Strikeforce: Miami Parting Shots

Both of the biggest North American MMA organizations have made their debuts now in 2010, as Strikeforce: Miami ended a rather quiet opening month for the world of mixed martial arts.  There was a lot to talk about after the fights, though- from Nick Diaz and Bobby Lashley destroying their opponents to the apparently “amazing” debut of Herschel Walker.  Without further ado, here are my parting shots for Strikeforce: Miami.

Nick Diaz: Elite Striker?

One of the more interesting things to observe after Saturday’s events was the many MMA writers and fans that were scrambling to explain how Nick Diaz could dominate yet another striker that was supposedly more skilled than he is.  The best theory is that MMA simply doesn’t have great strikers, which is why Diaz is able to perplex opponent after opponent with his high-volume style.  Of course, this theory was purported by someone who regularly refers to particular fighters as great strikers, so you can try to figure that one out.

OK, one time can be an upset.  A couple of times can still be luck.  However, Diaz has stood with the likes of Robbie Lawler, Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith and now Marius Zaromskis and not only held his own, but dominated his opponents en route to winning the fight.  Sure, there are other great strikers at 170 that Diaz has not had the opportunity to face, and as such, questions remain.  (How would Diaz handle the boxing of Paul Daley or the blistering kicks of Thiago Alves?)  However, it is probably time to just give Diaz his due.  Whether his head movement is great or his footwork is textbook or not, this guy regularly makes good strikers look silly and confused in his fights.  To me, that’s the most important part of being a great striker.

KO of the Year in January?

Anyone looking to win knockout of the year (or even comeback of the year) has an uphill battle ahead of them after Robbie Lawler’s ridiculous dispatching of Melvin Manhoef.  I can’t immediately recall a fight where a fighter lands just one strike while being absolutely blasted with leg kicks the likes of what Manhoef was landing, only to land a knockout punch and a follow-up shot on the ground to bring it all to an end.  That’s right: Lawler landed three strikes during the fight, two of which were part of the knockout.

Lawler looked to be in huge trouble just before the big right hand landed to start Manhoef’s downfall.  His lead leg was literally flying out from under him and up in the air with each kick of Manhoef’s, and Lawler himself looked understandably concerned.  In pulling himself together and timing his right hand perfectly when Manhoef dropped his hands to aggressively pursue the finish, Lawler showed equal parts determination, heart and skill.  At the same time, how can you not feel a bit bad for Manhoef?  This guy was absolutely lighting up Lawler and looking great before getting a little careless.  Sure, it’s MMA and you can’t let up for even a second, but it was still definitely an unfortunate turn of events for Manhoef.

On Bobby Lashley and Early Stoppages

Actually, that heading is a bit misleading, as there really isn’t much to say about Bobby Lashley after his expected decimation of the overwhelmed and outclassed Wes Sims.  Okay, now let’s get Lashley a real test, please.  That’s about it.

In regards to the stoppage, though: yes, it was early.  It was early if the definition of a good stoppage is “when a fighter can’t continue and is in great danger if the fight isn’t stopped”.  In that case, I guess Sims would have a legitimate beef.  The thing is, not all early stoppages are created equally.  There’s a big difference between what we saw at the end of Lashley-Sims and an early stoppage where a fighter momentarily gets in a bad spot in an otherwise competitive fight.  Make no mistake about it, while the stoppage may have been early, the outcome of the fight was not altered, except for the ending time of the bout.

When Sims was playing the role of “screwed over combat athlete” like so many in his position have in the past, I wanted to get in the cage and ask him, “Okay, so it was an early stoppage.  Now, please tell me what ingenious strategy you were just about to utilize when the mean old ref stopped your fight too early?  Exactly what was your plan to escape after giving up your back and flattening yourself out with a brutally strong, 250-lb. wrestler on top of you, pounding away?”

People tend to get too worked up about early stoppages.  I don’t like to see them, either, but if it’s in the variety like what we saw in Lashley-Sims, it doesn’t bother me too much.  Like I said, that fight ended up the way it was going to, anyway.  How much longer could Sims have really survived in that position?  Not much.  What were his chances of reversing the position, anyway?  Not good.  In the end, we have to let the athletes determine the outcome, but at some point an athlete has to stop throwing the ref under the bus and realize that the stoppage was also their fault, and that they clearly weren’t anywhere close to winning the fight anyway.

Quick Shots

– What can be said about Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos at this point?  I’ll give credit to Marloes Coenen for being a very game opponent who didn’t look out of place in the fight at any point.  Cyborg just eventually overwhelmed her over the course of the bout.  Still, Coenen will be back, and I wouldn’t mind a rematch at some point.

As for what’s next, it’s kind of hard to tell.  One of the problems with Strikeforce’s women’s division is that it is almost entirely comprised of title fights.  Take Coenen for example- she fought on one Strikeforce show before her title shot, and it wasn’t televised.  It makes it a bit hard to get excited about the next challenger coming down the pipe.

– Let me preface this last bit with a disclaimer.  I have no problem with Herschel Walker, and I think he’s a phenomenal athlete that’s in amazing shape for his age.  What I’m about to complain about has nothing really to do with him personally.  However, I can’t be the only person who was absolutely annoyed with the way Walker’s fight with Greg Nagy was handled by the broadcast team.  For the entire fight, I got to hear them drool over Walker performing basic fundamentals of the sport against a guy who has been training for a year and a half, with no background in any martial arts previous to that point.

It’s not Walker’s fault that he was paired up with Nagy.  But come on.  Nagy was absolutely overwhelmed by and unprepared for the experience of fighting in Strikeforce in his third pro fight.  Unlike Walker, Nagy never competed in, well, anything before thousands of people before.  No offense to Nagy, but he also (like most of us) is not the type of natural athlete that Walker is, even at 47 years old.  Combine that with the fact that Walker was absolutely shredded at 214 pounds, and Nagy appeared to be sporting a healthy amount of, um, “extra weight” at 210 pounds, and this was certainly not something to be in awe of.

If the accomplishment is that great, it doesn’t need to be oversold by the commentators, anyway.  I swear, I felt like I was watching professional wresting for a minute there with the way that Mauro Ranallo and company were gushing over every little thing that Walker did.

As for Walker himself: good for him.  I don’t fault him for fighting or Strikeforce for putting him on television, but let’s not treat the viewers like idiots, guys.  Watching an athlete the likes of Walker control a scared and undersized fellow newbie on the ground is not something that warrants the kind of hyperbole we were getting on Saturday night.

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Tags: Bobby Lashley, Cyborg Santos, Marius Zaromskis, Marloes Coenen, Melvin Manhoef, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Strikeforce: Miami, Wes Sims