Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine Parting Shots

A solid overall card from Strikeforce helped us kick off 2012, though there were no upsets to be had on the card, which largely featured familiar fighters against newer names in the organization.

More dubious was the disappointing trend toward head-scratching scorecards and awful referee standups throughout the night, though. Here are my thoughts about Strikeforce’s latest effort, including the efforts of the (over)paid officials.

What did we learn?

A great part of following MMA is learning more about what fighters are capable of, seeing them evolve and using that information to forecast future matchups and performances. To that end, Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine wasn’t very helpful.

We knew that King Mo could hit like a truck. We knew that a solid punch could put Keith Jardine away. We knew that Adlan Amagov would be playing a deadly game by standing in front of Robbie Lawler. Outside of entertainment value, the night wasn’t very valuable as most of it went down as expected.

We did get a glimpse of how the night’s underdogs would hold up under the bright lights and big pressure, however. Jordan Mein and Tyler Stinson gave fairly good performances, while Gian Villante kept some momentum going on the undercard. Adlan Amagov and Lorenz Larkin, however, didn’t impress. As always, it could be that neither will ever make the leap to a higher level of status in the sport, or it could be that they just weren’t ready for their respective tests on Saturday night. At the very least, the latter is clearly true.

Another awful night of judging and refereeing

Fighters train hard and their livelihood often depends on what happens in the cage. Because of that, they deserve judging and refereeing that does not affect what happens in their fights, but instead reflects what happens.

When referees stand up fights for no good reason, it has several effects. It makes both fighters think that they have to work at a quicker pace on the mat, even if they were already working hard enough previously. This means more gambles, more taking chances, more aggression that can lead to a sweep, an opponent standing up, or being caught in a submission. Then, there’s the more obvious effect of giving the bottom man a chance to get out of a precarious position without having to actually stand up on his own. If that fighter is a better striker than the top man, a bad standup shows nothing less than favoritism toward the bottom fighter.

If you’re saying, “Hey, more action, more aggression, better fights. I’m all for it,” think again. It’s not about pushing the pace. It’s about the referee influencing the result of the fight. Standups are there to prevent stalling. They are not there to give someone a time limit within which to attack from the guard, or any other position. If you’re actively punching, you don’t need to be stood up, whether you bother to pass the guard or not. Standups sure as hell aren’t there to allow referees to keep fans interested or to prevent them from becoming bored.

Someone didn’t give Steve “Schteve” Mazzagatti that information. His standup in the third round of the fight between Tarec Saffiedine and Tyler Stinson was simply awful. Saffiedine was working and not only controlling the round, but frustrating Stinson and inflicting damage upon them. Mazzagatti chose to stand up the fight with about a minute and a half left, and a gleefully grateful Stinson responded by tooling Saffiedine up a bit standing up to finish the round and the fight. Kim Winslow also showed poor timing, standing up King Mo Lawal with a minute left in the first round, apparently to give the “striker”, Lorenz Larkin, a chance to get something going before the end of the round. Larkin had been completely overwhelmed by King Mo previous to the gift standup.

The Mazzagatti standup almost gave Stinson the fight, as judge Lester Griffin gave Stinson the nod with an unfathomable 29-28 scorecard, making the bout a split decision win for Saffiedine instead of a deserved unanimous decision win. Was he swayed by the standup? Of course. There’s no way that even Stinson’s own mother would score that round for Stinson if Saffiedine was allowed to continue pounding away from the top for the rest of the third round.

That doesn’t excuse the awful scorecard, though. Should an advantage in 1:30 of standup mean more than 3:30 of control and damage on the mat from the other fighter? Not according to the judging criteria, which instructs judges to weigh the portion of the fight that consumes most of the round more heavily. Seventy percent of that round took place on the mat, and Saffiedine dominated it. He wasn’t hurt badly during the standup portion, either. Stinson landed eight strikes to Saffiedine’s 63 in the third round, by the way.

