IndyJon. The original post has been updated.

I'm pretty stoked, now. I really, really did not want Lawler/Diaz 2, and seeing someone like Trevor Prangley as Robbie Lawler's opponent is perfect in my eyes. Prangley is a bit of a journeyman, and he has some losses under his belt he probably shouldn't have, but nevertheless he is a very, very, VERY talented fighter and it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out.

All I know is it's going to be a great fight. Trevor Prangley and Robbie Lawler are both two of the best wrestlers in the Middleweight Division, so I think this fight will be standing and banging through and through, and I fully expect to see my man Robbie Lawler get back to his winning ways by knocking Prangley out. Can't wait to see it.

Oh, and by the way, the Cyborg fight has been scraped for the show, unfortunately. Hopefully she'll fight again soon though.

 

[INDYjon22]

So, if you have not heard yet, I guess I will fill you in. It was announced a few weeks back that Robbie Lawler would be fighting Trevor Prangley on this card. Well, my friends, you can scratch that matchup. Prangley has pulled out of this fight and now Strikeforce is looking for a new opponent for Lawler. This makes me sad because I am always up for a Robbie Lawler fight and I have to admit I was excited to finally see Trevor Prangley fight. I have never actually spent the time looking for Prangley fights and was ready to watch one but now my laziness will kick in and I won't. I hope that Strikeforce finds a credible and suitable challenger for Lawler in time as well, it is always a delight to watch that man throw with anyone.

 

[jmt225]

Yeah, man... that sucks. But on a few days notice, who in the World are they going to find? I'm sure there are a bunch of no-names who would take this fight in a second so they can have a chance in the spotlight, but no credible opponent will take this fight and risk hurting their record/career/well-being. Robbie Lawler is someone you need a FULL camp to train for, and I think everyone who knows anything about MMA knows that. His stand-up, wrestling, and stamina is just too good not to be fully prepared for.

But thanks for the info, IndyJon. I hadn't heard about that yet. The main card on the first page has been updated.

 

[jmt225]

Well, Robbie Lawler is officially off the card now, so that sucks and is a huge blow to it.

Strikeforce is just lucky this isn't a CBS show, otherwise they'd be extremely fucked.

I have no idea what's going on right now, but so many fighters are getting injured, and so many fights are getting canceled because of it. It's quite disappointing ending such a great year for MMA like this.

Nevertheless, hopefully Lawler now fights on the January 30th card, as that's stacking up to be the best card in Strikeforce history.

 

[INDYjon22]

It really sucks that Robbie Lawler got scratched from the card at the last minute and all but looking at the results it shaped up to be pretty good. I didn't get a chance to watch the fights but I have read the spoilers and damn am I surprised by a few things.

First and foremost, I would like to recall to all the disbelievers that Scott Smith has heavy hands and is a damn warrior. I know his track record is not the best but tonight should have opened some eyes. The dude is a talented fucking fighter with great knockout power. Cung Le was beat by Scott Smith and if that does not warrant some praise for Smith's abilities then I don't know what does.

Gilbert Melendez beat Josh Thompson by decision. Sounds like it was a good fight but I will be the judge of that when I watch it. They have both won a fight against each other now and it will be good to see one more fight to settle things.

King Mo came and saw his way to another victory. Good news for me since I am a fan of King Mo. Also, Ronaldo Souza subbed Matt Lindland. Shame that Lindland is not the fighter he once was but good to see an emerging challenger in the middleweight division.

I cannot wait to get my hands on some of these fights cause they sound exciting and I really cannot wait for the next live CBS card.

 

[jmt225]

Very good show, with two possible FOTY candidates.

King Mo... I don't know, man, I just don't like the guy, and I don't buy into any of his hype one bit. Regardless, still a nice knock out tonight, but hopefully his next fight is against someone much tougher than Whitehead. It seems to me that Whitehead just chokes every time there's a television camera on. And that was definitely the case tonight. Let's see King Mo against someone like Robbie Lawler. I'm sure Robbie wouldn't mind getting up to 205 for a one time fight like that.

Jacaré was fucking SPECTACULAR!! TREMENDOUS performance tonight! He completely dominated Matt Lindland, both on the feet and on the ground. I was really, really impressed. I knew Jacare would kick his ass, but in such a fashion? Never seen it coming. Hopefully Jacare gets a tougher opponent next also. Jarcare/Mayhem 3, maybe? I'd certainly love to that! Also, Jacare vs. Nick Diaz would be a dream come true as well.

Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez was an absolutely AWESOME fight for 5 straight rounds, with the first 3 just being completely mind-blowing. Melendez showed just how much he has improved on his stand-up game since they last fought, and Thomson showed what a warrior he is by taking such a beating, but never giving up and going the full 5 rounds. Great, great, great fight, and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a rubber match, either.

