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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
STRIKEFORCE: HOUSTON
AUGUST 21, 2010
LIVE FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
Gus Johnson is back on commentary tonight and he introduces the card from the Toyota Center. He discusses the matchup in the night's main event between "King Mo" and "Feijao" as well as the Middleweight Championship co-main event before bringing in Mauro Ranallo. Ranallo breaks down "King Mo's" skills and flashy entrances and runs down how he thinks the fight will go.
Frank "Braces" Shamrock joins them once again as the third man on commentary. Shamrock breaks down the co-main event fighters in Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. Strikeforce is trying to get fans to vote on the one night tournament format. If it's going to be like what we saw last week then that's an emphatic "NO" from me.
FIGHT ONE: BOBBY LASHLEY VS. CHAD GRIGGS (HEAVYWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Lashley needed just ten seconds before shooting in and taking Griggs to the ground. Griggs tried to kick him off but Lashley got to side control. Griggs tried to kick off the cage but Lashley stayed in side control. The commentators talked about nothing but pro wrestling for a minute, ignoring Lashley in side control. Griggs tried to control Lashley's posture as Lashley tried to pin his arm in a crucifix. The crowd started booing a couple minutes in. Griggs is simply trying to tie Lashley up here. Lashley went to north-south and then side control on the other side. Griggs trapped one of Lashley's arms and scrambled and got back to his feet. He landed a couple of short punches as Lashley shot back in. Griggs stayed on his feet by grabbing the cage a couple of times but Lashley got him back to the ground into half guard. Lashley went to north-south again and Griggs scrambled to his feet. Griggs landed a hard knee to the body as Lashley clinched him against the cage. They were separated in the clinch with a minute left. Griggs landed an uppercut as Lashley shot in again but Lashley got him down. He cut Lashley open with that punch. Lashley landed some good punches against Griggs against the cage in the half guard. The cut is bad and Lashley is bleeding profusely. Griggs landed some short punches as the round came to an end.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Lashley. He's keeping dominant position, but his offense on the ground was not very impressice here, and that cut was bad. Lucky for him it's under his eye.
ROUND TWO: Lashley shot in early, picked Griggs up and slammed him down hard. Nice takedown. He pushed Griggs to the cage and landed some short punches. Griggs continues to throw short punches from the bottom himself. The crowd is not a fan of Lashley's top game here as they start booing again. Griggs tries to kick Lashley off but Lashley drops back down into side control. He lands some punches, but it's not doing a ton of damage at all. Lashley moves to the mount and postures up to land punches. Griggs moves his head well and avoids some of the punishment. He kicked off the cage to buck Lashley off but Lashley held position. Lashley postured up again and they exchanged punches. Lashley is definitely tired here. He landed some more punches postured up but dropped down when Griggs tagged him with one from the bottom. Lashley is content to ride it out in this position, despite multiple positions here. The ref stood them up to check the cut with :33 remaining. He was in the mount. You don't stand that up with time left in the round. Lashley is breathing heavy. The crowd boos as Lashley takes a deep breath. HOw do they not restart that in the mount?! That was awful, awful, awful reffing. Lashley shot in but Griggs stuffed him and started landing some hard punches at the end of the round. And the fight is stopped as Lashley can't get to his feet.
WINNER: Griggs via TKO at 5:00 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Griggs said it was the best day of his life. He said he felt Lashley getting tired. He said Lashley was so big and strong but he was burning energy trying to hit him.
STAR RATING: (**) Lashley couldn't do anything with his position. He was completely unimpressive with his top game, and he was gassed halfway through the second round. The finish came because of some awful officiating, but Lashley probably would have been finished in the third round the way that last shot looked.
-Mauro said Griggs became a star from that. No, Mauro, he didn't. He survived a big heavyweight who gassed out because Lashley couldn't do anything with his position and then Griggs finished him off. Congrats to Griggs, and no offense intended to him as he deserved the victory, but that's just hyperbolic B.S. to say that was a "star making" performance.
-Luke Rockhold is interviewed cageside about his October 9 bout with Matt Lindland and he talks about that fight and tonight's Middleweight Championship fight.
