Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II Parting Shots

Hopefully, you didn’t overlook Strikeforce this past weekend, as the “Henderson vs. Babalu II” card was definitely one of the best televised MMA events of 2010. Out of five televised fights, only one was kind of a stinker…it’s hard to compete with that, especially when you aren’t paying $50 to watch. With Strikeforce closing out the year on a good note, let’s discuss what happened on Saturday night.

Henderson’s got plenty left in the tank

If you counted yourself among the doubters of Dan Henderson at this supposedly-late stage of his career, you should be reconsidering your position after Saturday night’s performance. Sure, there will be some who will discredit the win by saying Renato “Babalu” Sobral is not what he used to be (or even that he was not that good), but those people are irrational, uneducated, even dangerous.

Babalu is still a quality fighter and would still be in the UFC had he not kinda sorta tried to murder a guy in the Octagon. If anything, this win just shows that there were too many knee-jerk reactions concerning Hendo after his loss to Jake Shields. Again, let’s not forget that Hendo just about knocked Shields into next week not once, but twice in the first round of their fight. Furthermore, since when does losing to a top-five guy at middleweight mean that you’re washed up?

I’ve always thought that if Hendo could get on a good run by fighting to his strengths, he could be extremely tough to beat. With top-notch wrestling and concussive power in his fists, he’s a tough fighter to match up with for most light heavyweights and middleweights out there.

Plenty of good matchups await Daley

Any longtime readers of my columns will know that I’m not a big fan of Paul Daley. As a person, he comes across pretty slimy, and as a fighter…well, it’s hard to go very far without being able to stop a takedown or mount an offense off of your back. However, in an organization like Strikeforce, can he be an asset? Absolutely.

We saw what happened when he met Scott Smith in the cage, and there’s plenty more where that came from, depending on what matchups they make with him. Daley’s already called out KJ Noons, and that’s an absolutely awesome fight waiting to happen. I think Daley has a point when he says he’d knock Noons out in the first round: Noons loves to drop his hands and eat unnecessary shots, and Daley has shown that he has the power to knock out natural 185-pounders, so Noons won’t be able to take too many of his punches on the chin.

Besides that fight, you’ve got Nick Diaz, which would be worth it for the trash talking alone. Best of all for Daley, Strikeforce’s welterweight division isn’t crammed with elite wrestlers, as the UFC’s is. Daley may have done himself a bit of a favor by clocking Josh Koscheck after the bell- he had ascended about as far as he could hope to in the UFC’s welterweight division without the ability to fend off takedown attempts.

Kyle impresses in loss to “Bigfoot”

When can a fighter gain ground even in a loss? Well, when he’s fighting on short notice against a highly-regarded opponent who is forty pounds heavier, for starters. Such was the case with Mike Kyle, who has made a full transition from heavyweight knockout artist/freak show to a quality light heavyweight with pretty good upside.

I scoffed along with everyone else at how Strikeforce seemed to be trying to push Kyle as a possible light heavyweight title contender months ago, but I have to reassess my position on Kyle’s ability after the Antonio Silva fight. I knew Kyle had power, but to be able to floor a man of Silva’s size is extremely impressive. I was actually equally impressed with the heart that Kyle showed by not tapping to the deep choke that Silva sunk in early in the second round.

I wouldn’t protest if Kyle was given a shot against Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship, particularly because a)he’s beaten Feijao before and b)he’s just about the only light heavyweight with a solid win streak within the division right now. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I see Feijao-Kyle happening. With Feijao not being any kind of household name himself, you have to think that Strikeforce would be leery of putting on a fight with such little marquee value. Henderson is the safer choice, whether he’s “earned” it or not.

Quick Shots

–Should Matt Lindland retire? Not necessarily. It all depends on what his goals are, what he wants to do and where he’s at mentally. If he is only fighting to win that major championship that he’s always wanted, then he might as well call it a day. If he just wants to compete, then why shouldn’t he continue doing so? Obviously, he shouldn’t be in there any longer with the likes of a Robbie Lawler. However, it’s not as if this is a Ken Shamrock case where Lindland is getting knocked out by nobodies or tearing a ligament every other fight.

Lindland takes good care of himself, has been an athlete all his life and has a fighting style that doesn’t exactly require fast-twitch muscle fibers or explosive strength and athleticism. Furthermore, he got knocked out by Robbie Lawler, and previously by Vitor Belfort. He’s not losing to subpar fighters, and getting KO’ed by Lawler is hardly proof that someone is finished in MMA.

–Maybe seven or eight of you are actually wondering what I thought of the Ovince St. Preux-Benji Radach fight. Okay, I’ll bite. Let’s see: I think that this is what happens when someone takes a fight on short notice after a two-year layoff and in a weight class that they don’t belong in. I also think Mauro Ranallo needs to lay off the “OSP” stuff. There’s one “SP” in MMA, my friend, and it’s GSP. That’s about it. What do you want me to say? St. Preux looked like a high schooler tossing around a grade school kid in there. There wasn’t much Radach could do, was there?

I do know one thing, though: I want Radach-Smith 2, now. Why not? Neither guy has anything better to do, and it’s guaranteed to be an awesome fight. They should have Benji Radach and Scott Smith fight every year until one of them retires, in fact.

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Tags: Antonio Silva, Benji Radach, Dan Henderson, Jake Shields, KJ Noons, Matt Lindland, Mike Kyle, Nick Diaz, Ovince St. Preux, Paul Daley, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, Strikeforce, Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II