And Scott Smith vs. Cung Le... holy fuck, I could not believe it. Dude, Smith took an absolute BEATING those first 2 and a half rounds. I mean, Le was just destroying this guy with some of the most brutal, beautiful, awesome kicks you'll ever witness in an MMA fight. But man... fighting like that, it does leave you wide open to big shots, and Smith is the one fighter you don't want connecting on the button, otherwise, as Cung Le found out tonight, he's going to put your lights out. Absolutely fantastic heart shown by Smith tonight. Many hours later and I still can't believe it. It's definitely one of the most remarkable comebacks I've ever seen, not just in an MMA fight, but in sports period. Unbelievable.

Overall, very good show like I said. The Lawler fight getting scraped hurt it since the show ended about 20 minutes before it was supposed to, but man did those two main events more than make up for it. All 4 of those fighters deserve all the respect in the World for the showing they put on for us.

 

[Rizza]

Well INDY, I said if Cung got KO'ed by Smith I would eat my words, he did, and here I am. With that being said though, he did get his ass beat, and those kicks man, fucking beautiful. Cung Le proved to me that he is the better striker by far and away. Scott Smith proved to me that he has the heart of a lion, I thought is was over the first time Cung was laying it on him on the ground in the first round, but no, Smith was still fighting like a damn warrior. I have alot of respect for his hands now too, I have heard that Scott had some heavy hands and I really didn't think much of it, but he proved that to me last night too. I have to say though, Smith is terrible at protecting himself, I guess he has faith in his chin or whatever, but damn it look like he stragety was take a major ass whippen' till Le runs out of energy. I mean it worked, but if Cung Le was a more powerful puncher then Smith would have been a done deal. I am not gonna pull the " oh Cung would have won if it wasn't for the long break in between fights" card either, cause he looked like he was in full fighting form, I just think Cung Le's ultimate downfall is his chin and his cardio, thats what lost him that fight last night.

I have more respect for Scott Smith after this fight, because before this honestly I couldn't of had much less. I still don't think he is that good of a fighter, I mean his chin can't get him through every fight, and I still remain a Cung Le fan, even though I am probaly the only one on the face of the planet. I really look forward to Cung stepping into the cage again, but I wouldn't be surprised if he stops fighting, I mean he almost did before, and that was before he lost to someone he was supposed to run through(at least on paper). I haven't seen any of the other fights yet I will check them out though. I did see a GIF of the King Mo KO though, it looks like he fucked Whitehead up pretty good.

 

[Kasey]

Great show last night. Scott Coker has really displayed his knack for putting together solid cards with good matchups from top to bottom.

King Mo' was impressive, however I'd like to see how he'd fare against some higher-tier competition now that he's proven himself against some of the journeymen.

Jacare's standup look vastly improved over his Dream tourney fights and on the flipside it appears that Lindland's best days are definitely in the rear-view mirror.

As for Melendez and Thomson? Wow. Even better than the first fight, which was a barn-burner itself. I do feel that Thomson's conditioning suffered this time because of the injury. In the first fight he had a seemingly limitless gas tank and this time he struggled to get through the fifth. I've gotta hand it to Gilbert. He looked hungry and vicious. I can't wait to see the rubber match.

Le also looked like he suffered from the same conditioning issues as his teammate. He was crisp running through the midway point of the second round. Smith is a lunatic with zero head-movement but a heart big enough to come in a dumptruck and the tenacity to match. I do think that if conditioning wasn't a factor, then Le would've been able to put the guy away. Also, his inexperience in ground striking was grossly apparent when he had Scott dead to rights a couple of times. Great fight, though. Great comeback.

 

[INDYjon22]

Rizza, I couldn't agree with you more, man. Cung Le is the better fighter and thats the gods truth. That being said, Scott Smith is a fucking warrior and will never quit. He is not the most technical guy and he is not the smartest guy, but he has hands of stone and knows how to use them. He applied a similar strategy when he fought Pete Sell and knocked his ass out as well.

There is no disrespect in the way either man fights. Cung Le has some heavy hands and some powerful kicks and Scott Smith is just a very tough dude, which will actually be the downfall of him. He can't fight the way he fights and expect to live a safe and normal life, it just is not possible. He needs to change things up before he is seriously injured and can no longer fight. He does not need to end up like so many brain dead boxers do. He may put on some exciting fights but that should not make him risk his body anymore then he needs to.

I will tip my hat to him and graciously bow to you Rizza and your opinion on Le. The fact is I hope that Smith wises up and protects himself more before it is to late.