Sunday, August 16, 2009

Strikeforce does a good job.


Sorry Dana but I watched every second of Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg last night. I must say I liked what I saw.
I didn't care much for the people doing color or for the lack of Bruce Buffer. On the other hand I liked the way they brought the fighters in and I am a huge fan of the post fight stats.

They did the best they could promoting Fedor considering they don't own the rights to any fight footage of him.

As for the fights what was billed as the biggest fight in female MMA history didn't disappoint.
With a live Showtime audience and unparalleled media attention, Santos took control in the striking department early in the fight. Carano hung tough for the first few minutes of the scheduled five-rounder and landed more than a couple solid shots. She also masterfully escaped from ankle-lock and keylock submission attempts but couldn't maintain the few times she garnered dominant ground positions.

Carano, though, turned up the power late in the round.

After Carano landed on her back, Santos stood over her opponent and rained down a series of blows. While initially covering up, Carano's defenses weakened as the timekeeper signaled the 10-second warning. With the seconds ticking by, referee Josh Rosenthal warned Carano to fight back as she absorbed a steady stream of punches. But a split second before the round ended, he waved off the fight and awarded Santos the TKO victory.

The official stoppage came at 4:59 of that opening frame.

While there was some initial confusion over whether or not Carano had been saved by the bell, the end was evident when her corner man, UFC legend Randy Couture, entered the cage to tend to the fighter.

In the night's co-main event, which featured two of the sport's most successful fighters of late, few could have predicted such a lopsided and swift finish. But for those who have seen Gegard Mousasi in recent action, another dominating performance probably won't come as much of a surprise.
Mousasi never broke a sweat after taking Sobral to the mat and unloading a dozen blows, each of which connected flush. Sobral was knocked out cold midway through the barrage and re-awoke from another blow just before the referee called a stop to the fight.

The TKO stoppage came just 60 seconds into the first round.

Overall I thought it was a good show and very well done.

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