Strikeforce: Diaz vs Daley RESULTS; Diaz stops Daily, Melendez storms past Kawajiri, Mousasi and Jardine draw
4/10/11 11:05AM ET
Posted by Enrique Olivieri
Photo Courtesy of Strikeforce

If you’re not a Nick Diaz fan by now, once you see his fight with Paul Daley you will be. Diaz did it again, this time it was Paul “Semtex” Daily the knockout artist from the UK who was thoroughly beaten up in this mixed martial arts classic fight.

I don’t think there’s another mma fighter fighting today who comes at you where your strengths are and still beats you up the way Diaz does and did in this fight.

This fight started the way Diaz starts all his fights, challenging who ever he’s fighting to bring it on and usually the opponent tries to bring it as happened in this fight. I don’t think anyone but the guys in Diaz’s corner expected to see Diaz totally outbox Daley, hitting the UK fighter with solid crisp punches and body shots that would stop a heavyweight.

You can’t take anything away from Daley, as he was being pummeled by a Diaz attack. he did what very few mma fighter ever do, he didn’t try to take it down or clinch he fought back and unleashed an attack of his own with a barrage of homerun hitting punches, one connected and dropped Diaz. Though clearly dropped, Diaz never lost his composure and kept moving though it was more than obvious he had been rocked really bad. If in this fight Daley had a chance to win, this was it and Daley just didn’t have the tools to capitalize on it.

The end for Daley’s title quest came next, after a classic exchange of bombs from both fighters where both landed and both seemed rocked, Diaz came true to his form and landed an uppercut that hurt and wobbled Daley and he found himself with Diaz on top. After numerous unanswered punches to Daley’s head, referee John MacCarthy stopped the fight. The end came at 4:57 of round 1.

Melendez stops Kawajiri
Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez succesfully defended his title by totaly blowing out Japanese superstar Tatsuya Kawajirir in what was expected to be Melendez’s toughest test so far.

In the first minute or so of the first round Melendez dropped Kawajiri with a well placed right and that set the tone for the entire fight though it didn’t go too long after that.

There was nothing that Kawajiri could do to stop the Melendez attack. “El Nino” seemed ready for whatever Kawajiri had to offer, if you’re a “Black Ops” player call it “beasting”.

When Kawajiri tried to take Melendez down, “El Nino” sprawled, took a top position and let his punches and elbows finish the job. The end came at 3:14 of round one.

Mousasi and Jardine fight to a draw
A draw? Former Strikeforce Champ Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine’s fight to a draw was more of an eye opener than anything else. The highly touted Mousasi stepped in against Jardine with the expectation by just about everyone but the Greg Jackson Camp that Jardine was going to get knocked out. This happens from time to time, It seems that they just forgot to tell Jardine who took this fight on a “gonna lose fore sure” notice the way the fight should have ended.

Jardine’s chin has always been questioned, Mousasi who’s a known knock out artist must have realized early in the fight that he just might be in for more than he really expected. Mousasi hit Jardine with hard accurate on target punches, bloodying Jardine, wobbling Jardine, but he just couldn’t put the former UFC fighter away. Even with an illegal up kick by Mousasi didn’t change a thing, well wait there was a point deducted which might have caused the scoring of the draw. What was very interesting was Jardines ability to take Mousasi down, time and time again.

For the “Dean of Mean” this fight should be hailed as a moral victory for him due to the extremely short notice in taking this fight and surviving three brutal rounds against Mousasi. Regardless of how the judges scored this fight, everyone who sees this fight will say Mousasi won the fight but lost a ton of credibility in him not being able to take Jardine out and make a statement for himself in the Strikeforce light heavyweight division.

In our great sport of mixed martial arts saying “it happens” as Mousasi said after the fight just doesn’t cut it, after all this is the same Mousasi who said in a pre fight video interview that he was going to make a statement. I’m yet to figure out what statement he made.

I honestly think that a trained and in proper shape Keith Jardine would have given Gegard Mousasi all he could have handled. At this writing a rematch is in the air as it should be to finish what was started.

Here are the complete Strikeforce Results:

• Nick Diaz defeated Paul Daley via TKO (strikes) at 4:57 of RD1
• Gilbert Melendez defeated Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO (strikes) at 3:14 of RD1
• Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine fought to a Majority Draw
• Shinya Aoki defeated Lyle Beerbohm by Submission (neck crank) at 1:32 of RD1
• Robert Peralta defeated Hiroyuki Takaya by split decision
• Virgil Swicker defeated Brett Albee via TKO (strikes) at 1:46 of RD1
• Joe Duarte defeated Saad Awad by Submission (armbar) at 2:45 of RD2
• Herman Terrado defeated A.J. Matthews via TKO (punches) at 4:16 of RD1
• Rolando Perez defeated Edgar Cardenas by Unanimous Decision
• Casey Ryan defeated Paul Song by Submission (triangle choke) at 1:39 of RD1