FIGHT TWO: K.J. NOONS VS. JORGE GURGEL (LIGHTWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Noons walked Gurgel down early. Gurgel landed a good body punch and landed a nice right. Noons got in a body kick. Gurgel responded back with another one of his own. Gurgel pushed in with a nice combo finishing with a high kick. Gurgel with a leg kick. Noons keeps coming forward as Gurgel circles. Gurgel with a leg kick again. Gurgel got a body kick in and Noons landed a few body punches. Noons landed a hard combination as Gurgel landed a body kick. Gurgel tried to press in and they butted heads. Noons landed a hard left. Gurgel tried to press in again. Noons landed another hard right and Gurgel landed a couple of short punches. Gurgel's landing more but Noons seems to be landing harder thus far. Noons lands a hard leg kick and Gurgel cracks him with a hard one. Noons is getting more in in the second half of the round. Gurgel comes in fast with a sloppy shot and then a couple of punches. Noons lands two hard body punches and walks Gurgel down again. He lands a huge right and a hard left in combination. Gurgel can take a punch, but he's going to get beat up badly tonight if he doesn't try to bring the fight to the ground. Gurgel landed a flurry and Noons came back after him with a big flurry as the round ended. Noons threw a nasty left after the bell and knocked Gurgel down. Gurgel was wobbly.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Noons. He landed the harder shots and did a lot more damage.
ROUND TWO: Noons landed a huge two punch combo that knocked Gurgel down and out. He didn't follow up because the ref should have stopped the fight, so he started throwing more and knocked Gurgel down again with an illegal knee with Gurgel's knee on the ground. That could make things interesting here because the ref didn't stop it until the illegal knee. Frank Shamrock is trying to say the knee was legal. What are you watching. The ref was coming in to stop it as he threw the illegal knee. I don't know how this is going to go down, but it was another terrible job of officiating in this one.
WINNER: Noons at :19 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Noons said it was exciting and Jorge was a great fighter. He got some boos from the crowd. He said he loves this sport.
STAR RATING: (**+) The fight is tainted for a number of reasons. Noons landed the knockdown left AFTER the bell in the first round, the ref didn't stop the fight immediately after his two punch knockdown in the second and then Noons threw a clearly illegal knee as the fight was being waved off. He rattled Gurgel with a punch after the bell that set up the two punch knockdown which was capped off by the illegal knee. Almost should be a no contest for that.
-Frank Shamrock is awful on commentary. They're trying to talk about how indecisive that last ref was, and then Shamrock waffles on what he thought should have been done there. Plain and simple, the ref should have stopped the fight on the brutal knock down, and while Noons shouldn't have stopped, the ref needed to make the call. Just a really bad showing tonight on that front.
-Now they're throwing out the company line that Jake Shields was offered two fights against Jacare. I want to know when these fights were offered, because Shields was looking for a welterweight fight before he was offered Henderson, and Henderson was, at the time, a more dangerous opponent and had a much bigger name than Jacare. That's just pettiness from Strikeforce to throw that out there to try to drag Shields' name down. Jacare didn't earn his title shot until winning two other fights, and he's still not well known here in the U.S. That fight wouldn't have made sense with Henderson being signed before Jacare. That's just petty, petty bullsh** from Strikeforce and this commentary team for Showtime.
FIGHT THREE: TIM KENNEDY VS. RONALDO "JACARE" SOUZA (MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
ROUND ONE: At least "Big" John McCarthy is reffing this one instead of Jon Schorle from earlier tonight. Loud "U.S.A." chant to start. Jacare kept Kennedy on the outside early. Jacare landed with a hard push kick after having a punch blocked. He's working his footwork well and keeping Kennedy's back on the cage thus far. He lands in combination and hurts Kennedy with a hard right. Kennedy recovers. Jacare gets in with a few more punches. Kennedy throws a high kick but it gets blocked. Kennedy gets in with a couple of punches but Jacare lands a counter punch and kick. He presses forward and lands another hard right. Kennedy counters with an overhand right. Jacare comes back with a push kick and Kennedy again counters with a right. Some good back and forth action here so far. Kennedy tries to push forward but Jacare avoids the strikes. Kennedy lands a leg kick as he's backing up. Jacare with another combo as Kennedy tried to engage. Jacare presses in with a leg kick. He lands another hard one. Kennedy pushes in with a combo and Jacare slips. Kennedy presses him to the cage in the clinch as Jacare got back up but Jacare turned him around and separated. Kennedy lands a leg kick as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Jacare. He landed some big combinations and kept the pressure on throughout the round. Kennedy landed a couple of good counters in the round, though. Good start to this title fight.
