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| Strikeforce at Playboy Mansion II recap and final thoughts Posted: 21 Sep 2008 08:25 AM CDT
“Strikeforce at the Mansion II” went off last night from the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California. After the fight card got drilled with injuries in the weeks leading up to the event, there were fans who felt that the match ups were watered down and that the show would be a disappointment. They might have been right about the less than stellar matchmaking, but the event itself was nowhere near disappointing. The main event featured UFC veteran Joe “Diesel” Riggs taking on Pride FC veteran Kazuo Misaki, who was making his Strikeforce debut. The fight never once made it to the mat. Misaki chose to stand with Riggs and the strategy appeared to backfire midway through the second round when Riggs floored him with a big right hand. Riggs pounced on him, but Misaki recovered right away and quickly got back to his feet. Almost immediately after standing up he returned fire with a right hand of his own, dropping Riggs to the mat. “Diesel” covered up and got to full guard, but referee Josh Rosenthal felt his arms up defense wasn’t sufficient enough to handle the Misaki onslaught and he stopped the fight. Riggs made it obvious that he didn’t agree with the decision and it looked like he might have had a point. But the referee’s decision is final, and in the end Misaki was successful in his Strikeforce debut.
The only Strikeforce champion competing on the card was lightweight champ Josh “The Punk” Thomson. He faced Lion’s Den trainee Ashe Bowman in a non-title affair, and he made quick work of “The Archer” with a first round technical knockout. Former champion Gilbert Melendez was on hand to help call the fight in the announcer’s booth, making it very clear more than once that he intends to get his belt back as soon as possible. Who wouldn’t want to see that rematch? Cory “The One” Devela used his reach advantage to avoid Terry Martin’s power for most of their middleweight bout. And he was probably ahead on the judges scorecards through two rounds, but he wasn’t able to stay away from the powerful Chicago native in the third where Martin finally closed the distance and landed a huge fight-ending left hand. The knockout was the eleventh of Terry Martin’s career. Mitsuhiro “The Endless Fighter” Ishida didn’t have to live up to his nickname tonight. He dispatched American Kickboxing Academy product Justin Wilcox in relatively easy fashion by slapping an early first round armbar on him. He did, however, live up to the billing as one of the best lightweights in the world in his Strikeforce debut. A rematch with Gilbert Melendez or a shot at division champion Josh Thomson could be on the near horizon. We’ll more than likely see Prangley back in the middleweight division for his next fight. And Strikeforce has some interesting match ups for him there, including Kazuo Misaki and division champion Cung Le. Expect to see a lot more of Luke on future Strikeforce cards — he’s got a lot of talent and a sick jiu-jitsu game. The production of the event was surprisingly really good. The Sherdog.com live stream was very clean. The video was clear, the audio was crisp and there weren’t long intermissions between fights. They kept a steady flow of action, which is the way a mixed martial arts event should go. Lon McEachern and Ken Shamrock were in the announcing booth, and believe it or not, they made a pretty good team. I know I’ll probably take a lot of heat for saying this just because of who he is, but I thought Shamrock was at the top of his game and did a nice job with the color commentary. He was informative and more often than not, right on the money with his analysis. Overall “Strikeforce at the Mansion II” was on par with most Strikeforce shows. There wasn’t anything too spectacular, but nothing really worth complaining about either. The card wasn’t filled with too many competitive match ups, but there were plenty of exciting finishes. As usual, it was another solid event from Strikeforce. Next up is Strikeforce: “Payback” at the Broomfield Events Center in Denver, Colo., on October 3 live on HDNet. Don’t miss it. | ||||||
| Strikeforce Results for Playboy Mansion II Posted: 20 Sep 2008 09:01 PM CDT
“Strikeforce at the Mansion II” is coming up soon. The event will take place at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., and will be streamed LIVE on Sherdog.com at 10:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local). MMAmania.com will provide up to the minute live results of the action below. Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the events to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment or ten before you leave and chat with many of our readers during the show — it always turns out to be a great discussion. Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after “Strikeforce at the Mansion II.” Without further delay, see the latest “Strikeforce at the Mansion II” results after the jump below.
