Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal Live Blog

Join us tonight at 10:30 ET/9:30 CT for a live blog covering Strikeforce’s “Melendez vs. Masvidal” event. I will be here providing my take on the fights themselves as well as seemingly random observations about everything else going on, which probably will include how creepy of Mauro Ranallo looks with no hair. Once we get started, refresh regularly for updates!

9:34-What the deuce?!? Someone got boxing in my MMA! Are we really still at the point where boxing can preempt an MMA event? I don’t think Showtime got the memo re:mixed martial arts surpassing boxing.

9:37-“…and…that man…would be…Andre Ward…” Gus Johnson: just as awkward, no matter what the sport is. No, it’s okay, boxing. You can have him. There’s no rush on returning him. Really.

9:44-Oh, Mauro Ranallo. Within two minutes, you come with “give him a ‘Season’s Beating’.” You’re on your game tonight, my friend. And looking delightfully creepy, I might add.

9:45-Also, welcome Frank Shamrock to the show. Shamrock is also on his game, throwing out unnecessary anecdotes about his fighting career, even though nobody cares anymore. He tells a story about how he made his comeback (one of them, anyway) on the same card Melendez fought awhile back, and Melendez won his fight that night in impressive fashion. So…the point is that you watched the fight on TV? We all did! What difference does it make that you fought that night?

9:48-Can we stop discussing Cyborg dropping to 135? We might as well talk about Brock Lesnar dropping to 135. Won’t happen, can’t happen, isn’t going to happen.

9:54-Noons vs. Evangelista kicks off and Noons gets a quick takedown, though Evangelista stands back up right away. You have to wonder if the winner of this will rematch Jorge Masvidal for the lightweight title when Gilbert Melendez wins tonight and inevitably leaves for the UFC.

9:57-“Both of them said they wanted to fight smarter tonight…” My brother Chris-”That means slower.” So true.

9:59-Noons lands a nice shot near the end but the round goes to Evangelista in my book, 10-9. In other news, Keith Jardine has apparently earned a middleweight title shot. How, you ask? Because he’s willing to fight at middleweight, I guess. Welcome to post-Zuffa purchase Strikeforce!

10:02-Noons lands a nice straight right (he’s one of the few fighters who actually throws one) and Evangelista smiles. By now, we all know that a smile in that context means, “Please don’t hit me like that again.”

10:05-I’ll give Noons that one even though he was a little less active. I thought he landed the better shots. Meanwhile, Shamrock hasn’t talked for a long, long time. He must be thinking of ways to incorporate his career into this bout. May I suggest, “You think that’s a bad punch to take, try taking 400 more like I did against Nick Diaz?”

10:08-Noons is landing just about everything he throws now. The difference in this one isn’t necessarily output, but the percentage of shots Noons is landing versus the percentage Evangelista is landing.

10:10-Noons nearly gets submitted in a standing guillotine because of his strange preoccupation with landing a takedown. You’re outstriking him, leave it at that, Noons!

10:11-Noons somehow makes it the duration without sabotaging his own cause, and I think he wins it, 29-28. Better shots throughout and more of them. Let’s see what the judges think.

10:14-The judges agree and all three score it 29-28 Noons. Ranallo asks if this win was the “elixir” Noons was looking for to rejuvenate him. Noons says he “got that fire back”.

10:19-Now Ovince St. Preux walks out for his bout with Gegard Mousasi. And no, I won’t call him “OSP”. I could be wrong, but I think he gets exposed here. Ranallo talks about St. Preux’s “new five-fight deal” which he’s been “rewarded” with, as if it matters in a sport where anywhere from 1-3 losses in a row gets you cut regardless of your contract.

10:23-As always, don’t make too much of the “three-inch reach advantage” in this fight, since they measure fighters’ entire wing spans. When you take into account shoulder width, it’s really an inch or so.

10:25-A minute and a half in and you can already see that St. Preux wasn’t ready for this. He looks very uncomfortable, can’t find his range (whenever he throws a left he has to come out of his stance and still can’t reach Mousasi), and just has little to offer Mousasi.

10:28-Mousasi on top in side control and the round continues to be completely one-sided. St. Preux starts to stand up and Mousasi just dumps him back down. Mousasi isolates St. Preux’s arm and has a nasty kimura in but St. Preux gets his arm out somehow and takes top position with thirty seconds left.

10:28-Mousasi easily takes that one, 10-9. St. Preux is clearly a powerful fighter, but simply can’t settle in against such a talented veteran. We’ll see if he’s better in this round now that he’s gotten some of the butterflies out.

10:32-AWFUL standup. Mousasi is on top in half-guard against the cage, throwing consistent punches and elbows and the ref stands it up. As a result, St. Preux takes Mousasi down and is in his guard. Then, ten seconds later, the ref is already badgering St. Preux to “work to improve position, let’s go.” Can’t we screen these guys for ADHD before throwing them in there?

10:35-Mousasi wins another round, 10-9, after St. Preux was comfortably in side control and after being harassed to improve position (he had been on top for all of forty-five seconds), he started being aggressive and Mousasi was able to stand up as a result. So the ref stole the round from Mousasi, then stole it back from St. Preux. Very nice work.

