The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 07.01.08: Strikeforce - Melendez vs. Thomson
Posted by Scott Kuczkowski on 07.01.2008
Can Strikeforce deliver a great show in the midst of one of MMA’s busiest months? Can a top 20 fighter like Thomson compete against a top 5 fighter like Melendez? Does anyone care that Bobby Southworth is the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion?
Hello folks, and once again, thanks for taking time to catch The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
First, let's address some comments from last week:
Duncan chimes in about Amir's music: See, by saying that Amir's music is so bad because it makes you think he's about to enter with belly dancers... that's just a contradiction. If Amir were to come out with Belly dancers, using that music, it would be the greatest entrance ever.
I see what you're saying Duncan, but I'm just not certain belly dancers will ever have their place in MMA outside of an EliteXC show.
Cam took me to task for my comments about Diego Sanchez: You sir are a retard (to the writer of the column), The Naightmare only lost to Kos with a massive staff infection which resulted in a piece of flesh the size of a coffee cup falling from his leg the next morning. If they would have rematched on Saturday Diego would have destroyed him like he did their first fight. I'm ready to see GSP/Sanchez right now! Go do some research before you start talking about fighters.
You may be correct, but I know how to spell Nightmare.
Several other folks came out of the woodwork to defend Diego too:
eatme had this to say: Diego didn't have staph?
"Before the fight, though, subsequent tests suggested otherwise.
As White explained:
"We kept testing him. The doctors were baffled. They eventually decided that he doesn't have Hep C, but they didn't know what was wrong with him, so he goes in and fights that sh-y, horrible fight."
Soon, though, they learned what the problem was: a serious staph infection.
Sanchez woke up the day after the fight and had a hole in his thigh "the size of a coffee cup," according to White" Maybe you should google things before you say they're correct.
Guest #3875 piled on: Diego had staph. The doctors thought he had hep C but further tests showed he did not. They let the fight go on because they couldn't figure out what was wrong (Diego woke up the morning after the fight with the coffee cup wound on his leg). Instead of ripping on someones spelling meybe you should just google for yourself so you don't seem like such a douche bag.
And sprawlandbrawl added: Scott, I think you are unnecessarily critical of Diego. He had an awesome performance and absolutely dominated Luigi in the striking.
Saying he can't hang with Fitch and Koscheck is ridiculous, in my opinion. I'm not a huge fan of any of the aforementioned fighters, but he's bulked up and definitely refined his striking since the Fitch fight.
Let me say this about Diego Sanchez: I agree he is a talented fighter. Has he gotten better over time? Sure. Will he continue to improve? I hope so. Do I think he will ever beat the likes of GSP or Fitch? Probably not. I don't even think he would last 2 rounds with GSP. Do I think he has the skill to be the champ in one of the world's deepest welterweight divisions? Nope, not ever.
Now if you're out there and you have some serious man-love for Diego Sanchez, then I say "good for you; go enjoy his fights". You don't have to like my opinion or even care about it. The truth is, I think Diego would probably be better in Strikeforce or EXC where he would be a big fish in a little pond. Right now he is a small fish in a big pond.
Now…on to our show.
Coming to you from San Jose, California. I must admit that I don't watch a lot of Strikeforce, but I do DVR their Saturday night show. I find it acceptable viewing, though I don't understand why they don't allow elbows to the head of a down opponent like in the UFC.
Caraway vs. Cacdac.
The Good: Caraway immediately shot in for the takedown and secured a rear naked choke on Cacdac. The fight was pretty much over before it started.
The Bad: None
The Ugly: None.
Stack vs. Palacios: Palacios is trained by Cung Le. I'm guessing that must be pretty cool.
The Good: Palacios had some great kicks. This would fit into the whole "trained by Cung Le" statement.
The Bad: Palacios had almost no takedown defense and it really cost him the fight. Stack didn't have much in the way of ground and pound, so little in fact that I figured Palacios would eventually get away from him and get it back to the feet. This never happened though, so Stack was able to wet blanket Palacios for the victory.
The Ugly: It was a shame that Stack was able to take the decision with his weak ground and pound.
Cariaso vs. Figueroa: They mentioned this was a rematch from a bout these two had about a year ago. Cariaso won that one, so I guess Figueroa would be looking for revenge.
