Nashville, Tenn. – There were no secrets coming into the main event of tonight’s “Strikeforce: Nashville” card, that champion Jake Shields would look to take the fight to the ground and display his worldclass ground skills.

Dan Henderson also never hid the fact that he wanted a stand up war, and that his powerful right hand would be ready to test the chin of Jake Shields.

Both fighters were able to implement their game plans, at least early on. Henderson struck first landing his big right hand early and often, threatening to put the champion away in the first round. It looked unlikely that Shields would see round two after Henderson continued to land his right hand, and a brutal uppercut, dropping Shields on multiple occasions, all in the first stanza.

The bell sounding on the first round would also signal a huge momentum swing back to Shields. The champion came out in the 2nd round and started to implement his signature gameplan, working Henderson to the ground, and easily improving position at every turn, spending minutes at a time in full mount landing strikes.

After turning the tide in the second, Shields dominated the action for the final three rounds, with repeated takedowns of Henderson, impressively dominating him en route to a decisive unanimous decision victory over the Pride and UFC veteran.

The end of the fight however, did not mark the end of the action. Following the fight, “Mayhem” made his way into the cage asking for a rematch from Shields, and tempers quickly escalated. Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez stepped in to separate Miller and Shields, when Shields reached out and pushed Miller. A melee erupted with multiple punches being thrown, including some by the Diaz brothers, Nate and Nick, all during the CBS broadcast.

While CBS cut to commercial, officials finally separated the bodies and restored order. It was an ugly end to a dominating victory for Jake Shields.

Melendez shuts out Aoki in dominating fashion

The argument coming into this fight, was whether Aoki was now the number 1 ranked lightweight in the world following B.J. Penn’s recent upset loss to Frankie Edgar. While Melendez was happy to consider himself a “Top 3” lightweight coming in, he proved that he may just be the top lightweight in the world himself following the dismantling of Aoki.

Melendez dominated the world class grappler, winning every single round, on every judge’s scorecard, impressively defending his Strikeforce Lightweight Championship.

Melendez used his crisp boxing, going to the body over and over throughout the fight, as Aoki repeatedly tried and failed to take the champion to the ground. When Aoki failed to get a takedown, he would then pull guard and try to drag Melendez into his guard, trying to work his world-class submission game.

Melendez however, was having none of that, backing away and allowing the Japanese star to stand back up and try all over again. Melendez gambled on multiple occasions, diving into the full guard of Aoki, but was never really threatened, landing big right hands to the face of Aoki from top position.

“King Mo” takes Mousasi’s crown

When I spoke to Mousasi the other day, he admitted that he knew that he would have to fight from his back, but was not too worried about getting grounded and pounded. He didn’t however, believe that he would be taken down repeatedly over five rounds of the championship bout.

That is exactly what happened, with Lawal testing the stand up of Mousasi just enough to set up takedown after takedown of the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. Mousasi appeared very composed at first from his back, staying very active with strikes and upckicks, but was unable to keep the fight on the feet long enough to threaten “King Mo” with his precision striking attack.

It was a grinding fight for Lawal, and a victory which will surely put the rising star in many people’s top 10 lists for light heavyweight.

Quick Results:

Main Card

Jake Shields def. Dan Henderson via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 49-45) and remains the Strikeforce Middleweight Champion
Gilbert Melendez def. Shinya Aoki via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) and remains the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion
“King Mo” Lawal def. Gegard Mousasi via unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-45) and is the new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion
Jason Miller def. Tim Stout via TKO (strikes) Round 1, 3:09

Preliminary Card

Cody Floyd def. Thomas Campbell via KO (knee) Round 3
Dustin Ortiz def. Justin Pennington via submission (rear naked choke) Round 1
Zach Underwood def. Hunter Worsham via unanimous decision
Cale Yarbrough def. Josh Schockman via TKO, Round 2
Andy Uhrich def. Dustin West via submission (rear naked choke) Round 1, 1:36
Ovince St. Preux def. Chris Hawk via. KO (strikes) Round 1, 0:47

2 thoughts on ““Strikeforce: Nashville” recap: Shields retains title, Melendez dominates Aoki, and “King Mo” claims the Light Heavyweight crown”
  1. People may have booed Shields, but what he did to Henderson in Rounds 2-5 was impressive, he deserves a lot of credit for that win

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