10:38-Pat Miletich-”You can’t take a guy down with your head down and your back arched like that.” *One second later, St. Preux takes Mousasi down.*

10:39-This may be the most annoying referee I’ve ever witnessed officiate a fight. Telling fighters to improve 15 seconds after the fight hits the mat, warning fighters to “watch the back of the head” when they’re not hitting the back of the head…it’s like he just thinks he’s supposed to talk the entire fight. Is he getting paid by the word?

10:41-Ranallo calls St. Preux “St. Pierre” for the 27th time as the fight comes to a close. Despite the best efforts of the referee, Mousasi should win this one, 29-28.

10:42-Shamrock narrates the highlights and gets a nice dig in on Miletich, “There’s St. Preux with the impossible takedown- back arched, head down…” Snarky!

10:44-Ranallo interviews Mousasi, who wins on all three scorecards, 30-27. Mousasi says he was sick before the fight and as such, isn’t in the best condition.

10:47-Melendez is interviewed backstage and offers up this gem: “Everybody’s like, ‘you’d better be scared of his standup and you’d better take him down’, and I’m like, ‘I’d better do whatever I want.’”

10:52-Cyborg-Yamanaka is next. I don’t think Yamanaka has the power to keep Cyborg off of her. She is working a Gina Carano-esque bob hairdo, though, and it looks pretty good, I must say. /sexism

11:00-Yamanaka makes good on her plan to fight aggressively, and it costs her. She gets dropped and Cyborg thinks about a choke, then lets her stand up. Cyborg drops her again and swarms and there’s the stoppage. It seems a little premature, but premature doesn’t mean “bad”. The outcome wasn’t going to change.

11:04-Cyborg said this fight was a “Christmas gift for you guys.” I’m assuming “you guys” doesn’t include Yamanaka. Ranallo, who definitely shouldn’t be a matchmaker, tries to set up a fight with Ronda Rousey, who definitely is not ready for that bout, and then brings up yet again the nonsensical idea of Cyborg dropping to 135. Just stop it, Mauro. Please.

11:14-Cecil Peoples, “Big” John McCarthy, “Judo” Gene LeBell. Is this the best/most hilarious/scariest lineup of judges in MMA history? I say “yes”.

11:19-Midway through round one and Masvidal is peppering in liberal amounts of taunting. If he’s doing it to get Melendez to engage him in a brawl, it’s smart. Having said that, it’s not working, and you can’t forget to actually fight while you’re taunting, too.

11:21-Melendez goes for a standing guillotine late, then switches to a front headlock as Masvidal puts a hand on the mat to prevent knee strikes. A funny moment occurs as Melendez actually picks Masvidal’s hand off the mat so he can knee him to the head. Decent round for both, but Melendez wins it, 10-9.

11:28-I think Melendez is out to prove a point. He was offended by people saying he couldn’t strike with Masvidal, and he’s out to show that he can, after all. So far, he’s doing a good job of it. 10-9 to Melendez again.

11:34-Miletich hit the nail on the head; Melendez doesn’t respect Masvidal’s power. When people talk about great strikers, they tend to think only of the actual striking. What about head movement, footwork, throwing a variety of strikes and combinations, etc.? Melendez is better in all of those areas so far tonight. Another round in the books for the champ and on my card, Masvidal needs some 10-8 rounds or a finish to win it.

11:41-Masvidal likely drops another round and then tells Herb Dean that Melendez’s right eye is closed, hoping to get a doctor involved. Hey, isn’t that called “snitching” in the hood? Come on, son!

11:44-Melendez lands several solid shots and Masvidal taunts a bit, showing that the punches aren’t hurting him. Someone needs to tell Masvidal that this isn’t a street fight that continues indefinitely, and that there are five rounds, of which he needed to win at least three of. What does it matter if his shots aren’t hurting you? He’s winning the fight.

11:47-Finally, a spirited exchange in the last minute of the fight. Masvidal’s a tough bastard for sure, but he simply wasn’t aggressive enough to get the job done tonight. I personally gave every round to Melendez. Even if you gave one or two to Masvidal somehow, it’s a clear win for Melendez, even if it wasn’t extremely impressive for a guy who wants to be ranked as the top lightweight in the world.

11:48-Melendez landed 94 power strikes, according to the stats. Something tells me that in this case, the word “power” should be in quotations. The cards are in, and there’s two 50-45 scores and a 49-46 from “Big” John for the winner, Gilbert Melendez.

11:50-Post-fight, Melendez confirms that he was trying to beat Masvidal at his own game. Also adds that Masvidal is harder than it looks like to take down. Says he doesn’t mind staying in Strikeforce but wants some fresh competition. Says that “whoever the champion is” in the UFC should come to his hexagon.

11:53-Frank Shamrock says Melendez is the best lightweight on the planet, and Frankie Edgar should come to Strikeforce and prove otherwise. Yes, that’s exactly how it should work, if this was WTF-Land, and we went by Shamrock’s rules. There’s more talk of Cyborg dropping to 135 pounds, and no, I don’t know why the commentary team wants Cyborg to die in a sauna. The crazy idea of Ronda Rousey fighting Cyborg is brought up again, and I’ll tell you why that’s completely stupid in my “Parting Shots” in a day or two. Thanks for joining me here on Fightmania.com and if you’ve got something to add, just post a comment or e-mail me with the link below!

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Tags: Billy Evangelista, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, Gegard Mousasi, Gilbert Melendez, Jorge Masvidal, KJ Noons, Ovince St. Preux, Strikeforce, Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal