“King” Mo Lawal vs. Gegard Mousasi
With the light-heavyweight championship on the line this fight should prove to be fantastic. Gegard Mousasi is the more-experienced veteran in this fight; King Mo Lawal only has six fights but he is undefeated.
King Mo entered the cage in a flash like he always does, accompanied by dancers and throwing out t-shirts to the crow. But unfortunately the CBS broadcast cut these entrances short; and as a girl I have always enjoyed seeing the fighters come out and hearing what music they enter to and how creative they can be with their entrances.
No touch of gloves at the beginning of this fight, both fighters standing up and ready to swing. The fight goes to the ground within the first two minutes and Mousasi combats Lawal with some dangerous up-kicks and hammer-fists from the bottom. At the beginning of the second round King Mo seems very tired and out of energy. While Mousasi is on the bottom, with Lawal in his guard, he is doing a lot of damage to King Mo and is causing him to waste a lot of energy.In the third round Lawal begins to get Mousasi gassed and lands some hard punches on him causing Mousasi to become winded for the fourth and fifth rounds.
Lawal wins the fight by a 49-45 unanimous decision against Mousasi. “King” Mo Lawal was in control of the fight the whole time, constantly taking Gegard Mousasi down; even while tired Lawal had enough strength to constantly take him down. He is now the new STRIKEFORCE light-heavyweight champion.
Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki
Shinya Aoki fights out of Tokyo, Japan and is one of the MMA-world's phenomenal lightweights; he is carrying the torch for the Mixed Martial Artists of Japan and wishes to prove that Japan's martial arts are better than the US'. Gilbert Melendez fights out of San Francisco, CA and trains with the likes of Jake Shields and Nick & Nate Diaz; it is because of his training partners that he has a great chance of winning this fight against the famed Aoki. The STRIKEFORCE lightweight belt on the line in this fight, but not the DREAM title due to the difference in fighting environment (Cage vs. Ring) and time differences.
Another unique thing about this fight, is that Aoki will be fighting in attire he is not used to wearing. In Japan Aoki is usually clad in tight spandex pants, most likely used for increased traction on opponents bodies for submissions and take downs. While fighting in STRIKEFORCE he is not allowed to wear these, so he opted for some orange board shorts instead...but they are longer shorts.
Gilbert controlled this fight and was constantly trying to ground and pound Shinya Aoki. At the end of the fight Shinya was left lying on his back. Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez holds onto his lightweight belt with a unanimous 50-45 decision against Shinya Aoki. Gilbert should now be considered the number one lightweight fighter in the world, because he just beat Shinya Aoki who was the top-ranking lightweight in the world.
Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Tim Stout
Miller wins by referee stoppage, as he punches Tim Stout constantly. He is now set up to fight Robbie Lawler in Los Angeles. I was very disappointed that they did not show the entire Mayhem fight, this made me very depressed because I am a true “MAYHEM MONKEY” at heart. His entrances for one are amazing, and though his last few fights have not been too spectacular this one is very promising and shows that the host of MTV's Bully Beatdown still has it and will hopefully be returning to the top.
Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson
Dan Henderson enters this fight as the elder and more experienced fighter, when ironically this is his debut into STRIKEFORCE and he is fighting the champion in the middleweight division. This fight is speculated to possibly go to Henderson, but Shields is very prepared to execute a war with the infamous Hendo.
An explosive first round as expected for this fight. Henderson's first punch of the fight connecting and knocking down Shields to the mat. Multiple takedowns and bursts of punches from Henderson who gave the round his all like he always does. Shields bring the fight down to the ground in the second where he feels most comfortable and mounts Henderson, raining down punches on him. Shields continued to dominate the fight into the fifth round.
Jake Shields was highly underestimated in during this fight, the champion came in as the underdog and ended up defeating a great legend by a unanimous decision. Henderson had Shields in the very early rounds of the fight, but Jake had built up his muscle and proceeded to take down Hendo often and eventually win his first title defense.
One of the most explosive moments of this fight actually happened after the fight. During Shields after fight interview Jason “Mayhem” Miller stepped into the ring and asked him “Where's my rematch buddy?!” Fists started flying and the two camps started into an all out brawl. The cameras went to a birds-eye view of the cage and you could see Mayhem under all the commotion and people punching each other, while others trying to pull the fights apart. While i love Mayhem to death, he should not have done that to Jake during the interview, it was Jake's moment in the spotlight and it was not the place for that.
While all of the bouts shown went the full 5 rounds each, there was not a lack of action at all. STRIKEFORCE has again put together a fantastic card. And I would like to leave you with a couple questions.
How would you feel fighting in the cage with one of your idols?
Would you back down and let him win? Or would you give it your all and defeat him?
lets hope we can all see this great fighter, fight again.
