411's Strikeforce on NBC Report 04.12.08
Posted by Randy Harrison on 04.14.2008
MMA makes its network TV debut and Strikeforce is front and center. Will they hit a home run or will they "strike" out? Only one way to find out.....
411's Strikeforce on NBC Report
Pretty cool opening video with guys like Gilbert Melendez, Paul Buentello, Cung Le and Frank Shamrock talking about how much they enjoy fighting and Cung throws us out of that opening into the first segment.
Segment One
Lon McEachern (the play-by-play announcer from Pride 33) welcomes us to Strikeforce on NBC and he tells us that this is the first time that MMA will be seen on network TV. With that out of the way it's time to move on to a feature on Cung Le. Le talks about how he had done almost everything there was to do in the stand-up world so Javier Mendez, trainer at AKA told him that it was the time to try to adapt to MMA if he was ever going to. Mendez comes in and talks about how when Le fights it looks like a movie and that people wonder how he's able to do the things that he does. Le says that he realized that moving to MMA he had to be more well-rounded as a fighter as they show clips of him training jiu-jitsu on the mat. Mendez talks about Le's reflexes and how his style is a total martial arts style instead of just kickboxing or boxing or Thai boxing. After that we get thrown to our first fight of the evening.
Match One: Middleweights
Cung Le (1-0) vs. Brian Warren (9-4)
Round One
Ken Shamrock is the color commentator for the fights and they touch gloves with Le throwing a high kick and Warren rushing forward with a couple of combinations and tries to force Le against the cage with a clinch. Le uses a BEAUTIFUL judo throw to put Warren on his ass and he tries to take side control out of that. He gets side control but gets moved back into the half-guard almost immediately, eventually moved back to full guard. McEachern brings up a salient point about how in San Shou, when you make a throw like that you get the point, but the fight ends up back on its feet, and Shamrock agrees and questions whether Le should stay on the ground like he is. Le postures up and lands a right hook but ends up completely tied up by Warren until the fight gets stood up. Le with a spinning back kick to the stomach and a high kick that lands and the two fighters trade knees against the fence before they separate out of the clinch. Le with a good combination that lands and a good low kick scores as well. Side kick misses but he doesn't miss with the spinning back kick that lands again to the body. Warren misses with a WILD haymaker and Le gets a good short elbow standing before hitting another couple of side kicks to the body. Leg kick from Le as Warren comes forward and swings wildly but can't get anything to land. Warren eats another kick to the body and Warren throws another crazy punch and misses, which allows Le to duck out and then land a HARD knee to the midsection. Right hook from Le catches Warren behind the ear and he looks stunned. Another right hook and Warren is in serious danger of going out when Le lands a CRUSHING RIGHT TO THE CHIN. Warren is down and OUT!!!
Winner: Cung Le, KO at 4:19 of Round One
Fight Analysis: That was an ass-kicking. Le was just in a whole other class standing up with Warren and he had him completely gassed before the end of the first round from the combination of the body kicks he was landing as well as making Warren chase him around the cage. Dominating performance from someone who had only fought one previous fight in MMA, and a great showing from Le against a tough opponent.
Segment Two
Right to the next fight with no real pre-amble from McEachern or Shamrock and they're really doing a good job with pacing the show to make sure that they get all that they can out of their 22 minutes of airtime.
Match Two: Welterweights
Tony Fryklund (14-6) vs. Duane Ludwig (13-5)
Round One
They circle and trade combinations as Ludwig catches Fryklund with a good right hand that stuns him a little. Fryklund backs Ludwig against the fence and comes forward with one punch at a time but it's not working. Fryklund gets a clinch against the fence but Ludwig lands a couple of hard knees to the body and they separate to the center of the cage. Both men miss combinations and they go back to circling with Ludwig landing another couple of right hooks to the head before grabbing the Thai clinch to land some knees to the ribs and kidneys. Ludwig falls down backwards with Shamrock chastising Fryklund for not rushing him asking "What's the worst thing that could happen?" Um, you didn't see the Scott Smith/Pete Sell fight, did you Ken? Ludwig starts to work the jab and they move back to the clinch with Ludwig landing another couple of knees to the body. Leg kick from Fryklund but he eats a HUGE head kick that throws him back against the cage. Ludwig presses forward with a flurry of punches and they trade back and forth with Ludwig getting the better of the deal. Ludwig with more flurrying and HARD body shots that land before he leg kicks the back leg and sweeps Fryklund down to the mat. Fryklund looks REALLY winded here and is barely having the strength to hold on to the Thai clinchwhen they end up clinched. HARD body kick lands for Ludwig and Fryklund FINALLY shoots in for a bodylock and nearly gets the takedown, but Ludwig stands right back up out of it. Fryklund shooting for a double leg against the fence but Ludwig gets free of it with another couple of hard knees to the body. Standing elbow from Ludwig and he hits a couple of body shots and a combination before the round ends.
