STRIKEFORCE: PLAYBOY MANSION (9/29/07)

It seems like only yesterday that Strikeforce was a regional show putting on crappy fights. Today, they are a much bigger national promotion putting on fights that aren't so bad but aren't so great either. Thanks to their new association with the folks at Showtime, old Strikeforce events have seen the light of day for HDTV broadcast. Two in particular were shown in the leadup to their last official event of 2009: This event from September of 2007, and the 11/16/07 show that was headlined by Cung Le and the first ever one night tournament in US major commission history. That event I've reviewed already, but the airing on Showtime featured a bevy of new fights previously unaired. As a result, its going to get bumped up as soon as I'm done writing the review. Lots of that, matter of fact. Just wait till you see the review I've got of M-1's 2009 season.

This event was the first held at the Playboy Mansion. Interesting note: the now even more famous Kendra was interviewed by the announce crew for this and mentioned that Hugh only did the event because it was a "hot new thing", not because he liked the sport. He and Kendra both preferred boxing. Announcing the show is Brian Webber and Frank Shamrock.

1) MIGUEL LINHARES vs. ANTHONY FIGUEROA: 3x3 minute rounds for this bantamweight contest between non-names.

Linhares is measured and not overly excited, but robotic with his strikes, throwing good low kicks and pushing punches. Figueroa clinches midway through the round, starts landing some dirty boxing, and down goes Linhares. Fight over. (0)

2) LUKE STEWART vs. SAM LIERA: Stewart was a SF favorite for awhile, being a BJJ artist who like to do tattoos. Liera is a dude who, I think, trained with the Shark Tank.

Stewart throws a high kick and falls down, with Liera following with a right hand. They clinch, Stewart gets a takedown and is quickly passing to side control. Liera proves decent though; he sweeps, is on top in half guard, but himself loses the position and ends up in half guard and later mounted. Stewart postures up and then lands a solid 2 minutes or so of punches to the head before Cecil Peoples thinks that Liera may have had enough. Seriously, these were not defended, and the announcers were aghast. (0)

3) EDDIE MILLIS vs. DANIEL MCWILLIAMS: More 3x3 minute rounds. Didn't bother to see what weight it was.

McWilliams throws terrible punches. Just awful. There's a clinch (shock), McWilliams goes for a guillotine, and Millis pops out and goes for a takedown as McWilliams tries to get away. McWilliams defends, scrambles up and Millis tries to scissor a leg. McWilliams defends it by stacking up, mounts, takes Millis' back, acquires a tap, and the win. Sloppy, awful stuff. (0)

4) ADAM SMITH vs. DEWEY COOPER: Oh, MMA novelty. Cooper is a longtime boxer and kickboxer. For a number of years he called out boxers on various forums as well as a number of top name kickboxers. He never got his money fight; In 2008 he was defeated by an ancient Arthur Williams in a boxing match at the Tachi Palace. He lost the rematch at the same location one year later. Here he is in his short lived MMA career. Smith is a Canadian of no particular note.

Cooper throws low kicks in round one and Smith doesn't know how to check them. That is the story of round 1. The second is more exciting; Smith shoots immediately and eats a right hand. Again he shoots after stumbling back up, and drags down Cooper in a horrid guillotine. Cooper pops out and stands. Smith, after a bad first, is all about trying to close distance; he clinches, drops for a double, and ends up in full mount. Cooper holds on, but nowhere near well enough to justify the standup Smith is forced to do. Close round.

Third and final round: Cooper throws kicks, and Smith wants the clinch. Who knew? Cooper is thrown down, rolls out, and lands a hard right that staggers Smith. Smith still pursues the takedown and again is successful, landing in half guard. The success is shortlived; Very soon after, there's a standup, and Smith is forced to start from scratch. He eats some knees before the takedown, which happens with not enough time left to salvage the round. Cooper wins a unanimous decision. (1)

5) RICHARD DALTON vs. DANIEL PUDER: In what seems like an eternity ago, Kurt Angle was released from his services as a wrestler for the WWE. At that point, he was offered a major money deal with the UFC to participate in a program with Daniel Puder, an MMA fighter turned pro wrestler turned MMA fighter who had nearly torn off one of his limbs in a shocking turn of events of "wrasslin turned real". Angle took a deal to continue wrestling and Puder has since become totally irrelevant, just as Angle is. For the D-Leagues he now inhabits as an undefeated fighter, Puder is not even a marquee attraction. Reality bites, or so I'm told.

Dalton rushes forward for the clinch, and Puder pulls a guillotine attempt. He holds it forever and a day, Dalton never submits, pulls out, and they clinch more. Dalton does get a double at the end, and Puder goes for a straight armbar from the bottom. In the second, Dalton again shoots immediately, ending up inside Puder's half guard. I thought Puder was an amateur wrestler? Oh well. There's no action, the ref stands it up, and Dalton shoots again. After a couple failed attempts to do something with a body lock, he drops for a leg and Puder defends, forcing Dalton to his back, getting the back. He throws a ton of hammerfists to Dalton, setting up his hooks. Dalton scoots out the back, gets up, and we're back to a clinch position. Puder tries another guillotine, Dalton successfully defends it, but another attempt to drop for a single/double ends with more shots to the body. Right now, its 2-0 Puder.