ROUND TWO: Kennedy tried to engage first but Jacare landed a counter combination. Shamrock's anti-Jacare bias seeping into the commentary as he says he's getting "nervous" about Kennedy holding his right hand a little low. Kennedy pops in with a short combination. He slipped as he jumped in but he got back up. Jacare got in with a nice straight right. Jacare lands another hard combination. And another. Kennedy counters with a couple punches but Jacare got the better of a couple exchanges there. Kennedy landed a leg kick. Jacare pressed in and Kennedy got close to clinch, landing a good knee to the body before releasing it. Jacare again landed a right. Kennedy landed a leg kick to the outside of the knee. "U.S.A." chant again. Jacare shot in unsuccessfully and Kennedy pushes him off at the cage. Kennedy landed a hard front kick to the leg. Another leg kick lands. He gets in with a superman punch. Jacare goes right back to stalking. He lands a left to the body. He adds a push kick to the face. He lands a hard right and Kennedy tries to stalk but the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Jacare. Closer than the first, but Jacare continues to get the better of the exchanges and looks to be landing much more cleanly than Kennedy thus far.
ROUND THREE: Kennedy pressed forward early. He landed a leg kick and tried to shoot but Jacare held it off. Kennedy got in close with a few punches and clinched Jacare on the cage. Jacare got loose and took the center again. Jacare got in a good short combination, but Kennedy is now the aggressor. He ate a big counter punch, however, and got cut open badly. That counter punch cut him right on the inside of his eyebrow. He pressed forward with a combo and a push kick. Kennedy landed a left. He grabbed a body lock and pressed in, getting the takedown. Jacare held him in closed guard. Jacare kicked him off and got to his feet without any damage taken. Kennedy's cut is bleeding really bad at this point. Jacare with a counter left and another punch. Nice jab landed by Jacare. Jacare lands a couple more. Kennedy walks forward and lands a leg kick before the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Jacare. Jacare's counter punches are doing the damage, and he opened Kennedy up with a nasty cut. That outweighs the takedown when he was able to get off of the ground without taking any damage.
ROUND FOUR: Kennedy landed a hard leg kick early. He got in with a body kick. Jacare landed a left but Kennedy landed a nice counter right. Might have been his best punch of the fight so far. Kennedy pressed in with another hard leg kick. Kennedy with a push kick. Kennedy ducked under a punch and tried to tie Jacare up but Jacare got loose. Very tentative here in the first couple of minutes. Jacare shot in for a takedown and Kennedy sprawled nicely. Good stop by Kennedy on that one. Kennedy again lands the leg kick and then gets in with a superman punch. Kennedy staying active with the kicks. Jacare got a left in but missed the overhand right as Kennedy counters. Jacare lands a right as Kennedy lands a low blow. The right opened up the cut. Jacare was given time to recover from the low blow. They restarted and Jacare landed an early right. Kennedy shot in and Jacare sprawled. Jacare landed a couple of kicks. Kennedy pressed in but ate a counter punch. The round ended as they were squaring off and the crowd was booing the tentative action. It has definitely slowed.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Kennedy. He was landing some good kicks and strikes throughout, and did enough to edge a close round. Jacare continues to get in with counter shots, though.
ROUND FIVE: Kennedy came in with some early kicks and a nice combination. Jacare landed a nice left. Kennedy got in close and they exchanged hard punches. Kennedy popped in with a nice left. Jacare pressed with a couple of leg kicks. Neither has a sense of urgency here. Jacare barely missed a big overhand right. Jacare then lands a hard counter right as Kennedy came in. More counter strikes from Jacare as Kennedy tried to engage. Kennedy tried to shoot but Jacare hit him with some hard punches as he stepped out of it. Kennedy walked Jacare to the cage, got a clinch and landed a knee. Kennedy pressed in for the clinch and Jacare again got free. Jacare could be pressing his luck if he leaves it up to this commission's judges after the refereeing we've seen tonight. Kennedy lands a hard body kick. He got in with a body punch. Jacare landed a two punch combo. The crowd started to boo again. Jacare got a clinch and pressed Kennedy to the cage but didn't hold it. Kennedy landed a punch but Jacare took his back standing. He landed a knee to the back of the leg but Kennedy nicely slipped out. Jacare landed a huge right that sent Kennedy's head snapping back. Kennedy shot in and got a big slam right before the round ended. They both raised their hands. This should be Jacare's fight, regardless of Kennedy raising his hands.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Jacare. His punches were much more effective throughout the fight, and he landed a couple of hard counter rights in this round that sent Kennedy's head back. He should win this decision.
WINNER: Souza via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
POST FIGHT: Souza said Tim Kennedy was a tough guy in English. Then he started speaking Portuguese and the Texas crowd booed him. Kennedy said "the best grappler in the world couldn't get me down, but I took him down a couple of times." He played up to the Texas crowd. He's frustrated, and he says he doesn't know what happened in the fight. Sorry, Tim, Jacare hit you harder and landed more effective strikes throughout that fight, that's what happened.