Almost as bad was Glenn Towbridge’s 29-28 scorecard in favor of Jordan Mein, which made Tyron Woodley’s extremely clear win over Mein a split decision. Fortunately, enough judges got it pretty much right that Woodley and Saffiedine still got the wins they deserved. James Terry, who fought on the prelims, was not so lucky. Nah-Shon Burrell was granted the victory on both Marcos Rosales’ and Glenn Towbridge’s (imagine that) scorecards. Towbridge clearly gives the benefit of the doubt to the bottom fighter, as like Mein, Burrell spent most of the first two rounds on his back, being taken down five times.

Quick Shots

–If there was a bright spot for Amagov, it was taking down Lawler early in their fight. Lawler is generally assumed to have pretty good takedown defense, much of which is owed to his upper body strength and solid balance. Taking him down is a pretty good sign of having some decent offensive wrestling, even if the takedown ultimately did not benefit Amagov that much.

–Although it has little to do with Saturday night’s event, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos’ failed drug test for PEDs. My immediate reaction was disappointment because it just backs up what everyone had already assumed. Then, I thought, “The women’s 145 lb. division may not be around much longer, and I wouldn’t be surprised to never see Cyborg fight in Strikeforce again.”

Cyborg basically IS the 145 pound division. A division, I might add, that was only implemented because of Gina Carano, who has not fought in years now. They had a hard enough time finding women to fight at 145, and now Ronda Rousey has dropped in weight to fight for the 135 lb. title. Cyborg had a long contract dispute and now faces a year-long suspension. Will Strikeforce even be around in 2013? My money’s on the division disappearing, and I think we won’t see Cyborg back in the Strikeforce hexagon again.

Say What?!?

“Keith Jardine has beaten guys like Chuck Liddell and Brandon Vera, so he knows how to finish a fight.”- Frank Shamrock, who apparently forgot that Jardine won both of those fights by decision.

Beautiful Loser Award

This goes to Jordan Mein, who not only won a round from Tyron Woodley (or more, depending on how badly you need to get prescription glasses) in their fight Saturday night. When he was stuck on his back, he worked hard to keep active, throwing strikes and elbows at Woodley like he was channeling Bas Rutten against Kevin Randleman at UFC 20. It’s hard to say that Mein needs to shore up his takedown defense; Woodley represents as good as it gets in Strikeforce’s division when it comes to wrestling. However, if Mein wants a future as either a Strikeforce champion or a contender in the UFC’s wrestler-heavy welterweight division, the writing is on the wall. Elbows from the bottom won’t win you fights, unless you have three Glenn Towbridge’s judging at ringside.

Movin’ On Up Award

King Mo is now in place to challenge for the vacant light heavyweight championship that Dan Henderson left behind some months ago. I’ve always thought pretty highly of Lawal, and he has surprised me with vast improvements to his standup in the last year, as well. Another Lawal-Mousasi fight may be in order.

Sound of Violence Award

This is my own personal bias speaking, but it warmed my cold, black heart to hear Tyler Stinson walk out to “ATLiens” by OutKast. It’s nice to hear OutKast’s pre-Stankonia work get some recognition. No comment on whether or not Stinson’s samurai-inspired hair also influenced my decision.

Holy $#!% Award

Rockhold knocked out Keith Jardine, for God’s sake, and Lawler’s would-be highlight-worthy flying knee was a grazing shot, so I’ve gotta go with King Mo here. It’s always impressive to see that kind of concussive power in someone’s ground and pound assault. That level of control along with that kind of power is hard for any opponent to deal with. Ridiculously hard shots to end that fight…Kim Winslow apparently was as enthralled as me, as she was either purely spectating at that point or thinking about whether to stand the fighters up again while Larkin took several unnecessary shots.

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Tags: Adlan Amagov, awful judging, awful refereeing, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, Jordan Mein, Keith Jardine, Kim Winslow, Lorenz Larkin, Luck Rockhold, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, Robbie Lawler, Steve Mazzagatti, Strikeforce, Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine, Tarec Saffiedine, Tyler Stinson, Tyron Woodley