Welcome to our live coverage of the Strikeforce show from the HP Pavilion in San Jose. We're looking for your thoughts on the show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Some early notes. There are about 2,500 seats covered by curtains to even if the place is full it's not going to be the record, so we're looking at 16,000 max. Jimmy Lennon Jr. is only doing the Showtime ring announcing so Stu Ganz, who was the WWF ring announcer here in the 80s and 90s is doing it just like a WWF event. Think Howard Finkel doing MMA, particularly when he announced the next show for May 15th in Fresno and he did that next card in Madison Square Garden cadence from the 70s and 80s as they plugged Kim "Sugar Free" Couture against Meisha Tate.
Bantamweights: Shingo Kohara b Jeremy Tavares in a bantweight match with a knockout with a left hook at :04 of the second round
Welterweights: James Terry vs. Zac Bucia
30-27 Terry across the board. Ganz announced 30-27 across the board for Bucia by accident. Howard Finkel never had to read judges scorecards dramatically.
Middleweights: Brandon Michaels vs. Raul Castillo (not the half of the Castillo Brothers tag team)
Royce Gracie, Tito Ortiz and Tom Atencio all just arrived. Michaels the heel to this crowd. Michaels with a shaved head and tattoos, making him like every prelim fighter in the U.S. and half the crowd, although I have to say, not half this crowd. Michaels failed to make weight.
Castillo with an immediately takedown, got mount and pounding his head. Now has a choke and it's over. 1:45 was the time.
Middleweights: Eric Lawson vs. Waylon Kennell
Lawson is the crowd favorite and he's throwing punches from the clinch. Loud "Let's go Lawson" chant. Kennell stopped that by throwing hard knees. Kennell went for a takedown by Lawson on top. Lawson dropped him with a punch and nearly took an up kick going in, but now on top and pounding. Kennell seems to have regained his bearings. Lawson tried a sloppy takedown and took some punches for his mistake. Good trade and now Kennell getting the better of it and Kennell got a takedown but Lawson reversed. Kennell going for a triangle but has nothing on it yet. Now going for an armbar from the bottom. Lawson was in trouble and escaped. Kennell pounding him from the top. Kennell has the armbar and this looks like trouble but Lawson escaped. Now Lawson is on top and pounding. He's got the full mount and throwing punch after punch. Mc Carthy stopped the fight with six seconds left in the round (4:54). Standing ovation. Freaking great fight.
Middleweights: Luke Rockhold vs. Buck Meredith
Rockhold is the crowd favorite. Rockhold with a Lou Thesz back suplex and on top. Now he's got his back working for a choke. He had the figure four body scissors but Meredith got out. Rockhold has his back again. Now he's closer to a choke. Tried it again and Meredith got out. Half nelson by Rockhold but let it got. He tried another choke and this time got it. (4:07)
Prelims are done. We won't be back for 45 minutes until the live TV starts.
At 7 p.m. Pacific time it's not completely full
They are showing various stars at ringside. Tito was booed like crazy. Andrei Arvloski was cheered. People didn't seem to know Alistair Overeem. Jake Shields and Robbie Lawler got so-so reactions. Renato Sobral was booed kind of a lot. Cung Le was cheered wildly. Gina Carano was cheered a lot, but not as much as Le. Royce Gracie got a respectable pop. They didn't show Mickey Rourke or Royce Gracie who are talking at ringside.
Heavyweights: Brett Rogers vs. Abongo Humphrey
This is probably not going to last long. Humphrey has a star look but he's giving away a lot of size here. Rogers cut yesterday to get to 262.5, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's 275. Humphrey introduced as being off the Iron Ring TV show on BET. Herb Dean got a bigger pop than either fighter.
Crowd psyched to see two big guys. Rogers so much bigger. Humphrey with a side kick. Head kick by Humphrey who moves a lot better than Rogers. Rogers with a knee but Humphrey bulled him into the cage and drove him into the cage. Rogers throwing fists but Humphrey out of the way. Good body punch by Humphrey. Rogers with a few solid shots. Knee and punches by Rogers. Humphrey knocked him to one knee but Rogers back up and drove Humphrey into the cage. Rogers is getting real tired. He threw a wicked knee up the middle tho. He scored with a hard right and bulled Humphrey into the cage. Hard knees by Rogers. Rogers warned for pulling hair when he went for Muay Thai clinches. Dean warned Rogers again for hair pulling, tho inadvertent. Trading knees but Rogers better. Dean stopped Rogers again for hair pulling in the Thai clinch and called a penalty point on him. All these time outs are helping Rogers regain his wind. Trading in the final seconds. I'd go 9-9 sinced Rogers won the round. Good round.
Mickey Rourke shown between rounds and got a very big pop.
Humphrey tried a takedown but got nowhere. Trading punches again. Now trading knees. Rogers throwing harder knees. Rogers starting to take over with punches. Hard knee and punches by Rogers. Two more hard knees and more punches. Really nasty knees to the chin but Humphrey is still in there. More knees . Humphrey is down and out and it's over. Humphrey was bleeding from the nose as he went down. Good opener.
Gina Carano was just shown before the Cyborg fight. She got a huge sustained reaction. This time a lot bigger than Cung.
