Gilbert Melendez defeated Tetsuji Kato to retain the Strikeforce lightweight championship. All three judges scored the fight 30-27. The fight marks the first mixed martial arts event to ever take place at the Playboy mansion.
Throughout the fight, Melendez, who is experienced in both wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, did not go for many takedowns. Rather, he stood and traded strikes with Kato. Melendez got the better of the exchanges en route to victory, but he was not satisfied with his performance.
“I could have done better. I hurt my hand and that made it difficult to throw punches,” said Melendez.
Early in the contest, Melendez used one his punches to open a cut over Kato’s eye. The blood continued to flow throughout the fight but did not seem to affect Kato’s performance. Kato put on a gutsy performance against the highly skilled Melendez as Melendez was not able to finish the fight within the three rounds.
In other fights:
Joe Riggs dominated the one round contest. Riggs had either the mount position or Jackson’s back for nearly the entire first round. Jackson did not mount any offense in the fight. Riggs was feeling very confident after the victory.
“Whoever Strikeforce wants me to fight, I’ll fight,” said Riggs.
When asked about fighting in the first ever mixed martial arts event at the Playboy Mansion, Riggs hoped one person in particular was impressed.
“I hope Heff (Hugh Heffner) watched the fight. That was for you, Heff,” said Riggs.
With less than one minute left in the round, Thomson unloaded with a right cross that floored Lynn. Thomson quickly jumped on the downed Lynn firing multiple strikes until the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
The judges’ scores were 29-28 Colonel, 29-28 Evangelista, and 30-27 Evangelista
205: Bobby Southworth defeated Bill Mahood by TKO due to verbal submission at 1:15 of the first round to retain the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship. Southworth took Mahood down and unloaded a right hand to Mahood’s body. Mahood immediately grabbed his ribs and tapped out to stop the fight.
All three judges scored the fight 30-27. Puder dominated the first round by attempting multiple submissions. Puder locked in a guillotine choke from the standing position early in the round, and he later followed with kimora attempt. Neither attempt was successful, but Puder stopped Dalton from mounting any offense.
The second and third rounds were more of the same. Puder would attempt the submission but would be unable to finish. Dalton spent most of the fight in the defensive position. Dalton was looking to survive more than attack.
The judges scored the fight 29-28, 29-28, 29-27.
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