The Strikeforce Event Discussion Thread

[jimufctna24]

Rousey really is fucking great.

 

She has a aura to her very similar to Brock Lesnar before his first illness, the past 2 fights she has had you are the edge of your seat to see if she can armbar someone quick, the way she does it so fast and sets it up with relative ease is something very special. She brings the big fight atmosphere into your living room.

 

She is lightyears ahead of the ground compared to other women in MMA it would seem and the best thing to happen to Woman's MMA since Gina Carono. A fight with Gina should be looked into, the unknown reason why Gina was pulled from her last fight is not a good sign though. She could move up for Cyborg, but it seems like Cyborg may leave, which is a shame. That would leave Tate again.

 

She is now Strikeforces biggest attraction and most marketable star, she gets more interest than half of the UFC Champions. The only downside is that they need to keep that interest going, Gina leaving hurt the attention WMMA got. Strikeforce need to keep presenting decent challengers for Rousey or interest may dry up, not just from fans but from Rousey herself he could easily go into films at some point with her natural good looks and charisma.

 

Elsewhere, OSP knockout was tremendous and he is a solid prospect who could make it to the mid-tier in UFC and Jacare stamped him rematch, I felt he won the first fight with Rockhold by a hair and with his improved striking could maybe win a rematch. But really right now Strikeforce's roster is just a side-salad for Rousey, the interest is just not there for anyone else.

[David]

She could move up for Cyborg, but it seems like Cyborg may leave, which is a shame.

Hasn't she already stated on numerous occasions that she wouldn't be prepared to even meet Cyborg at a catchweight of 140lbs?

[jimufctna24]

She could move up for Cyborg, but it seems like Cyborg may leave, which is a shame.

Hasn't she already stated on numerous occasions that she wouldn't be prepared to even meet Cyborg at a catchweight of 140lbs?

Yeah, but money talks and so does competition. People change there minds all the time in MMA, there is more chance of Rousey moving up than Cyborg moving down if it is true that she is unable to cut to 135lbs.

 

The way it sounds now Cyborg looks to want to leave anyway and I think she will sadly.

[Supremo]

I've only watched the two women's fights thus far (the Tate fight was fantastic) but once again the most noteworthy aspect was how fucking terrible the commentary and post-fight interviews were. Say what you want about Rogan and Goldberg, and I've got a few issues with them myself, but watching Strikeforce really hammers home how good they are in contrast to Shamrock and Ronallo. Tripping over their words, stopping mid-sentence because they realise how stupid they sound, awkwardly struggling to think of questions to ask fighters and misunderstanding their own polls, these two chumps are seriously shit at their job.

[Egg Shen]

how fucking terrible the commentary and post-fight interviews were. Say what you want about Rogan and Goldberg, and I've got a few issues with them myself, but watching Strikeforce really hammers home how good they are in contrast to Shamrock and Ronallo. Tripping over their words, stopping mid-sentence because they realise how stupid they sound, awkwardly struggling to think of questions to ask fighters and misunderstanding their own polls, these two chumps are seriously shit at their job.

disagree to an extent.

 

I love Miletich in the booth, and i love certain things Ranallo does (he was alright Saturday night), Shamrock's a goof though. He's got a lot to do with the Showtime deal though i think so that's why he's there...at times though you'd never think he was a world renowned Martial Artist, he talks shit. My problem with Ranallo is when he starts to complain about people not being exciting, he didn't do it Saturday but he gets to me sometimes.

 

Classic example of Shamrock's dull-ness (it aint quote for quote but it's close) in regards to the viewer poll:

 

Ranallo: "65% of viewers think this fight will leave the first round"

Miletich: "They have faith in Kaufman"

Shamrock: "I think they're wrong, i think this will go longer than a round"

Ranallo: "err, so they're right?"

Shamrock: "maybe"

 

What the fuck?!

 

Thought the show was excellent Saturday though. One of them 'one fight' shows which people wasn't excited for and it ended up being one hell of a fun show to watch.

 

* The Rousey-wagon rolls on. Unbelievable. I genuinely thought this would be a bit of a test for Rousey, especially as the fight got closer. The fact that she has no respect or wish to stand and attempt to trade is what makes her sp dangerous. She walked forward, there 2-3 jabs to close to distance, clinched and it was the beginning of the end. Unless someone can stop her doing that they are fucked...insane performance.

 

If the Cyborg fight falls through (which would suck) there's very little outside of a Tate rematch to go for at the moment though. Strikeforce need to establish some new names quick because Rousey's cleaning the slate.