Dalton clinches in the third, Puder goes for a guillotine...wait, isn't this a pattern? Puder throws foot stomps and knees to the leg and head. Puder release, tries to get some separation, and Dalton actually lands a right hand. Uhh, why now? Puder is more or less really tired and not so much hurt, and after a brief stumble around Dalton clinches with him and throws away his shot at winning. The rest of the fight is more clinching with Dalton and Puder trading soft shots that have no chance of ending this fight. Puder wins a unanimous decision. (1)

6) FALANIKO VITALE vs. RON FIELDS: To what length can you talk about MMA in this decade without somehow bringing in Vitale? It seems impossible to me. They fought in Superbrawl before and Vitale easily won. Fields, a longtime journeyman, is unlikely to have a different result here.

Clinch early, Niko takes down Fields, eventually works his way to crucifix and pounds on Fields for about 1:30. Really bad stoppages here tonight. (2)

7) BILL MAHOOD vs. BOBBY SOUTHWORTH: Mahood had a cup of coffee in the UFC and in Bodog. Southworth was a villian on TUF 1 and has stunk up Strikeforce for eternities. Supposedly, he might be on the next TUF. How sad.

Clinch, Mahood drops for the guillotine, Southworth is in half guard, throws some shots, Mahood breaks a rib, cries some, fight is over, Southworth is nonplussed, the fans think it sucks. (2)

8) MATT LEE vs. JORGE MASVIDAL: Poor Lee: Has no idea what is to happen here.

Masvidal doesn't totally outclass Lee standing: That I am shocked about. He takes down Lee, but Lee's back up quickly. Wow! Oh, but Lee eats some elbows and punches in the clinch, and goes down in a heap. Oh well. (2)

9) CLINT CORONEL vs. BILLY EVANGELISTA: Evangelista is a guy Strikeforce loves. Clint Coronel is a dude who trains with Frank Shamrock and should be at 135/145.

Evangelista stalks Coronel around in the first. He doesn't know how to cut off the cage at all, and gets cut on his eye by a shot. No really solid exchanges. Second round is more active with Evangelista looking more wild with his attacks and Coronel countering. Evangelista controls the pace with his low kicks, which are almost never checked. A close round I gave to Evangelista. Final round starts close, but Coronel begins to let the leg kicks slow him. When Billy Evangelista finally shoots, Coronel is totally unprepared. He does scramble up in the final 30 seconds but in his attempt to gain victory is tagged with stronger shots by Evangelista. Its a split decision that Evangelista is given. Mixed reaction from the crowd to the news of the winner. (1)

10) ADAM LYNN vs. JOSH THOMSON: Thomson just fought Gilbert Melendez in a great rematch, and this for him was a tuneup against a nobody.

Lynn shoots and Thomson defends. Okay, look, let's make this brief. Lynn is a game guy but wants none of Thomson standing at distance and in close, he's not effective either. He can't get down Thomson and ends up getting his clock cleaned with a right hand while clinching that drops and essentially finishes him. Nothing to get excited about. (2)

11) JOE RIGGS vs. EUGENE JACKSON: Jackson was a guy I thought was a gold medal wrestler. That guy I confused him with? Appeared on my TV coaching Iowa State's wrestling team. Thank you to Cory and Chris Henderson for setting me straight. This Jackson fought under Militech's tutelage when that meant something. Riggs is famous as a fat man who lost tons of weight and has his nickname tattooed on his torso.

Riggs lands a left hand that hurts Jackson, goes for a rear naked choke and transitions to an armbar, Jackson defends, but ends up on his back again. Riggs rides his back, Jackson turns over into mount, and is bashed out. Ugly fight. (2)

12) GILBERT MELENDEZ vs. TETSUJI KATO: Kato was a fighter from Shooto with a 19-7 record coming in. Melendez was an undefeated phenom of sorts with wins in PRIDE against big, big names. On New Years Eve, he'd lose to Ishida, the first of two major defeats in a 6 month span.

Melendez goes for the takedown immediately, but Kato defends it well. Melendez is getting real low when he looks to strike and shoot, and throws some solid right hands, even if its more athleticism than technique. One of the blows drops Kato, and while he climbs the cage and gets up again, Melendez controls the standup for the remainder of the round, plus has points built from a ground and pound assault. 10-9 Melendez.

Melendez is still outboxing Kato and looks to get him down to the mat to further dominate. Kato is a decent grappler, though, and shrugs off some of the shots. Melendez is very obviously setting up nothing but 1-2 combinations, and they trade briefly, only for Kato to break off the exchanges and shake his right hand. Yikes. Kato has suffered a ton of cuts in the last round or so, having broken his nose and suffering lacerations over both eyes. He recieves some attention from the doc in this round, further importing Melendez's domination to the judges.

Kato has made it to the final round, much to my surprise. He is taken down to half guard briefly, but is able to climb the cage and separate. Melendez overcommits to a strike and Kato briefly secures some control of the back from a standing position, but is unable to drag down Melendez. Melendez does get tagged with some left hooks by Kato late in the round, seemingly showing a weakness later exposed fully by Thomson in their first fight. Melendez wins all three rounds and retains his then perfect record. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Coronel/Evangelista

KO OF THE NIGHT: Masvidal/Lee

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Millis/McWilliams

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Kato was game and so was Coronel, and they brought out some bright spots against then undefeated fighters in an otherwise terrible card on paper. Some interesting stars and notables taking part in fights here. I must admit: I tried watching the webcast live some 3 years ago and fell asleep.

D&R Rating: 28% (17/60)