Round Analysis: Ludwig dominated the round and honestly Fryklund is lucky that he wasn't caught with something harder and stopped completely. Ludwig had great success striking and using the Thai clinch and he was able to stuff the lone takedown that Fryklund attempted. The only thing missing that would have made this a 10-8 round was a knockdown from Ludwig. Fryklund's in trouble folks.
Segment Three
Last segment of the show and we've got us a fight to finish, so we're straight away into round two.
Round Two
They touch gloves and trade jabs before Fryklund throws a leg kick. McEachern talks about the pedigree of Fryklund, coming from Miletich Fighting Systems and running down the talent that has come through that camp as the fighters circle in the middle of the cage. Good one-two combination from Ludwig before he goes to the body for a couple of more hard punches inside. Fryklun tries a Superman punch and then drops down for a double-leg but Ludwig struggles against it and gets him off of the fence and throws him back to the center of the cage. Ludwigh with the jab working and he lands a HARD straight right hand before missing a couple of body shots. Hook/leg kick combo from Ludwig lands and he hits a hard high kick before flurrying with some punches and a couple of nasty Thai knees to the face. Fryklund goes down and Ludwig is in his guard throwing a crapload of punches. Fryklund struggles to get to his feet but Ludwig just smothers him back down and lands a ton more right and left hands. Fryklund looks to roll, almost for a kneebar, but he's just trying to avoid damage at this point. HARD right hand lands for Ludwig and Fryklund finally manages to get to his feet. A NASTY knee from Ludwig lands on the point of the chin and he follows that up with a WICKED left hook that floors Fryklund and he's out cold. Fryklund argues the stoppage for a moment despite blood streaming from his nose, his scalp, his forehead and everywhere imaginable.
Winner: Duane Ludwig, TKO at 3:37 of Round Two
Fight Analysis: Ludwig just overwhelmed Fryklund and finally the combinations and the knees all added up to take their toll. Fryklund is tough as boot leather to take all the punishment that he did, but he finally just caught one too many and that knee right on the point of his chin was enough to dim his running lights. Impressive performance from Ludwig and one that he needed after losing two straight before this fight.
Segment Four
Lon McEachern welcomes us back to the replays of the VICIOUS knee that ended the fight and we get the official announcement of the winner from the dulcet tones of Jimmy Lennon Jr. With that McEachern runs us through the results of the two bouts from this evening and thanks us all for watching the inaugural edition of Strikeforce on NBC!
The Final Strike
A good first show with plenty of action, but the show seems more geared towards getting current fans of MMA interested in the Strikeforce brand, rather than trying to bring new fans into the sport. The UFC shows at least give a general rundown of the rules with an on-screen graphic to slowly break in the n00bs, but all we got from the Strikeforce show was Lon McEachern running down the rules during a short lull in the action during the Le/Warren fight. They need to make sure to make the show friendly to newcomers while also making sure it's not insulting to the hardcore MMA fan. It's a tightrope walk to be sure, so it will be interesting to see if they make any changes to that effect in the coming weeks. A solid opening effort though as Shamrock did well on color commentary and Lon McEachern was a great choice for lead announcer as I enjoyed his work with PRIDE and he has a ton of ISKA and K-1 kickboxing experience under his belt. Thumbs up on the debut and they did the sport of MMA proud in its network TV debut.
