The Juggernaut MMA News Report 01.05.11: Don't Sleep on Strikeforce
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 01.05.2012
From King Mo's return to action to Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold fighting Keith Jardine and more, 411's Jonathan Solomon previews this weekend's Strikeforce show! Plus news on Tito Ortiz's final fight, Gray Maynard training with Jose Aldo and more!
Make your jokes about Keith Jardine getting a shot at the Strikeforce middleweight title in his middleweight debut and despite never winning a fight in Strikeforce.
With that out of the way, this is Luke Rockhold's first title defense since upsetting Jacare Souza last year and the American Kickboxing Academy fighter will look to do better than both his teammates Cain Velasquez and Jon Fitch did in their recent outings. In the championship fight, Rockhold impressed with top notch takedown defense and even when he was brought to the ground, he would pop right back up. Against such a dangerous grappler like Souza, his ability to remain on his feet was a huge boost. He also has an effective striking game, providing different looks and being aggressive which wore down the former champion through the course of their five round fight.
Keith Jardine is now 36-years old and is 2-3-1 since 2010 with those wins coming on small shows in New Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The last you saw of him was when he took a fight on short notice in his Strikeforce debut, fighting Gegard Mousasi to a draw after a point deduction penalized the former Strikeforce champion. Jardine took a beating in the fight but was able to do well in the eyes of the judges because of the success he had in taking Mousasi down. The odds he has that same success against Rockhold are slim.
You can question how well The Dean of Mean will take to 185 pounds, having fought at 205 pounds for over five years (before that, he was a heavyweight). Ironically, Rockhold still has small height and reach advantages, so do not expect much benefit from dropping down in the classic sense.
What Jardine does have going for him is, he has a lot of heart and does not fold easily. While he was knocked out four times during his run in the UFC (by Houston Alexander, Wanderlei Silva, Thiago Silva and Ryan Bader), he is famous for offering awkward looks in his striking game which sometimes unnerve his opponents. In the biggest fight of his career, he took Rampage Jackson to a three-round decision (although it wasn't necessarily a close fight).
I'm not certain if Rockhold can knock out Jardine with one punch, but I can definitely foresee him working Jardine over the course of the fight and finishing him in the third or fourth rounds after a litany of body shots. We know Rockhold has the stamina to last a lifetime as he went the distance in a five-round title fight in September and was no worse for wear at the end of it. You cannot expect Jardine to have the same great cardio, especially if most of his takedown attempts fail and he's forced into a kickboxing match.
While this is definitely not a step up in competition for Rockhold, the fact is Jardine has a big name and provides a different kind of challenge. For Jardine to have success, discounting work on the ground, he will need to come out and totally blast Rockhold early. If he allows the champion to ease into his gameplan over the course of two or three rounds, he will likely lose any chance at success.
Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov
In the co-main event, we get a familiar face in Robbie Lawler taking on a "graduate" of the Strikeforce Challengers series in Adlan Amagov. It seems like Lawler has been around forever, but he will be turning just 30-years old in March. His career stagnated last year with losses to Jacare Souza and Tim Kennedy as he became enthralled with being a boxer. Granted, he had minor success against Souza in their title fight with landing some punches, but in the third round, Souza was able to take him down and choked him out a short time thereafter.
However, you cannot take away the power Lawler has in his hands. If he can stay on his feet, he's as dangerous as any other fighter.
Adlan Amagov is a 25-year old Russian fighter, fighting out of New Jersey. He is 9-1-1 (the first fight of his career was a submission loss to Alexey Oleinik). He made his American debut last summer and reeled off a pair of wins on Strikeforce Challengers shows against Ronald Stallings (split decision) and Anthony Smith (knockout).
Amagov has power in his hands but Lawler is the much more technically sound fighter. Adlan may find some success if Lawler allows the fight to develop into a slugfest, leaving himself to take shots. Otherwise, do not be surprised to see Amagov be a counter puncher, then look to take the fight to the ground. Not knowing much about the score of fighters Amagov fought in Russia, Lawler is an extremely strong fighter in the clinch and he finds ways to cause scrambles when on the verge of a negative situation.
Lawler has not been knocked out since the Nick Diaz fight at UFC 47 in 2004. However, each of his six losses since then can be attributed to losing the ground game. If Amagov is to win, he'll have to score points with takedowns and not allow Lawler the opportunity to get back to his base and square up.
"King Mo" Muhammad Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin
In light heavyweight action, the pattern is obvious where we have an established fighter taking on a prospect from Challengers. In this case, former champion King Mo Lawal is back in the hexagon for the first time since his September knockout of Roger Gracie. Lorenz Larkin is a 25-year old striking specialist who has had three entertaining performances in Strikeforce last year, going 3-0 to improve his professional record to 12-0.
This will be Lawal's fifth Strikeforce fight so there are no secrets with what he wants to do or what he's capable of doing. He is an elite wrestler with some of the most explosive takedowns in the division. Added to the mix are his just-as-explosive hands with feature the much talked about one-punch knockout power.
Turn to Lorenz Larkin and we see a fighter who has a very aesthetically pleasing fight style. He is not a grappler, he is a striker. Kicks, knees and his hands all make for long days for his opponents. In his last fight, against Nick Rossborough, he was in a grappling match early but after working the body, was able to take advantage and win a unanimous decision. If he's allowed to implement his kickboxing gameplan, he can have a lot of success.
