Friday. The day before Saturday in any given week. And on this particular Saturday, Us Mixed Martial Arts types will deal with another stellar card, courtesy of Strikeforce.
In the first major Showtime card since Zuffa's buyout of the California promotion (Have you ever noticed that Zuffa likes California promotions? They bought out WEC who had its roots in California as well) will take place in San Diego, at the Valley View Casino Center. Scott Coker has said that his "baby" will remain operational, so long as it makes money. So then why a small arena on a Casino's grounds? Who knows?
Onto my picks :
Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley : The main event features former UFC welterweights Nick Diaz (who's the current Strikeforce Welterweight Champ) and Paul Daley (who got kicked out of the UFC after his sucker punch on Josh Koscheck, who personally had it coming). Diaz is coming off another successful defense against Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos in his last fight, while Daley secured his title shot after a KO victory against Yuya Shirai at BAMMA 5 in Manchester, England this past February.
This fight won't last long. Daley, given his strengths in Karate and Kickboxing, will want to keep this standing. Diaz showed a lot of patience in his last 2 fights against Cyborg and KJ Noons, out boxing the Boxer Noons and weathering an early storm against Santos before unleashing his own fury. Expect the same from the get-go in this fight, as Daley will throw some early bombs and have the champion in trouble, but ultimately Diaz will weather the storm and take the fight to the ground, with Diaz ending up in a dominant position trying to pull the Brit's arm out of his socket.
The pick : Diaz by submission.
The co-main event features Diaz's teammate and Strikeforce lightweight kingpin Gilbert Milendez...but I'm not interested.
Gegard Mousasi vs Keith Jardine : In a fight that is more interesting than the originally announced fight featuring the Armenian Mousasi against Mike Kyle, "The Dean of Mean" will be the first UFC fighter (well I'm not sure if we can still call him a UFC fighter, he did get released) to make the jump over to the (now) sister promotion. Mousasi is fighting for the first time since his victory over Japanese fighter Tatsuya Mizuno at DREAM.16 last September, while Jardine is fighting since a victory in New Mexico last month.
A lot has been made over the fact that Jardine is taking this fight on barely a week's notice. That being said, his unorthodox stand up may give the former M-1 Global fighter Mousasi some problems early, but it might be only a matter of time before "The Dreamcatcher" is able to get the timing on that jab down. He'll pepper Jardine early, then finish with some mop up punches to further prove to the world that he belongs in "The Show" with the name middleweights.
The pick : Mousasi by TKO.
-In other news, All fighters made weight for tonight's Maximum Fighting Championship 29 : Conquer, which will mark the promotions first foray into the recently-sanctioned friendly confines of Ontario, at Caesars Windsor. The main event features Canadian Ryan Jimmo take on American Zak Cummings, and will be broadcast live on HDNET across North America. Other notable fighters included on the card include former UFC mainstay Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis, former UFC #1 lightweight contender Hermes Franca, and perhaps the smartest guy in MMA (he's a candidate for a doctorate) Terry Martin (who ironically enough, I swear is somehow related to Mike Tyson, though I don't have any proof).
-Bellator welterweight kingpin Ben Askren is no doubt trying to convince people to tune into Saturday night's Bellator 40, broadcast on the Score here in Canada. Askren will be taking on UFC and BodogFight veteran Nick "The Goat" Thompson in the main event "superfight", and in an interview with Sherdog Radio made several derogatory comments towards his opponent, mentioning that he believes that the 29 year old veteran of over 50 fights is "All washed up" and that he "hasn't been training that hard". He says that Thompson has "not a lot" for him to worry about, but that he "won't get in a Boxing match with him, Like I said, if I do stand up with him, it will be after I tenderize him for a few minutes and he won’t be the same person that he was at the beginning of the fight. He’ll be a much weaker and worn down opponent.”
Obviously, this kid is trying to sell the fight. But make it be known : a 29 year old is in no way shape or form "washed up" in terms of the fight game. You may be the champ Ben and the belt isn't on the line, but Thompson is a veteran of the game and should not be taken lightly. If you don't believe me, just ask Eddie Alvarez.
Questions? Comments? want to get back to me? email me at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com
Until next time, fight fans.
First off Paul Daly has two fights this weekend. One against the scale and another against the champ Diaz. Will Daly make weight in order to keep this a title fight? We both see eye to eye on the final result. Daley should, and probably will, come out fists flying. Diaz counter punches the early storm then wins by rear naked choke after whispering sweet nothings into Dalys ear (aka the Koscheck).
ReplyDeleteMousasi vs. Jardine. Gegard seemd unstoppable before the loss to King Mo. He looked better in his last cage appearance. Which 'Dean of Mean' will we see in the cage? The one who bounces around and throws punches from all crazy angles, or the one that has been spectacularly KO'd in recent fights? I think he's gotten a bit of 'mush head disease' and he can't take the punches anymore. Either way it should be a good fight. Prediction:'The Dreamcatcher' by TKO ref stoppage.
Finally, I can't believe that Ben Askren believes that 29 is too old for a fighter. First off, a fighter with a wrestling background such as Askren, should think before speaking. As a former wrestler myself, any wrestler knows that you get better with age, not worse. I understand this is MMA but, when you have that wrestling background, it's about knowledge not age.
Maybe we should ask Randy Couture, Dan Severn, Dan Henderson or Don Frye. You may have heard of them.
I want to wish my boy Ryan Jimmo good luck tonight defending his title in Windsor.
Keep your hands up and your chin down.
Crowe
Askren is more or less selling the fight, nothing else. If he really thinks Nick Thompson is that washed up, he should ask Eddie Alvarez because from what I remember, he beat Alvarez pretty handily.
ReplyDeleteAs for Daley, I think Coker has been pushing for this title fight for so long if he doesn't make weight, it would be both a slap in Coker's (and to a lesser extent) Dana White's face. Daley has already expressed his disdain for the buyout, and wouldn't it be fitting if he doesn't make weight as a way to show him up?
Guess we'll find out later.
I wonder what's the over/under on him making weight? LOL. Should be a decent staredown. I wonder if Dana's going to be up on stage. That will be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteCrowe
Interesting fact.
ReplyDeleteGo to www.UFC.com and click on the Diaz/Daly weigh in link. It redirects you to the Strikeforce website.
I'm still getting used to this transition.
Crowe
In reference to your 'White Dragon' comment last night.
ReplyDeleteMFC owner Pavelich was happy with Lima, Davis, Demarce and local middleweight Ali (The Monster) Mokdad who won submission of the night honours for stopping Andreas (The Sweet Swede) Spang. But he said he expected more of Jimmo, Washington and Spang.
"I'm going to stop being a little bit nice to certain fighters in my organization," he said. "I don't need to do that any more, right?
"We're one of the top organizations in the world now and for people to be fighting looking like it's a point karate tournament disturbs me," he said in a clear reference to Jimmo.
See full article
http://www.sportsnet.ca/mma/2011/04/09/mfc_29_aftermath/
Crowe