STAR RATING: (**) It turned into a kickboxing bout between two ground fighters, and Jacare simply outstruck Kennedy. It had its spots, though it wasn't the most entertaining throughout the 25 minute duration. Mauro really needs to stop going to the compustrike numbers for a fight like this. They meant nothing here. Even if Kennedy landed more strikes overall, Jacare's were much more effective, landed cleaner and harder and did more damage overall, plain and simple. Jacare won that fight, and it should have been clear to anyone paying attention.
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: MUHAMMED "KING MO" LAWAL VS. RAFAEL "FEIJAO" CAVALCANTE (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
ROUND ONE: Feijao pushed forward with a combo early but just grazed Mo. He pressed him back again. Mo got him to the cage and landed a nice combination before dropping for the double leg. Feijao nicely keeps himself upright. Mo got Feijao on the side, picked him up and slammed him hard, but Feijao got right back up. Feijao held onto a body lock and landed some knees to the legs and body before Feijao spun out. Feijao landed a jab. Mo landed a straight left to the body. He got in with a combo and backed out. Mo keeping his hands low here. Feijao got in with a right. Very tentative here after the fast start. Feijao landed a hard uppercut and a knee as Mo shot in. Mo tried to slam him but Feijao stayed on his feet again. Feijao lands a hard right and another big knee. He's landing some hard shots here. He backs off and they go to another tentative stretch. Feijao closes the round out with a leg kick.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Mo. Very close round. Mo did a lot in the first few minutes with that huge slam and some combos, but Feijao landed some hard strikes later on.
ROUND TWO: Mo tried to press Feijao down early. He gets him to the cage with a flurry, but doesn't land cleanly on his punches and gets pressed back with a knee from Feijao. Feijao got in with a hard leg kick. Mo continuing to press the pace and both fighters miss big punches. Feijao comes in with an ill advised high kick and Mo takes him to the ground. He landed a few punches in the guard but Feijao kicked him off and got back to his feet. Feijao definitely the bigger and stronger of the two here thus far. Mo pressed Feijao to the cage and landed a nice combination of body shots. Feijao got in a nice counter left. Mo backed Feijao up to the cage again and Feijao barely missed a big uppercut. Mo got in with a flurry against the cage. Again the action has been tentative with short bursts of action. Mo landed more body punches. He pressed forward and went for a single leg. He threw a number of knee strikes to the thighs of Feijao against the cage until the round ended.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Mo. Feijao just didn't do a whole lot after that ill-advised high kick that wound up with him on his back. Mo's body punches worked really well, and he's doing damage there, but the action was tentative once again.
ROUND THREE: Feijao landed a huge right early on that rocked Mo. Feijao tried to pounce with punches, but Mo recovered. Feijao grabbed a Thai clinch and rocked him with a huge knee. He then dropped him with a right. Mo got back to his feet and Mo shot in and pressed Feijao against the cage. Feijao started unleashing elbow after elbow after elbow to the side of Mo's head, and referee "Big" John McCarthy stopped the fight right as Mo collapsed against the cage. His arm went limp from the elbows and he fell to the ground right after McCarthy got there. Good stoppage. Nasty, nasty elbows, and a huge win for Feijao. It started with that first overhand right, and swung completely his way with the two knees.
WINNER: Cavalcante via KO at 1:14 of the third round
POST FIGHT: Feijao said he had a new coach in every area. He said the win was all about his team and his trainers and training partners. He said he's living his dream, and he thanked the crowd for being there and supporting them. Gus Johnson then went to talk to King Mo. Lawal said he just needs to make some adjustments. He said he'll come back stronger, and losses always make true champions better. He said he already knows what he needs to do, but he's going to keep it to himself and go back and work on it.
STAR RATING: (***) Excellent, excellent third round by Feijao. He showed off great takedown defense and took out Mo with a continued attack. Mo was hurting well before the finish, and it just showed a mistake that wrestlers can make. You can't sit there and let your opponent elbow you in the side of the head like that, and he paid for it.
-That's another Strikeforce event in the books. There was some good action on the card tonight, but their money fighters lost and the commentary may have been worse or at least as bad as it's ever been from the Showtime employed crew. But thanks for sticking with us tonight, we'll have plenty of fallout from this event throughout the week and much more as we move on to next weekend's UFC 118 event on pay-per-view.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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