Sucker Punch: Strikeforce

What’s not to love about Strikeforce?  Strikeforce did it again this past Saturday by providing us with an absolutely free card featuring some of the biggest names in the sport.  With any fight card, “Strikeforce:  Shields vs. Henderson” had it high points and some really low points.  Either way, Strikeforce gave us plenty to talk about Monday morning at the water cooler:

Say what you want about Jason Miller interrupting Jake Shield’s interview….

but the Cesar Gracie camp should feel like punk bitches for the post fight melee.  They need to realize the damage their actions caused the promotion that employs many of them.  There was no need for the entire team to shamelessly swarm and beat on Miller like they did on live television.  Post-fight challenges and shoving matches are nothing new in the fight business.  It’s how many future matches come to realization and certainly a simple intervention would have been sufficient. The wolf pack mentality has no place in the sport often praised for its all-around respect.  Cesar Gracie’s lynch mob did more damage to MMA then they did to Miller when they jumped him.

Mad props goes to….

Gilbert Melendez for putting a final stamp on his win over Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki.  Melendez bashed Aoki on every corner and when Aoki crab crawled after him, Melendez nailed him as he did the whole fight.  Melendez wanted to finish strong and was simply not content with a stellar shut out win.  That killer instinct is what makes him special.

Mo Lawal won but…

rounds 1 & 2 of fight should serve precedent for re-evaluating position versus damage scoring. How can you constitute an elbow to the head to be more valuable than just lying on top of someone and absorbing damage?  Dominant position has value when a fighter imposes his will but if his will gets him beat up from the guy in the inferior position (bottom), then how does he win the exchange?  Should a submission hold more value if the victory comes from a dominant position?  Of course not.  Therefore striking from the bottom should not cease to exist just because the man on top is unable mount any offense.  It’s an unfair advantage that only benefit wrestlers and eradicates everything we learned from Royce Gracie.

Someone needs to tell….

Dan Henderson to go in to a championship fight with a better game plan than just wanting to end the fight with a big right hand.  Henderson got lazy and was humiliated because of it.  Getting schooled by a blown up welterweight was a total embarrassment for Henderson and he’s been in this sport too long for him to have Chuck Liddell syndrome.