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[Kensei]

Okay, so I watched strike force this week end...only because it was free and a few things popped into my head!

First off we saw King Mo fight a disinterested Gegard Mousasi. It was almost as if Mousasi was not interested in his strap. He may have had no answer for Mo's take down but he did not try and make anything of his being on his back. Yah, he did some interesting sweeping punches and hammer fists but he did not go for any subs, he did not try and get up or scramble and Mo for all his power has the worst GNP in the business. Gegard just resigned with Strike force, who has a very light stable of fighters, but he seems very content defending and not getting hurt. I am not sold on Mo as of yet, he seems to be a very Single skill set kind of fighter who is a one and done kind of fight.

Secondly, Aoki needs to figure out how to fight in the ring, and with out his technocolor wonder pants. Gilbert Melendez did a good job of taking him out of his game, avoiding the subs and working his skills, but the fight was never one that was going to be an early stop, it was Judges all the way! Champions finish fights and end the night for a challenger when ever they can, Melendez used some okay stand up on a guy praying he would be taken down, and he avoided actually committing to a attack that would see a victory come his way by anything other than a judges card. Yah, smart move...Melendez does not have the grappling accumen to hang with Aoki on the ground, but it made for a dull ass cat and mouse kind of fight. Any Melendez Nut huggers who say this was a Excellent fight must be smoking the same crap as Diaz...who I will get to later!

Last fight of the night was a bit of a shocker and proved two negatives and one possitive for me. The two negatives, Jake Shields has no stopping power and weaker than BJJ! he could not work a stand up game against Hendo, and his mount punches had Zero effect on teh former UFC/Pride champ. The lack of elbows in Strike Farce did not help much either. I mean Sheilds has no thunder in his fists but he had ample chance to work some elbows on the older fighter and cut him open for a doctors stoppage…because he needed it. The other negative was Hendo…when did Hollywood become a one punch fighter? I mean he never opened up and wrestled with Jake, he basically jabbed away trying to set up a right that only came twice…Yes, the results were great, but after the second round the old stiff wrestler was way to tired to fight with anything other than a defensive stance, and pray he did not get taken down. The positive, Jake is a great fighter at middle and not just a small welterweight fighter. However he seemed bigger and slower than before, not the kind of bigger than McWork outs get you but he packed on some muscle to his frame, slowing him down to be a natural middle weight again.
Then the white elephant in the room…the fight at the end. A few things come to mind, Coker has an issue and it is not Jason Miller, it’s the whole friggin camp at Cesar Gracie! First off the Self promoting Jason miller did nothing out of the ordinary, and got jumped by a bunch of thugs for the bit of self promoting that could have added to the night and really brought more fans. The UFC has done it with Brock Lesnar/ Carwin, GSP/Hughes, Jackson/ Evens, Liddell/Ortiz (2 times), and countless others and no camp acts like a bunch of punks and clears house….and NEVER on national TV has this ever happened. Hell Diaz has done this himself!!!! Back in Elite XC days he came in on then Champion Noons and his baby brother Nate threw a punch at Noons father. So, what we have is Jason coming in to hype a fight that probably would not get much hype other than that, the Diaz boys, Melendez and the champ himself reacting like a bunch of street level gang bangers and jumping a guy. What does Coker do…well he strips a few titles…Melendez and Sheilds, fires the Diaz boy and bans the members who were not under contract with him from cornering the fight. He tells Miller to stop being so effective as a great hyper boy for his own camp and the company and calls it a day. The whole issue seems to be placed on Miller by some of the media, but watching the tape he says “hey, when do I get my rematch” to shields, who clearly does not like him, shoves him away…and then the “GANG” jumps him. Way to often the boys from Stockton get away with their attitude because they are good fighters, this time however they need to be taught a lesson. Hell if I were Dana White I would fire Diaz Jr. for showing up and acting like a punk on live TV even though it will signal the end of StrikeFarce on CBS and help White bury the show.
In the end I found the fights rather dull, the refs were rather slow in stopping fight, hell the clobber that Sheilds took the first round should have ended the fight, I mean he was out! Recovered when he hit the mat and had a second or two but I have seen fights ended when the fighter was rocked that way on other shows….this lead to a dull ass long match up in the end. Would I have paid to see this if it were a PPV…Hell no, a UFC card with no titles on the line is 10 times more exciting than a StrikeFarce match up…elbows on the floor end fights man! Coker, listen to Miller, more flashy entrance, elbows on the floor and instructions to the refs to pick the pace up by ending long ass hug fests on the ground! The only reason I watched this horrible display…it was free..and even then I felt like the whole sport suffered for it!

Just my two cents worth