This past weekend the Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley card taking place in San Diego, headlined by two intriguing title bouts. Nick Diaz proved why he’s arguably the most exciting fighter in mixed martial arts, and Gilbert Melendez solidified himself as being worthy of being mentioned among the top lightweights in the world. Let’s take a look at the fights:
–Nick Diaz beat Paul Daley at his own game. I wrote in the preview that Diaz would overwhelm Daley with strikes, forcing Daley to try and land the big left hook to put Diaz away. That’s exactly what happened. Daley did land the hook twice and each time hurt Diaz, but Diaz never looked like he was close to being finished. Diaz did a great job of keeping Daley on the defensive with constant pressure and eventually finished Daley late in the first round. The early finish surprised me, as I didn’t think Diaz had the power to put Daley away. I would have thought it would have been a finish late in the fight if that was going to happen. It’s clear that Nick Diaz is the best welterweight outside the UFC, but he would have trouble against several guys inside the top 5 simply because his take-down defense is a liability.
– After watching Gilbert Melendez‘s destruction of Tatsuya Kawajiri, I can’t help but think Kawajiri wasn’t all there mentally, with the turmoil going on in Japan due to the earthquakes. But I can’t take anything away from Melendez’s performance. It was clear he was in there to finish Kawajiri, and that’s exactly what he did. His boxing looked crisp and his aggressiveness really put him over the top. When he sensed that Kawajiri was hurt, he went in for the kill. He definitely proved that he is worthy of being mentioned as one of the top guys in the lightweight division. I’m not sure who he’ll face next — possibly Shinya Aoki again — but his list of challengers is pretty small in the Strikeforce division. Maybe he’ll get his wish of fighting the winner Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard.
–Shinya Aoki flat out embarrassed Lyle Beerbohm. I picked Beerbohm to upset Aoki simply because Aoki is so one-dimensional and looked pretty bad in his last Strikeforce appearance. However, he pretty much saved himself with the win over Beerbohm. If he had lost this fight, all the talk would have been about how he can only win in Japan. I suppose a re-match Gilbert Melendez could be next, depending on what happens with DREAM and the rest of his current contract.
–Gegard Mousasi beat up Keith Jardine, point blank period. The point deduction against Mousasi in the first round was absolutely ridiculous. While it was an illegal blow, the kick didn’t land flush and it was clear that it didn’t do any real damage to Jardine. Props to Jardine for taking the fight on short notice. He seemed to know that he would fade quickly because of that, so he concentrated on taking Mousasi down and exploiting Mousasi’s main weakness. However, Mousasi clearly out-struck him and the post-fight pictures of Jardine’s face are proof. I think this fight was a prime reason why Mousasi should move back down to the middleweight division permanently. I’ll have more on that later.
Overall, it was an entertaining show and it’ll be interesting to see what direction Zuffa takes with the Strikeforce promotion. The next event could be huge with the next round of the heavyweight grand prix taking place. Dana White spoke about making some minor changes to improve the Strikeforce show, so we’ll have to be on the lookout for those the next go round as well.