Event Title: StrikeForce 2: Revenge
Event Date: 09 June 2006
Event Venue: HP Pavilion
Event Location: San Jose
Date submitted: 12 June 2006
Submitted by: Scott Jordan
Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem proved that his victory over Vitor Belfort in Pride was no fluke, winning a unanimous decision over the Brazilian tonight at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
The fight began with both men looking to engage on the feet. After eating two big punches, Overeem tried a flying knee. But Belfort foiled the move, transitioning it into an impressive takedown, quickly taking Overeem’s back.
But the Pride veteran wasn’t deterred by the situation, turning into Belfort and conceding the mount. Belfort, however, didn’t do much from the mount, and the referee eventually called standup. At that point, Belfort began a series of events that turned the crowd putrid, as he started pulling guard over and over again.
He did that for the remainder of the fight – miss a bomb, clinch and pull guard.
In all honesty, the fight was awful. Belfort couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with his punches, missing by massive margins, and Overeem wasn’t much more impressive, doing little to end the fight himself.
Simply stated, it was the worst fight of the night, so much so that approximately 30 percent of the crowd was gone by the end of the second round, as fans poured out of the arena, running from the stale action. Those remaining rejoiced in a chorus of boos. By the end of the fight, only about a quarter of the crowd stuck around to hear the final decision – 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for Overeem.
It was a terrible end to a spectacular night of fighting. So, without wasting further time on the pitiful affair, let’s move to the stellar undercard.
Cung Le might be a MMA novice, but he is a bona fide superstar in San Jose. The San Shou icon scored his second-straight win to start his MMA career, stopping Brian Warren with a pinpoint combination of punches at 4:19 of the opening round.
Le surprised everyone in the building by scoring a takedown early in the opening round. Nevertheless, the vicious striker seemingly wanted no part of a ground battle, as he quickly tried to stand up out of Warren’s guard. But his foe quickly locked his ankles, closing the guard and forcing Le to hang out, if only for a moment.
After a few moments of inaction, the referee called for a standup. That’s when Le resumed his crowd-pleasing attack, firing kicks and punches while a surprisingly game Warren stood and fired back. But Warren’s decision to trade blows was his proverbial death knell, as Le sent him crashing to the canvas with a flashy combination, bringing the action to an abrupt halt.
After Le’s impressive win, Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni entered the cage to promote a future showdown, rumored to be the main event at the August event in nearby Fresno.
Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Clay Guida will forever reside on the promotion’s record book. Not only was he Strikeforce’s first champion, but he is also the first champion to ever lose his title, dropping a split decision to San Francisco resident Gilbert Melendez.
Despite the disputed decision, the fight was far from a close affair. Melendez dominated the action, seemingly toying with the now-former champion at times, as he completely dominated the action on the feet after repealing virtually all of Guida’s takedown attempts.
Granted, the action was spirited and entertaining. But anyone scoring this one for Guida raises serious question as to their competence, as Melendez unquestionably controlled the action for three, if not four, of the five rounds.
In one of the true marquee matchups of the night, Bobby Southworth and James Irvin promised to be an explosive war. Unfortunately, event officials failed to lock the cage door before the action got underway, leading to an anticlimactic ending to what should have been a great fight.
At the opening bell, the fighters clinched near the cage door, with Southworth forcing “The Sandman” violently into the door. The unlocked threshold quickly swung open, causing the fighters to tumble onto the arena runway. Irvin injured his knee during the bizarre event and was unable to continue, forcing the referee to declare the bout a “no contest” after a scant 17 seconds of action.
Southworth celebrated in the cage as the outcome was announced by Jimmy Lennon Jr. But the chorus of boos from the crowd reminded the former reality-television star that he did not, in fact, win the fight.
Duane "Bang" Ludwig strolled into San Jose on the heels of a dramatic, one-punch knockout win in the UFC. But he wasn’t as lucky tonight, suffering a technical knockout loss after a questionable stoppage.
The action started with Ludwig taking the center of the cage looking to strike. But Tyson Griffin wasn’t having any of that, quickly shooting for the takedown and forcing Ludwig to fight where he is weakest – from his back.
From there, Griffin worked his ground and pound, but Ludwig surprisingly fought back, throwing good shots from his back. Nevertheless, the referee jumped in to stop the fight, prompting Bang to complain vehemently, but to no avail. The official time was 3:57.
Even though Belfort was the focal point of the “revenge” moniker for tonight’s card, nobody needed a win more than Josh "The Punk" Thomson. A universally regarded top-10 lightweight in the world (across all organizations), he was coming off a shocking one-sided loss to Clay Guida in Strikeforce’s only title bout to date. Despite claims of underhanded tactics by the now-former champion, the loss to Guida was like a sudden roadblock in Thomson’s skyrocketing 155-lb career.
Tonight, however, he reminded the world that he is, in fact, one of the best in the game, dominating a very tough Harris Sarmiento in an entertaining three-round affair. The bout actually opened with an ultra-competitive opening round that saw both men score points on the ground and on the feet. But once the bell sounded to start the second round, it was all Thomson, as the American Kickboxing Academy star imposed his will on Sarmiento, winning the standup exchanges before dominating his foe on the ground.
The Punk eventually caught Sarmiento in an arm triangle, forcing a submission at 3:19 of the third round.
With the win, Thomson likely secured a title shot against new champion Gilbert Melendez at either the August Strikeforce event in Fresno, or the next Strikeforce event in San Jose in the fall.
Eugene "The Wolf" Jackson might not be a UFC fighter anymore, but he remains a house favorite in San Jose, thrilling his hometown crowd with another spirited, all-action fight. Jackson started the action with what appeared to be a very tight guillotine choke. But his opponent, Mike Seal, defended expertly after several tense moments to bring the action back to the feet. From there, it was rock’em, sock’em robots for the rest of the fight.
While that is an often-used phrase to describe a fight, it’s never been more appropriate than tonight. Following the guillotine attempt, both men planted their feet and began throwing bombs, much to the delight of the 10,374 in attendance. The strikes were so fast and furious that the fighters actually stopped for a moment late in the opening round, smiled at each other, exchanged high fives out of respect as if to say, “Wow, this is a crazy war,” and then resumed trading bombs.
The action continued at the same frenetic pace in the second round until Jackson caught a Seal kick, executed an excellent leg trip, secured the mount and then unleashed Hell in the form of a remorseless ground-and-pound attack. Referee Cecil Peoples had no choice but to call a halt to the action. The official time was 2:49 of the second round.
Former WWE “Tough Enough” winner Daniel Puder continued his successful return to mixed martial arts, winning his second-consecutive Strikeforce bout in quick, efficient fashion. The fan-friendly heavyweight submitted Tom Tuggle in a mere 28 seconds with an arm bar. The win raised Puder’s MMA record to a perfect 3-0.
In a preliminary bout, Jared Hamman stopped Scott Graham with a series of unanswered, undefended strikes from the mount, prompting the referee to declare the bout a technical knockout win at 1:36 of the second stanza.
Luke Stewart wasted no time on Friday night, submitting Bill Duval via arm bar in a mere 75 seconds.
Clint Coronel defeated Juan Miranda by tap out from an anaconda choke. The official time was 1:43 of the second round.
In the walkout bout, Chris Aramante submitted Sean Bassett by arm bar at 4:37 of the opening round in a fight that was all Aramante.
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