Cris Cyborg vs. Hitomi Akano
Cyborg not as over as you'd think. She got a reaction, but not overly large. Crowd once again went nuts when Carano was shown. Cyborg with three punches to the back of the head, nothing called. German supelex by Cyborg. Akano tried an armbar from the bottom but Cyborg out. I hate three minute rounds for pros. Cyobrg with some punches while in guard. More punches and now Cyborg letting her up. Akano isn't happy being in there right now. She's backing off. Cyborg unloading with punches. Another back suplex and Cyborg walked away to let Akano up. Akano with a body kcik but the size difference saw Cyborg not feel it. Akano went to her back. Fans booing her. Cyborg unloading but three minutes was too short. Cyborg 10-9.
Good head kick by Cyborg and hard punch. Akano tried a takedown and got nowhere. She's cowering and doesn't want to get up. Body kick by Akano. Cyborg stalking her. Two hard knees. Cyborg decked her wth a punch and on top, but Akano wanted it on the ground anyway. I think Akano just went down for this to happen. Cyborg with some ground and pound. Cyborg dominated. 20-18 Cyborg at this point.
Akano dropped to her back and people booed her. Cyborg with a body kick hard, punch and a knee. She overwhelmed her with punches and ref Josh Rosenthal stopped it. The people went wild for her. Showed Carano who got an even bigger pop this time.
Cyborg blamed her weight issues on "girl problems."
Benji Radach vs. Scott Smith
Smith didn't get an overhwelming reaction but he clearly has a Sacramento contingent. Herb Dean ref. Radach thrown and not hitting. Radach with a low kick. Radoach landing more. Trading and Radlach looking quicker. Jab by Radaach. Low Kick by Smith. More swinging and missing. Smith hurt him with a couple of punches but Radach out of harms' way and hit an uppercut. Radach connecting more again. Good flurry by Radach. Smith dropped him with a right and trying to finish. Great slugfest. Radach now decked Smith . He's trying to finish. Smith okay. They got what they wanted out of this round. Good right by Radach. Hard left by Radaach. Radach went for a takedown and got Smith down with 39 seconds left. Radach with body punches, now head punches, Great first round 10-9 Radach.
They booed the hell out of Ortiz when they showed him again.
Both guys seem exhausted coming out for round two. They are locked up. Radach with punches. Left by Radach. Smnith seems a little gun shy right now. But he did a short right. Good left by Radach and put Smnith down with a right. He's tagging Smith. Radach has a guillotine. Smith out. Smith is bleeding from the left arm I think. Actually cut may be the right eye. Ref broke them. Radach connected with Smith's jaw a few times. Another punch to the head by Radach who is landing the left jab. Smith just seems too slow. Fans actually booed the end of the round because it was slow. Radach 20-18.left eye.
Crowd is 14,409
Tading and Smith ago a good shot in. Now Smith has a guillotine and squeezing for all he's worth. Radach escaped and bodyslammed Smith and now he's trying a guillotine. Radach holding Smith down and htrowing body punches. Fans booing real quick. Firsgt two matches spoiled the crowd something fierce. Herb Dean ordered a stand up. Radach is now cut from the right eye. Trading. Smith landed a hard right. Smith coming oh strong now. Radach trying to move away from his power. Smith knocked him out with a hard right to the jaw. Awesome finish.
This is a great show so far. Smith has his two sons in the ring with him. His five-year-old was there at his first fight. Smith said he actually counted himself out a few times. They teased the idea of him fighting Robbie Lawler again.
Gilbert Melendez vs. Rodrigo Damm for the interim lightweight title
Melendez got a takedown and ground and pounded his way through the first round.
Second round saw Melendez getting a takedown with a single leg. Damm escaped but Melendez floored Damm with a hard right and after a few punches on the ground it was over. Damm was out cold from either the right or the first punch on the ground.
Shamrock has a few cracked ribs.
Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz headlines the show
Diaz got a lot more cheers than I'd have expected. Huge main event superstar reaction. Definite anti-hero deal. John McCarthy ref here. A lot of boos for Shamrock at first. He got a louder reaction of cheers and boos. Really surprised more boos for Shamrock than Diaz.
Now they are booing the hell out of Diaz. Lots of cheers, looks like 30%. The Diaz fans are booing Shamrock. Looks like about 70% for Shamrock but the Diaz contingent is really vociferous.\
Crowd is electric. Diaz took Shamrock down right away. Diaz working the body and head. Got side mount. Shamrock escaped and throwing punches. Diaz nearly tagged him with a high kick that would have been scary. Diaz landed a jab. Body punch by Shamrock. Diaz taunting him. Both trading,. Neither doing damage with punches. Daiz tripped Shamrock down with 40 seconds left. He got full mount with 27 seconds left. Hes pouding on Shamrock. Sharodck escaped at the end of the round Easily Diaz's round.
Diaz really taunting him. Trading and Daiz getting the better of it. Loud Diaz chants. Diaz connected with a high kick. Shamrock landed a punch. Daiz with some jabs. Diaz keeing distance with the jabs and landing buncheds of punches. Diaz continues to land. Diaz connecting with punches and Shamrock coming up short. Diaz connecting with hard punches and a low kick. Diaz connecting some more and taunting Shamrock. Diaz connecting with punches and a high kick. Shamrock's in trouble. Diaz really taking over. He crumbled him with a body punch right to the bad ribs and that's going to be trouble. Shamrock is in real trouble on the ground taking punches and it's over.
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