But he will not.
There's no reason to believe King Mo will not take this fight to the ground whenever he chooses. From there, it will be a situation to look at Larkin's ability (or inability) to get out from under Mo and return to his feet. If he cannot do so, he will eat a lot of strikes from Lawal and his first career loss may be looming.
Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein
The last fight I will tell you about is a big welterweight match-up pitting the company's #1 170-pounder, Tyron Woodley against rising Canadian prospect Jordan Mein. Woodley had the biggest year of his career in 2011 with wins over Tarec Saffiedine and Paul Daley. Although both were reached by decisions, Woodley was never in danger of losing which further hammers home the advantages a great wrestler has in modern MMA. Until 2011, he finished six of seven fights and appeared as unstoppable as a any other welterweight coming up.
While Woodley has some power in his hands, when he faces an opponent with knockout power, he realizes the best course of option is to put them on their back. This factor should come into play often in this fight.
Jordan Mein is just 21-years old but already holds a 23-7 record with wins over Joe Riggs, Josh Burkman, Marius Zaromskis and Evangelista Santos all coming in 2011. He fought exclusively in Canada until September when he made his American debut in Strikeforce against Cyborg. In the third round, he unleashed a barrage of elbows standing that ended the fight in fashion that's not the norm (think of Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri 2011 as far as elbows go). He is a taller fighter than Woodley with a much more diverse arsenal of strikes whether they be punches, kicks or work from the clinch.
The problem for Mein is he should struggle defending Woodley's shots. He needs to keep the fight standing and Woodley at a distance to unleash his offense and for his sake, hopefully hurt Woodley. On the other hand, Woodley's power will almost certainly lead to fighting on the ground. Among Mein's previous 17 fights, he has won just three of them by submission.
Also, the last time Mein lost was in the summer of 2010 against Jason High. High and Woodley have similar frames (5'9 welterweights) and skill sets (wrestling). While Mein is capable of having an exciting war of a fight, we will see how well he perseveres when forced to fight his opponents style.
Tyron Woodley bests Paul Daley with his ground and pound.
JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS
- MMAWeekly.com reports the much anticipated Strikeforce women's bantamweight title fight between champion Miesha Tate and the undefeated Ronda Rousey will take place on March 3 in Columbus, Ohio.
- Tito Ortiz told MiddleEasy.com that he hopes to have his final fight in July before retiring. As far as potential opponents, he specifically mentioned Forrest Griffin or Chuck Liddell as fighters that would interest the masses. He said he will sit down with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta next week.
- The UFC 143 countdown special will premiere on Fuel TV on Tuesday, January 31 at 9 p.m. eastern. Whether that means more than the 15,000 who saw the UFC 141 countdown show on Fuel will watch will remain to be seen. On the bright side, a three-episode series for "UFC Primetime" will be shot for the Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz main event on FX. The pair will fight for the interim-welterweight championship on February 4.
- Longtime UFC lightweight Cole Miller will return to featherweight and will fight Steven Siler on the 2nd UFC on FX card set for March 3. Siler scored an upset win over Cole's younger brother Micah to earn a spot in the TUF 14 house last year.
- Charles Oliveira will debut at featherweight on the prelims of the UFC on Fox 2 card later this month against UFC newcomer Eric Wisely.
- The UFC on FX 1 card is set for Janury 20 live in Nashville, Tennessee. Jim Miller will fight Melvin Guillard in the main event. Other fights on the main card include Duane Ludwig vs. Josh Neer, Mike Easton vs. Ken Stone and Christian Morecraft vs. Pat Barry. Additional fights will air on Fuel TV.
- UFC light heavyweight Thiago Silva has finished serving his one-year suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for using steroids and providing a tainted urine sample before his UFC 125 fight with Brandon Vera. Silva may now reapply for a fighters license where he'll be required to appear in front of the NSAC for a meeting.
- In one of the more interesting non-UFC fights this year, Bob Sapp will fight Rolles Gracie in Indonesia on February 11 on a One FC show. The 33-year old Gracie is 5-1 as an MMA fighter having last fought in October, defeating Lee Mein by submission. His one loss came against Joey Beltran in his lone UFC fight, when he was knocked out one year ago. The 37-year old Sapp fought three times last year overseas, going 0-3 and losing each fight in the first round. He also fought three times last year in kickboxing and lost each of those, too. Regardless, who doesn't want to see Sapp vs. a Gracie?
- Confirmed by F4WOnline.com's Dave Meltzer, WWE champion CM Punk will walk to the octagon with Chael Sonnen on January 28 in Chicago (Punk's hometown). According to the original report, Punk wanted to attend the show and received the night off from a WWE show in Indiana the same night.
- Gray Maynard has been in Brazil training with Jose Aldo and others at Nova Uniao in preparation for the featherweight champion's UFC 142 bout with Chad Mendes.
JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Most of you have probably never seen Jordan Mein in action before he steps inside the Strikeforce hexagon Saturday. Below is the third round of his last fight in September when he fought Cyborg Santos on the undercard of the Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov main event. It was a sick finish.
