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| King Mo Lawal (left) v Rafael Feijao |
Two title fights, a controversial referee’s decision and the next step in the career of a former WWE superstar were the talking points as Strikeforce presented their latest show in Houston, shown this past Monday night on Bravo 2 here in Britain.
The show began with heavyweight action as Bobby Lashley faced Chad Griggs.
This is the fight that will end all of those Brock Lesnar comparisons. Lashley began extremely well with a series of take downs, but a knee in the clinch against the cage clearly hurt him, and moments later Griggs connected with a blow that opened up a nasty cut underneath Lashley’s left eye.
Although Lashley began the second round strongly Griggs began to work his way back into the fight as Lashley visibly tired. Griggs connected with an uppercut as Lashley went for the shoot, and it was all downhill from there. Griggs connected with more blows to the head as the round ended, with Lashley quitting seconds later, giving Griggs the win that nobody expected.
It was down to the lightweight division for the next fight as K.J. Noons took on Jorge Gurgel.
This was a fight full of incident. After some great exchanges in the first round Noons connected with a left that sent Gurgel crashing just as the round ended.
Noons kept up his attack into the second as another big left sent Gurgel down again. Noons then hesitated for a second, expecting the referee to stop the fight, before unleashing with a few more blows, including a knee while Gurgel was still grounded, a move that is illegal under MMA rules. However the referee, in his infinite wisdom, missed this blow completely as Noons was given the knockout win, despite the fact that he clearly should have been disqualified.
The first title fight of the show saw Tim Kennedy taking on Jacare Souza for the vacant Middleweight title.
An entertaining five round affair with very little ground work was an even looking striking contest, with both fighters giving a good account of themselves. Kennedy sustained a nasty cut above his left eye that worsened as the fight went on, although it didn’t stop him from getting the take down as the fight came to an end.
All three judges scored in favour of Souza. I wouldn’t be surprised if these two are matched up again in the future.
The main event saw King Mo Lawal defending the Light Heavyweight title against Rafael Feijao.
The proved to be a very good fight. Mo looked good early on with his massive slam, but Feijao showed some great defensive work as he popped straight back up.
That was how the fight played out for the first two rounds, until Feijao unloaded with a barrage of fists and knees. Mo grabbed hold of the Brazilian and held on for dear life, but it didn’t stop the elbows as the referee stepped in and called a halt to the proceedings, giving Feijao the highly impressive knockout win.
In conclusion - apart from the blind referee in the Noons/Gurgel fight this turned out to be a great night for Strikeforce, with the main event between Mo and Feijao the best of the bunch.
I do wish they’d sort out the refereeing decisions though!
The show began with heavyweight action as Bobby Lashley faced Chad Griggs.
This is the fight that will end all of those Brock Lesnar comparisons. Lashley began extremely well with a series of take downs, but a knee in the clinch against the cage clearly hurt him, and moments later Griggs connected with a blow that opened up a nasty cut underneath Lashley’s left eye.
Although Lashley began the second round strongly Griggs began to work his way back into the fight as Lashley visibly tired. Griggs connected with an uppercut as Lashley went for the shoot, and it was all downhill from there. Griggs connected with more blows to the head as the round ended, with Lashley quitting seconds later, giving Griggs the win that nobody expected.
It was down to the lightweight division for the next fight as K.J. Noons took on Jorge Gurgel.
This was a fight full of incident. After some great exchanges in the first round Noons connected with a left that sent Gurgel crashing just as the round ended.
Noons kept up his attack into the second as another big left sent Gurgel down again. Noons then hesitated for a second, expecting the referee to stop the fight, before unleashing with a few more blows, including a knee while Gurgel was still grounded, a move that is illegal under MMA rules. However the referee, in his infinite wisdom, missed this blow completely as Noons was given the knockout win, despite the fact that he clearly should have been disqualified.
The first title fight of the show saw Tim Kennedy taking on Jacare Souza for the vacant Middleweight title.
An entertaining five round affair with very little ground work was an even looking striking contest, with both fighters giving a good account of themselves. Kennedy sustained a nasty cut above his left eye that worsened as the fight went on, although it didn’t stop him from getting the take down as the fight came to an end.
All three judges scored in favour of Souza. I wouldn’t be surprised if these two are matched up again in the future.
The main event saw King Mo Lawal defending the Light Heavyweight title against Rafael Feijao.
The proved to be a very good fight. Mo looked good early on with his massive slam, but Feijao showed some great defensive work as he popped straight back up.
That was how the fight played out for the first two rounds, until Feijao unloaded with a barrage of fists and knees. Mo grabbed hold of the Brazilian and held on for dear life, but it didn’t stop the elbows as the referee stepped in and called a halt to the proceedings, giving Feijao the highly impressive knockout win.
In conclusion - apart from the blind referee in the Noons/Gurgel fight this turned out to be a great night for Strikeforce, with the main event between Mo and Feijao the best of the bunch.
I do wish they’d sort out the refereeing decisions though!
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