Rafael Cavalcante def. Antwain Britt (KO, 3:45 Rd 1) Roger Gracie def. Kevin Randleman (Sub, RNC, 4:10 Rd 2) Ronaldo Souza def. Joey Villasenor (Unanimous decision) Antonio Silva def. Andrei Arlovski (Unanimous decision) Alistair Overeem def. Brett Rogers (TKO, 3:40 Rd 1)
Short version - solid if unspectacular card, but I'm not sure we learned anything earth-shattering.
Longer version:
Overeem utterly owned poor Brett. I thought Brett would at least have a punchers chance, but he looked dreadful out there. He backed up from the start, got himself caught off balance and rag-dolled, then wound up being easily controlled and dismantled on the ground. Anyone who want's to argue he's just a big-hitter without much skill got plenty to support their case here. Overeem was pretty impressive, but there's a heavy dose of "consider the opponent" and we still don't know how his cardio will hold up if he ever has to go five rounds.
For Arlovksi, there was good and bad. He took a few solid shots from Bigfoot, which at least suggests his chin isn't quite as fragile as some would have you believe, but he also got outstruck for long periods and generally never looked like winning. I had hopes that he was still young enough (in years and number of fights) to still be relevant, but he looked very much like a guy on the downswing of his career. Good win for Silva, but again, it's tough to get too excited given the standard of the opposition.
Jacare went the distance for just the second time in his career against Villasenor. He dominated much of the fight, but somewhat worryingly looked pretty gassed midway through the second round. From a technical standpoint it was probably fight of the night though, and I still have much love for Jacare. I guess he's on course to face Henderson for the title after Shields heads to the UFC.
Shockingly, Randleman managed to make it through almost two rounds of action without doing anything boneheadly stupid. Less shockingly, Roger Gracie has awesome BJJ backed up by (and I'm being charitable here) very average striking. He *did* get the fight to the ground with a knee, but there was little else to get excited about in his stand-up.
Last but not least, Feijao scored a quite impressive knockout of Antwain Britt with a nice combination of punches. Fight had been pretty even up until that point, with Britt maybe just about shading it.
Like I say, decent card, but nothing OMG-ish to recommend rushing to find a replay if you haven't already seen it. And finally, I know this gets brought up in nigh on every SF thread, but for the love of sweet baby Jesus, would they please, please, PLEASE get some new commentators?
I liked the show - well, I felt it wasn't a giant waste of my time. (Maybe a LITTLE waste of my time.) Nothing got me excited enough to start a thread here, but I have no problem piggybacking onto yours, mostly because I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Better than the CBS show but that wasn't saying much - you couldn't have had this show on CBS without finding a way to stick an assload of commercials in there.
It's less fun to be on Twitter during Strikeforce as it's now at a point where NOBODY is commenting on the action; instead, talking about how much they loathe various members of/actions by the commentary team.
(I will say that the few guys tweeting in Japanese still stick to the action...but probably because they aren't paying a lot of attention to English commentary. ;-) )
Now, let's get those long-awaited, much tweeted about urine test results!
Originally posted by CRZNOBODY is commenting on the action; instead, talking about how much they loathe various members of/actions by the commentary team.
I like Mauro Renallo, just not his goatee. Or when he's being a giant douche on Right After Wrestling. What an odd show that is, but never mind.
I thought the Strikeforce show was perfectly okay and almost entirely forgettable. Didn't hate it, didn't love it, didn't really care either way.
Fedor's never going to fight Overeem. Fedor's going to fight Werdum while they make Overeem defend the belt against Bigfoot, and then Fedor's management team will demand that Overeem avenge his previous loss to Werdum before deserving a fight with Fedor. In the interim, Fedor will go do sambo or grappling exhibitions for M-1, Overeem will get pissed off and bored and run off to fight in the K-1 WGP again, and once he's preoccupied, Fedor will return to have a thrilling fight with Herschel Walker or the newly-hired Kimbo Slice. By the time Overeem returns, they will be ready to set up the title fight out of sheer desperation, at which point Strikeforce will run out of money and fold back down to the regional level.
...he said, arguably still kind of bitter.
There's no reason that Fedor and Overeem shouldn't be fighting. Overeem is essentially the only challenge for Fedor left in Strikeforce, and at that is one of the best challenges he'd ever have faced in his career, and I get incredibly annoyed with Fedor's management and their whole 'we refuse to fight Overeem because he's a cheater and doesn't deserve it' talk, going so far as to actually call him "steroid cattle," when they're still actively seeking to fight Josh freaking barnett in Japan.
It bothers me that one of the best fighters in the history of the game, at a point where the sport is more visible than ever before and he could be accomplishing anything he wants, is sitting on his thumbs. It's mind-boggling.
The rest of the card was okay--acceptable, but nothing mindblowing. Strikeforce's matchmaking just doesn't make much sense to me, I suppose.
Aside from Couture/Lesnar, this card is stacked with two other top-level fights: Rampage vs Wanderlei III This hasn't been made "official," but both camps have stated it will happen. Florian vs Stevenson OMG I am pumped for this.
Thread rated: 7.78
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