Nick Diaz Vs Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos: Strikeforce Shocking Results
By Ben Bieker (At Ringside)
Main Event:
Nick Diaz (23-7-0-1, #9 Welterweight) vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (18-13-0)
Both are mean mugging each other as soon as the fight starts. Cyborg kicks high immediately and Diaz is playing it patient. Cyborg was getting a lot of kicks to the inside thigh, but after a few of them Diaz tied it up against the cage. Cyborg was able to get the better of the exchanges as he constantly caught Diaz every time he came in for a shot. It seemed that for every one punch Diaz threw he got caught twice. It was weird as Diaz seemed to feed off the hits until he finally unloaded a few of his own as he had Cyborg trapped against the cage.
With about a minute thirty left in the round Diaz turned up the heat as he scored often on the feet, and Cyborg was on the outs. The use of body punches seemed effective because Cyborg did not defend them and Diaz was able to land them at will. The round ended, but Cyborg’s wife looked visibly concerned between rounds.
The round opened similar in that they were trading on the feet. Diaz took a few more kicks to the legs, and then tried to open up, but Cyborg was getting the better of him once again. Momentum shifted back and forth as both fighters landed efficiently on each other and every time one gained ground the other fighter would make it up shortly. The next minute of the fight wore on with Diaz landing good straights, but Cyborg would catch him with hooks, knees, and kicks. Cyborg seems a little more dynamic willing to throw a little more variety in his strikes, but Diaz still landed with his straights that he always seems to catch people with.
Cyborg easily made the biggest mistake of his career taking the fight down, because it was only a matter of time and Diaz locked up an armbar. There was only ten seconds left in the round, but ti was too deep and the fight was over.
Next Fight for Nick Diaz: Easy, Paul Daley all day long.
Next Fight for Evangelista Santos: Tyron Woodley needs a test to prove he is ready for the title.
Co-Main Event:
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (13-2-0-1, #7 Middleweight) vs. Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler (20-6-0-1, #8 Middleweight)
Dancing around for the first part of the fight, but Lawler is moving fast and often to keep Jacare off his game. Once he goes in for a punch though Jacare ties it up and takes it to the floor. From there he moved into side control and was working for a submission.
Lawler did get back to his feet after a brief scare of a guillotine. He wrecked Jacare there landing multiple strikes and a flying knee. Once he dropped Jacare he fell into his guard where some jockeying for position went on, but Lawler was able to stay on top until John McCarthy stood it up. Jacare was able to get it to the ground again before the round ended though.
Lawler showed decent takedown defense in the opening seconds of the second round, but Jacare was able to still get it down. On the ground Jacare stayed in Lawler’s guard and peppered him with punches so that he could transition to side control. Punches kept landing cleanly for Jacare, and Lawler could do nothing about it but just take them. The action did lull on the ground, but with the threat of a standup Lawler and Jacare both started to move. In the movement Jacare was almost able to lock up an armbar twice, but Lawler was able to spin out of them and even land on top.
Jacare came out once again and went for the takedown not wanting to try Lawler’s standup. Lawler tried to defend, but after a minute he was not able to. Once on the ground Jacare was able to transition until he moved to Lawler’s back and caught him in a rear naked choke. It was only a matter of time until he had to submit.
Next Fight for Ronaldo Souza: Hard to say as there is not much challengers in the Middleweight division, but his dominance is clear. If they could get Gegard to drop down division again that rematch would be worth watching, or if they could get a match with Jorge Santiago a match worthwhile and with a lot of upside if Jacare could win.
Next Fight for Robbie Lawler: Winner of Kennedy Miller bout would be good and a logical fight unless whoever wins gets a title shot.
Herschel Walker (2-0) def. Scott Carson (4-2) by TKO at 3:13 of round 1
First thing learned in the fight do not hit Herschel Walker or he will scream at you and then chase you down. Once he does he will knock you silly as he hit Carson and dropped him. From there he manhandled Carson on the ground using effective knees to the body and thighs to hurt Carson. The fight was almost stopped as Herschel pounded on him on the ground, but Carson reversed. That was probably a bad idea because from there he tried to stand, but Herschel just unloaded on him finally putting a stop to the fight.
Next Fight for Herschel Walker: A fight with Rhadi Ferguson would be interesting as he would be able to be competent enough on his feet for Walker, but also is relatively new to the sport too.
Next Fight for Scott Carson: I doubt he will get another shot after that performance, and amy leave the sport again after getting finished twice in the first round after his comeback to the sport of MMA.
Roger Gracie (4-0) def. Trevor Prangley (23-7-1) by rear naked choke at 4:19 of round 1
Stalemated in the first round because both fighters seemed not that interested in engaging. The slow action drew boos from the crowd until Roger was able to tie it up against the cage and throw a few knees. From there he was able to get it to the ground where he sat in guard while trying to gain position. Once Roger was able to transition he got Trevor’s back, but once Trevor rolled he gained full mount. After a little more jockeying he transitioned to Trevor’s back and he wasted little time in applying a rear naked choke. He finished the fight over a very experienced veteran.
Next Fight for Roger Gracie: Muhammed Lawal will need an opponent when he comes back to the, but if that is still far off then maybe Gegard Mousasi will make a return to the Strikeforce cage and get to challenge a Gracie.
Next Fight for Trevor Prangley: Who knows where he goes in from here because after a 0-2-1 in his current Strikeforce stint there is not much left for him. He could go back down to 185 and fight the loser of the Mayhem Miller Tim Kennedy fight, but he may be back outside the second biggest organization after this last fight.
The Undercard:
Nate Moore def. Nathan Coy by KO at 0:25 of round 1
The first round was relatively even with Nathan Coy having the slight edge in the fight, but that all changed come the second round. I don’t know if Moore had good advice from his corner, but he came out fast and strong. He annihilated him in the second. the punch that landed flush on Coy put him out. He fell back awkwardly and the punch that landed on the ground made him go stiff.
Isaiah Hill def. Bobby Stack by triangle choke at 1:02 of round 1
Isaiah Hill looked monstrous in this fight. He just threw Stack around, and when it hit the mat he slapped on his submission and did not let go. He locked it in and it was all down hill from there. Stack had to tap after the hold got a little too tight.
Ron Keslar def. Eric Lawson by armbar in round 1
Ron Keslar worked for the armbar hard in the round. He tried to lock it in on multiple occasions, but after a while Lawson had to give in and tap out.
Germaine de Randamine def. Stephanie Webber by KO of round 1
Germaine was getting the worst of the exchanges at the beginning of the fight, but came back and used her reach to put Webber out. Once she put it up against the cage she controlled her and landed her shot and it was over.
James Terry def. Lucas Gamaza by TKO at 3:26 of the round 1
James Terry hurt Lucas from the get go. He put the pressure on him and didn’t let up. Every time he would drop him he would let Lucas back up and go after him again. Eventually he found his mark and stopped him in the third round. It was evident that he did not want to try and submit Lucas, but was hunting for that stoppage.
Jenna Castillo def. Charlene Geliner by TKO at 3:57 of round 2
The action in this bout was uneven as Charlene knew she had nothing for Jenna on the feet and was more than obliged to suffer being on the bottom on the ground. Every time the fight was standing Jenna constantly pressured Charlene and hurt her with kicks, punches, and knees. When Charlene tried to take it down she was never on top and had to suffer through Jenna hurting her from the top. Charlene was never able to mount any sort of offense, and even though Jenna was showing signs of fatigue she finished it with a beautiful combo in the second round.