 

* Tate/Kedzie was arugably better than Rousey/Tate. Just an unbelievable 3 round war. It was great to see Julie Kedzie get some props, because she was as instrumental as Gina Carano in establishing women's MMA but she's like the forgotten woman of the sport, she came out and lit Meisha up. Meisha Tate could pound-for-pound be one of the toughest people in the sport, she's fucking granite, survives a headkick to the face and comes back to submit Kedzie in the same round, brilliant. Female's steal the show.

 

* Jacare needed this win! He's been hinting at a KO for a while, technique is developing but he's always thrown with power. Big win, and he needed a finish to get people talking. I think he deserves the next crack at Rockhold after this.

 

* Few thoughts on the OSP-Cook fight.

 

It was a really good fight, outstanding opening round in which both guys seemed to blow their wad a little. Thought the ref Beltan (great tache) did a great job of allowing the fight to continue after Cook was dropped, but i think both the ref and the corner need to be accountable for that knockout in round 3. TJ Cook was clearly in no condition to continue at the start of the round, his body language showed that he had nothing left and he was basically a sitting duck to be knocked out...scary KO too, it wasn't a dynamite shot it just showed how little Cook had left.

 

* Speaking of bad calls, the Amagov/Berry call was a shocker. First off, i think them strkes should be illegal, its stupidly dangerous and it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt from one. The stoppage was stupidly bad though, Berry was ok and defending, tried to talk to Herb to tell him he was ok, i think the non-english speaking Amagov saw that at verbally tapping, Amagov looked at Herb and Herb called it. Joke. I love Herb but this was a shocker.

 

Berry apparently is gonna appeal, i say they just do it again.

 

* Sayers/Smith was a fun 1 rounder too, great scrambles. If Amagov doesn't fight Berry again i could see a Smith/Amagov II being a decent fight to put together.

 

Quality little show all around.

[John Matrix]

Due to lack of TV coverage, time to get online and hunt for streams etc i've never even seen Rousey fight, and yet i am both interested in, and buy her as a legitimate 'star' such is the hype train behind her.

 

I wonder though, and off topic i guess, but is women's MMA today effectively in the same position as MMA in it's early years where it still consists primarily of specialists?

 

Again, i've never seen Ronda fight, but i've heard that her stand up is fairly basic, but she is clearly a phenom in one particular area which is enough to get it done which is not often the case these days in men's competition or certainly not when you reach the upper echelons.

 

If so, how does womens MMA get to that next level? I saw Tate saying that she would love to do the first female TUF alongside Ronda, do Showtime / Zuffa come to terms on a strikeforce branded equivalent?

 

They have a potential breakthrough star on their hands who could fade into obscurity very fast if they dont capitalise, but right now, i just dont see the options to capitalise.

[Egg Shen]

hmmm, not really. These women are coming from proper MMA camps and train the whole game. Sarah Kaufman mentioned pre-fight that before joining an MMA gym she had no combat experience.

 

Ronda's abit of a unique case where she's a high level Judoka that's moved to MMA, but it's no different to all the high level wrestlers and judoka's that move over in the men's division, i just think it's a new things that's happening with the ladies. I think with Rousey's success though she could be a bit of a trailblazer for other high level combat sports fighters moving over, if there's money to be made, people will make the transition.

 

Dana White always said his problem with the women's division is that there's no enough good fighters, there's a few which standout but the majority of women aint up to scratch...I aint sure if that's the case really, it's more that the women don't get the exposure, but when they do they knock it out of the park most of the time. I put that whole way of thinking down to Cyborg Santos wrecking every chick she ever fought.

[wandshogun09]

Ranallo irritates the balls off me. Has done for years. Actually, in everything he's done outside Pride. I didn't mind him with Bas back then, I thought they worked well together. Now though, I find him cringeworthy and annoying.

 

I criticise Goldberg and Rogan a fair bit but they're still good at what they do for the most part. I think Joe Rogan especially is really good for MMA commentary because he explains stuff well to the casual viewer and he has his own way of announcing where you can tell he's really into it. It's just his occasional bias towards certain fighters and beating certain subjects to death (seriously how many times do we need to hear the 'groin shot/protective cup/jockstrap/steel Muay Thai cup' rant?). I like him though for the most part.

 

Ranallo though, just irritating. Doesn't seem to know what he's doing, is too shouty on commentary for me and his cacky 'moment killer' lines he has to shout and shoehorn into every broadcast really get on my tits. You see a crazy fight with a spectacular finish and Ranallo goes "MAMA MIA" or "that mouse under his eye has turned into a rat" or some goofy, nerdy shit like that.