The Good: Cariaso dominated this fight on the ground and eventually finished Figueroa off with a rear naked choke. Cariaso really looked good.
The Bad: None
The Ugly: Figueroa's ground game. It was awful and he had no answers for Cariaso.
Metcalf vs. Daniels: This was Daniel's professional debut, but he apparently has an impressive kickboxing career going for him.
The Good: Metcalf realized before the fight started that he didn't want to strike with Daniels, so he didn't even attempt to. He shot in, took him to the ground, and pounded Daniels out until he finished him with a rear naked choke. SMart game plan by Metcalf.
The Bad: Daniels had no business stepping into the cage. He had no takedown defense and absolutely no ground game. It was like watching one of the early UFC events where Royce Gracie would own a kickboxer on the ground. Why he made this attempt is beyond me.
The Ugly: Daniels danced on the way to the cage. Now, don't get me wrong, there are a lot of fighters with some pretty dynamic entrances, but most of those guys have already carved out a place in the sport. Daniels was making his debut and chose to shuck and jive his way up the ramp to the cage. Maybe if he had conserved some of that energy he could have stopped some of Metcalf's takedowns.
Tate vs. Maxwell: Tate was on her high school's men's wrestling team. Color me envious of the rest of that team.
The Good: Despite being a little smaller and presumably weaker than Maxwell, Tate really controlled things well on the ground. She locked in a nice arm bar on Maxwell towards the end of the first round, which Maxwell tapped to, but apparently the referee didn't see it and then Maxwell made it a point to state she didn't really tap. See, someone should tell CB Dolloway that next time he wants to tap but not really give up, he should just make sure the referee doesn't see it. Despite this, Tate won the decision.
The Bad: None
The Ugly: None.
Ruiz vs. Southworth: This one is for the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship. Ruiz previously defeated Southworth in a non-title match, though it makes me wonder why champions have any non-title bouts these days unless they are fighting outside their weight class. Those of you who watched the first season of The Ultimate Fighter should remember Southworth as the guy who called Chris Leben a fatherless bastard. Yeah, he's a class act.
The Good: Both guys acted like they wanted to win during the first few minutes of the fight. (You have no idea how hard it was to say that with a straight face.)
The Bad: Ruiz had a lot of heart but had absolutely no takedown defense or much of a ground game. If Ruiz could have stayed on his feet for even a minute of each round, he probably could have gotten a victory. Unfortunately, Southworth took him down with ease and pretty much laid on him the entire fight while attempting weak punches until he got the decision win.
The Ugly: Pretty much the entire fight was ugly. I normally try to be a trooper and watch an entire fight, but most of this fight was viewed in fast forward. The fight was really that bad. Both fighters were out of gas in the first round and the remaining four rounds just consisted of plodding movements, sloppy takedowns, and weak punches. This fight killed the crowd and totally destroyed any credibility the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship had. These guys made Sean Sherk look dynamic on the ground.
Evangelista vs. Phan.
The Good: Phan tried to keep this fight standing and looked pretty good while it was on the feet. Evangelista surprisingly took Phan down frequently and worked some very good ground and pound for the split decision victory. Nice job by both fighters.
The Bad: None.
The Ugly: None.
Thomson vs Melendez: This one is for the Strikeforce lightweight championship. Not many people were giving Thomson a chance in this fight, but I thought he might have a decent shot.
The Good: This fight was a non-stop highlight reel. Both guys came out throwing, but Thomson just looked a little more crisp and faster than Melendez. I wouldn't say Thomson dominated the fight, but he was definitely getting his punches off quicker than Melendez and he really dictated the pace of the fight. Melendez hung in there, but Thomson took the decision victory pretty easily in the end. If you have a promotional championship, this fight demonstrated perfectly how that championship should be fought for and defended. Excellent fight!
The Bad: None.
The Ugly: None.
Final thoughts: This was a good little event. I enjoyed most of the fights. I highly recommend readers try and catch a Strikeforce event on HDNet or wherever they are able to. Strikeforce seems quite good at keeping the action going and not dragging 2 hours worth of fights out through a 4 hour show. I'd actually have to say they might be better than EliteXC when it comes to production, in that they don't lull fans to sleep between bouts with a bunch of filler.
That's it for this week. Tune in next week for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of UFC 86.
