1) ZOILA FRAUSTO vs. ELISHA HELSPER: Women fighting! Hooray! I suppose.
Frausto throws kicks in the first and lands, Helsper throws punches that do not. Frausto 10-9 round 1. Round 2: Helsper doesn't close the distance at all even though its her only way to win. Does eventually pursue a takedown when she's kicked in the head and cut, but gets tossed to the mat by Frausto. Round 3 sees Helsper come out desperate and get a takedown, but the effort is nullified by a poor referee standup and Frausto gets her to the mat and lands superior shots throughout, winning a wide unanimous decision. I don't rate women's fights.
2) MERRIT WARREN vs. THOMAS DIAGNE: Diagne is here because he's a San Shou guy from France and trains with, WHO ELSE, Cung Le.
Diagne hits a big slam early, but does not much. Warren moves into full guard, gets Diagne trying to move around without any idea of what he'd doing, and hooks up the inverted heel hook. Oh, Cung Le. (0)
3) JESSE TAYLOR vs. LUKE ROCKHOLD: Taylor is potentially the dumbest man to ever be on TV. Rockhold has been a Strikeforce favorite for who knows how long.
Taylor shoots in, as you would expect with him being a one note wrestler, but Rockhold defends the takedown and keeps it standing for a little while. Taylor's strength is just too much though and he gets Rockhold to his back. Rockhold has a really active guard; who doesn't like that? Taylor does escape any submission attempts being thrown and there's a scramble. Taylor actually goes for the submission guy's back at one point, only to be reversed as Rockhold goes out the back and sinks in a choke of his own. Really a big win for Rockhold. (2)
4) BRANDON CASH vs. SHANE DEL ROSARIO: Cash is a nobody and Del Rosario is a well regarded prospect. So what happens? The obvious? No!
Cash drops Del Rosario really early with a huge right hand and he's all over Shane for much of the fight, dropping all sorts of shots on his dome and trying his best to keep Del Rosario on his back. Cash looks well on his way to winning, but he gets very sloppy on offense, and Del Rosario shows us why he's well regarded: He starts going for rubber guard, and as Cash slows, he catches the unknown pseudoprospect with a glitzy record in a omaplata and sweeps him, soon after forcing a tap out due to the shoulder lock. Impressive to see him come back from adversity, though I think you'll see future capable fighters rush him. (2)
5) BILLY EVANGELISTA vs. JORGE GURGEL: Gurgel has now officially entered journeyman status, while Evangelista is still a prospect with room to grow.
Round 1 is terrible. Zero action with Evangelista landing some low kicks once a minute or so and taking down Gurgel with 6 seconds remaining. Second is slightly better; Gurgel is coming forward now with his wild shots (as he has since the knee injury against Imanari), but is taken down by Evangelista with a sweep. Evangelista does an adequate amount of battering for my taste on top, but the ref disagrees and stands them. Gurgel clips him with a high kick with half a minute remaining and goes for a guillotine. Still gave it to Evangelista.
Final round; Early on its a standup fight. Gurgel just can't shoot and hasn't been able to for years, but his standup isn't getting better and eating right hands forces him to actually try to get down Evangelista. He proves successful in tripping him, though little comes of it. Evangelista is cut by a kick during the exchanges late in the round and takes down Gurgel himself. Its a easy unanimous decision for Evangelista in my eyes, and he continues to progress in the sport. (2)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Cash/Del Rosario
KO OF THE NIGHT: None, perhaps Cole Escovedo's on the dark portion?
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cash/Del Rosario
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Fights that went to decision were terrible. Fights that didn't were too short to really be "good", even if there was back and forth and "action".
D&R Rating: 30% (6/20)
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