 

Shamrock is rotten as well. Absolutely shite. I like Pat Miletich though.

[Egg Shen]

i quite like Ranallo's Mama Mia line

[Egg Shen]

looks like Meisha Tate is stepping away from the sport for a while, noooooooooooo!!!

 

The women's 135lb division for 5 minutes became one of the most exciting in the entire sport, but the two viable challengers are both looking disinterested, travesty!

[David]

looks like Meisha Tate is stepping away from the sport for a while, noooooooooooo!!!

 

The women's 135lb division for 5 minutes became one of the most exciting in the entire sport, but the two viable challengers are both looking disinterested, travesty!

I said it months ago, and I'll say it again. Strikeforce should do away with the female 145lbs & 135lbs divisions and simply go with a 140lbs division. This would give fighters from both ends of the scale an equal opportunity to make weight, and would give us the best chance of seeing the best fights.

 

There aren't enough female fighters operating at the top level for us to see two weight classes in one promotion.

 

From what I've read today, the issue simply won't be resolved any other way;

 

Former Strikeforce women's featherweight champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos has made it clear she is not a Ronda Rousey fan.

 

And while she would be more than happy to step into the cage with "Rowdy," especially after the current Strikeforce female bantamweight champion called her out, Santos has been medically advised against trying to make 135 pounds.

 

With that in mind, Santos said she's done talking about Rousey and any potential fight for the bantamweight title. If Rousey wants to prove her worth, Santos said, let her come back to 145 pounds to do it

[The Natural]

looks like Meisha Tate is stepping away from the sport for a while, noooooooooooo!!!

 

I second this. Like I said earlier, only seen two of her fights and I like her. Tate is tough.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Miesha's awesome. I hope she doesn't stay away too long. She was always decent but I've really became a fan of hers since the Coenen fight. Marloes Coenen is a tough opponent with a really solid ground game and I thought she'd beat Tate and Tate surprised me by submitting her. Since then she's gone on to have two of my legit favourite fights so far this year with Rousey and Kedzie. And not just two of my favourite women's fights, two of my favourite fights in all MMA this year.

 

I think I'll have me a cupcake (any excuse) in tribute to this loss for MMA.

 

And as much a Rousey ovaryhugger as I am, Cyborg makes a lot of sense above there. Ronda has done a great job spinning it to make it look like Cyborg is scared but it is a fact Ronda was in the same division as Cyborg and she's the one who dropped to 135. I like this more trash talky Cyborg. I like the idea of merging the two divisions into one at 140lbsl. Starting with a champ vs champ unification Rousey vs Cyborg fight ideally.

 

Cyborg is the man.

[The Natural]

Yeah Miesha's awesome. I hope she doesn't stay away too long. She was always decent but I've really became a fan of hers since the Coenen fight. Marloes Coenen is a tough opponent with a really solid ground game and I thought she'd beat Tate and Tate surprised me by submitting her. Since then she's gone on to have two of my legit favourite fights so far this year with Rousey and Kedzie. And not just two of my favourite women's fights, two of my favourite fights in all MMA this year.

 

I think I'll have me a cupcake (any excuse) in tribute to this loss for MMA.

 

Both fights are in my top ten fights of 2012, Tate/Rousey in front of Tate/Kedzie. Any other Tate fights I should try and find?

[wandshogun09]

Have a look for these Miesha Tate fights Natural;

 

vs Elaina Maxwell (Strikeforce: Melendez vs Thomson) (June 2008)

vs Sarah Kaufman (Strikeforce Challengers: Evangelista vs Aina) (May 2009)

vs Zoila Frausto (Strikeforce Challengers: Johnson vs Mahe) (March 2010)

vs Hitomi Akano (Strikeforce Challengers: Riggs vs Taylor) (August 2010) (To crown 1st Women's 135lb champion)

vs Marloes Coenen (Strikeforce: Fedor vs Henderson) (July 2011)

 

The Maxwell fight was early in Tate's career but it was a good competitive fight. The Kaufman fight was her first real step up and a nice back and forth fight. Zoila was a good little striker vs grappler match and Akano was the title win and also pretty enjoyable as I recall.

 

The Coenen fight is what really first convinced me on Tate though, defo watch that.

 

None of them fights are as good as the Rousey or Kedzie fights so don't go in expecting too much, but some good stuff there.