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

Strikeforce Faijao vs Hendo RESULTS - Henderson Stops Feijao, Coenen comes from behind to submit Carmouche
3/06/11 2:05AM ET
Posted by Enrique Olivieri

This event took place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus Ohio and was aired live on SHOWTIME.

Dan Henderson has another title to add to his mma resume, the former Olympian and former PrideFC champion landed his signature “H Bomb” right hand on the chin of former Rafael “Faijao” Cavalcante dropping him then finishing the fight with a barrage of punches causing the referee to stop the fight.

The fight sure didn’t start the way Henderson planned, in the first round the former Strikeforce champ Feijao dropped Henderson with a well timed right, Henderson who’s one of the most experienced mma fighters in the world used his experience to immediately turn things around by taking Feijao down in the scramble after he was dropped, Henderson slowed things up to regain his wits.
The second round Henderson used his wrestling experience in the clinch and took the larger and stronger Cavalcante down and worked from the dominant position. He seemed to be wearing out Cavalcante slowly. Henderson put another round in the bank as he controlled the tempo of the round.
In the third Hendo unleashed the “H Bomb” causing the referee to stop the fight at :50.
After the fight when Henderson was asked about the “H Bomb” his reply was, “It’s a punch that I kind of like to do” and It’s one that I work on all the time, I threw it, landed it and jumped on top”.

Coenen comes from behind, submitts Carmouche and retains her title.
Let’s give credit where it’s due, with only two week notice Liz Carmouche gave an excellent showing even in losing a bid for Marloes Coenen’s Strikeforce Womens Welterweight Title.
In the first round Coenen seemed to get the better of Carmouche in the stand-up. Things changed as Coenen found herself on the ground for the second and third rounds as Carmouche kept the dominant position for most of the of second and third with an unending attack of punches, no matter what Coenen tried it didn’t seem to work.

Going into the fourth round, it seemed that Carmouche, with only five wins in her mma career was on her way to a big time upset and the Strikeforce Womens Welterweight Title. The champion Coenen was wearing an ugly bruise under her right eye courtesy of Carmouche, then everything changed in this fight, when Carmouche took the top position, just as she had been in for the last two rounds, Coenen wasn’t mounted yet, and she wrapped her legs around Carmouche’s neck and locked in a tight triangle chole forcing Carmouche to submit.

In the other fights shown on Showtime, Tim Kennedy made quick work of Melvin Manoef via a rear naked choke. It took Kennedy a few takedown attempts to bring the dangerous striker down to secure the submission.

Also Jorge Masvidal took his time and did what he wanted to previously unbeaten lightweight prospect Billy Evangelista to hand him is first mma loss. Though Masvidal never pushed the fight or tried to finish his experience, especially his stand-up skills proved way too much for Evangelista.

Here are the nights complete set of results;


Strikeforce Feijoa vs Hendo RESULTS
Dan Henderson defeated Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante via TKO (strikes) at :50 of RD3
Marloes Coenen defeated Liz Carmouche by submission (triangle choke) at 1:29 of RD4
Tim Kennedy defeated Melvin Manhoef by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:41 of RD1
Jorge Masvidal defeated Billy Evangelista by unanimous decision.
Roger Bowling defeated Josh Thornburg by unanimous decision.
Jorge Gurgel defeated Billy Vaughan by submission (guillotine choke) at :44 of RD1
Jason Freeman defeated Jason Riley via TKO (strikes) at 1:52 of RD1
Brian Rogers defeted Ian Rammel via TKO (strikes) at 4:23 of RD1
Mitch Whitesel defeated Marc Cofer by submission (guillotine choke) at 3:55 of RD1
John Kuhner defeated JP Felty by submission (triangle choke) at 4:31of RD2

Liz Carmouche to replace Miesha Tate against Marloes Coenen
Posted by Enrique Olivieri
In Main Event, Dan Henderson Challenges STRIKEFORCE Light Heavy Belt-Holder “Feijao’’ Cavalcante

NEW YORK (Feb. 24, 2011) – Undefeated Liz “Girl-Rilla’’ Carmouche (6-0) has replaced an injured Miesha Tate and will face STRIKEFORCE Women’s World Welterweight Champion Marloes Coenen on Saturday, March 5, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

Tate, the No. 1 contender at 135 pounds, was forced to withdraw after suffering a knee injury during training.

Carmouche, of San Diego, by way of Lafayette, La., will be making her third start for STRIKEFORCE on SHOWTIME. She is coming off an impressive third-round TKO (punches) over the more-experienced, hard-hitting Jan Finney on Nov. 19, 2010. Carmouche has only gone the distance once in her career.

In her debut on SHOWTIME, the 5-foot-5, 27-year-old Carmouche registered a unanimous decision over Colleen Schneider on Aug. 13, 2010, in a “reserve bout” in the STRIKEFORCE one night, single-elimination women’s 135-pound tournament, which was won by Tate.

A member of Team Hurricane Awesome, Carmouche lived many years in Okinawa, Japan, where her father was stationed in the Air Force. At the age of 20, she joined the Marine Corps where she spent more than five years and achieved the rank of Sergeant.

Carmouche’s stint in the Marines included three tours to Iraq. Unlike many women in the military, she was attached to a GRUNT unit, which she describes as ground fighting outside of the perimeter where the rest of the units are stationed. In Iraq, she began training in Mixed Martial Arts.

Coenen, a product of Holland’s Golden Glory team, will be making the first defense of the belt she won with a dominant third-round submission (armbar) over defending belt-holder Sarah Kaufman on Oct. 9, 2010.

In the second half of a STRIKEFORCE World Championship Doubleheader, Dan Henderson (26-8), of Temecula, Calif., will challenge defending champion Rafael “Feijao’’ Cavalcante (10-2), of Brazil, for the STRIKEFORCE World Light Heavyweight (205 pounds) title.

American military hero Tim Kennedy (12-3) of Fort Bragg, N.C., will be opposed by Melvin Manhoef (24-8) , of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, at middleweight (185 pounds) and undefeated Billy Evangelista (11-0) of Fresno, Calif., will take on Jorge Masvidal (20-6) of Miami, Fla., at lightweight (155 pounds) in other televised bouts on SHOWTIME.

The event, STRIKEFORCE’s first in the state of Ohio, will take place in conjunction with The Arnold Sports Festival, the nation’s largest health and fitness exposition founded by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
**The above is courtesy of Strkeforce