Nick Diaz Vs Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos: Strikeforce Preview
By Kevin Nelson
At the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, Strikeforce will have its first big card of the year. In the opener, Roger Gracie will face South African wrestler, Trevor Prangley, in a light heavyweight battle. The next match features Herschel Walker making his second appearance in Mixed Martial Arts as he hopes to improve to 2-0 against Scott Carson in a heavyweight battle.
Next is the first defense of the middleweight title by Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza facing “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler in a matchup of striker versus grappler.
Next is the main event MMA bad boy Nick Diaz looks to defend his title against the devastating striker Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos for the welterweight title. The card will be featured on Showtime on January 29th, live.
Roger Gracie, 3-0 vs. Trevor Prangley, 23-6-1
Light Heavyweight
It’s an intriguing matchup featuring a longtime veteran of the sport against relative newcomer to MMA. Gracie is deemed as the “Next Great Gracie” prospect. Although Gracie is a former world champion grappler having won a world jiu-jitsu championship a record ten times and the 2007 ADCC Champion, it’s safe to say he is very good at jiu-jitsu. But, in any case, Prangley has all the experience but I’m taking Gracie in this matchup by submission.
Look for Prangley to take down Gracie only to eventually get caught in a submission. Two of Prangly six losses have come by submission and look for this
Herschel Walker, 1-0 vs. Scott Carson, 4-1
Heavyweight
It’s safe to say that the plan for Herschel Walker is to build a bit of a record before he is matched tough. Walker trains at AKA and they seem to know what they’re doing over there so look for Walker to come away victorious. As far as his opponent is concerned, his last fight was last June in a fight he was KO’d.
So carefully we pick walker by decision.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, 13-2-1 vs. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler, 18-6-1
Middleweight Title
This is a matchup for Jacare’s Middleweight Title that he won defeating Tim Kennedy. Lawler is coming off a KO victory over Matt Lindland. Lawler brings sheer excitement to his fights as he is an aggressive striker looking to finish training out of the hit squad gym Lawler should be able to have a grasp of wrestling but it’s not something we are used to seeing from him as his fights usually don’t end up on the ground.
With Jacare, you have a better rounded fighter who is seemingly improving his standup dramatically in each of his fights to go along with his world class jiu-jitsu and Lawler having been vulnerable in the past to submission losses I’m going with Jacare in this match by submission, although I expect there to be some scary moments for him. I expect him to get rocked by Lawler right hands but to recover and submit Lawler.
Nick Diaz, 23-7-1 vs. Evangelista Cyborg Santos, 18-13
Welterweight Title
With Strikeforce signing Diaz and Lawler to multi-year deals, expect Diaz to continue to be the face of the company. Although he comes with a lot of baggage, his penchant for giving people the finger and getting into two known brawls in the ring, Diaz is also known as simply one of the best fighters in the welterweight division.
Enter Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, a brawler with good Muay Thai knees and kicks, is dropping down to welterweight for his second fight. Although he is a feared striker, Diaz has more tools with his ground game and precise striking. Look for a Diaz win.
Although it seems, on paper, a matchup that Diaz is heavily favored don’t discount Santos and his power to go with an ever improving jab, he will make this fight uncomfortable at times for Diaz, but I expect Diaz to win via stoppage. As the saying goes: “You can’t teach an old dogs new tricks,” and that’s Santos…a warrior/brawler. When the going gets tough, he will resort back to his brawling ways, and it will prove costly for him.
Analysis
On paper, it may seem that some of the matchmaking is questionable with a slew of contenders at welterweight. Make no mistake about it, Cyborg is dangerous matchup for anyone, and the other matchup Gracie vs. Prangley is a bit of a puzzle because Gracie has so few MMA fights and he is facing one of the top contenders to the light heavyweight belt, but make no mistake about it, that matchup would have not been made if they didn’t think Gracie was ready for it.
The only matchup that should not be on the televised portion is the Herschel Walker fight against Scott, a cherry picked opponent. But other than that matchup, expect some exciting fights that will go a long way in shaping Strikeforce for the remaining year and potential matchups. My RSR prediction record: 3-1-1.