Kazuo Misaki defeats Joe “Diesel” Riggs via technical knockout at 2:29 of round two | ||||||
| Nick Diaz vs Eddie Alvarez Elite XC lightweight title fight now makes sense Posted: 20 Sep 2008 08:40 PM CDT
However, this was a fued that never made its way back into the cage after one controversial finish between the two last November at Elite XC: “Renegade.” It was that night that Noons defeated Diaz by doctor stoppage because of cuts sustained in the first round to earn the first-ever Elite XC lightweight championship. The decision never sat right with Diaz and he wasn’t shy about voicing his disapproval. His desire for an immediate rematch, however, was denied when company officials opted instead to give Yves Edwards a crack at Noons’ belt. There weren’t too many people who thought KJ would get past Yves, and it looked like a rematch with Nick Diaz might be lost along with Noons’ title in that fight. But Noons prevailed … impressively. And right away the rematch talks were back on. In fact, it was after that fight that the infamous in-cage post-event scuffle between the two camps went down, leading everybody who was watching to believe the rematch was not only going to happen, but that it was more than likely right around the corner. But it never happened.
KJ Noons or his management, whichever it may be, never signed the bout agreement to compete on either the July 26 or October 4 CBS events, leaving the lightweight division on hold. All three parties involved — Diaz, Noons and Elite XC — have all spoken publicly about why the fight wasn’t happening, but none of the reasons given were good enough for the fans who just wanted to see this fight finally happen after almost a full year’s worth of hype. For Elite XC, its fighting for survival. The struggling promotion can’t afford to have champions holding out and not defending their titles, especially if it’s a fight the fans are begging to see. It needed Noons to step up and fight. But for whatever reason it wasn’t going to happen, not against Nick Diaz, anyway, so yesterday Elite XC finally put it’s foot down and stripped Noons of his lightweight championship belt. For me personally, I was disappointed, but only because that decision was probably the final nail in the coffin on whatever chance there was left in ever seeing a rematch between the two. It appears that that ship has now sailed. So where does that leave Elite XC’s lightweight division? The only thing we know for certain is that the company believes Nick Diaz is the top contender. So that means there isn’t much doubt that he’ll be a part of the vacant title fight. Who his opponent will be is another story. Noons had always maintained it was Eddie Alvarez who should have been next in line instead of Diaz. It’s hard to argue against that opinion with the way the Philadelphia native stormed through the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix before getting hurt earlier this year. In fact, there was a report on FiveouncesOfPain.com earlier that suggested there were already talks taking place in hopes of setting up a bout between the two men for the vacant division crown as early as November 8. If those reports do indeed turn out to be true, fans will finally get to see the two best 160-pound fighters in Elite XC face off after all. Looking at the Elite XC lightweight roster, there isn’t really anyone else other than Alvarez who would deserve to be fighting for the belt with the exception of maybe Fabricio Camoes. But he still needs some seasoning and exposure. Right now, the best thing for Elite XC to do to deflect all of this negativity coming from the KJ Noons and Nick Diaz drama would be to give the fans an even better, more competitive fight. The only option they have is Nick Diaz vs. Eddie Alvarez … and that ain’t a bad option at all. Make it happen Elite XC. | ||||||
| Strikeforce predictions, preview and analysis for ‘Playboy Mansion 2′ Posted: 20 Sep 2008 11:45 AM CDT
The San Jose-based mixed martial arts promotion is set for “Strikeforce at the Mansion II” tonight at the world famous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California. This card has been cursed with injuries forcing some big named fighters to withdraw. The original main event was set to be Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth defending against talented Brazilian Renato “Babalu” Sobral, but both men suffered set backs in training. Because of the injuries that match has now morphed into Anthony Ruiz vs. Trevor Prangley, which is a solid fight, but brings nowhere near the level of excitement or attention that Babalu vs. Southworth for the title would have. There are also some fans out there who are upset with this event because Josh Thomson — newly crowned lightweight champion — is competing but not defending his strap. With all due respect to Ashe Bowman, “The Punk” more than likely isn’t defending his belt because Bowman doesn’t deserve a title shot yet and Strikeforce’s lightweight talent pool is pretty shallow at the moment. However, the signing of Japanese standout wrestling machine Mitsuhiro Ishida certainly bolsters the 155 pound division some. He and Kazuo Misaki will be making their Strikeforce debuts during this event, in fact, and both guys are definitely worth keeping an eye on. Regardless of the injuries canceling the original main event, there is still plenty of promise for this card. To get you ready for the festivities we’ve detailed the main card bouts with analysis and predictions. Without further ado, here they are:
Joe “Diesel” Riggs (28-10) vs. Kazuo Misaki (20-8-2) Misaki has proven himself in Japan to be one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. He holds victories over Dan Henderson, Ed Herman, Phil Baroni, Denis Kang and fought to a draw against Jake Shields. He’s also fought and lost to top fighters such as Nate Marquardt (twice), Paulo Filho, Frank Trigg and Ricardo Almeida. Put simply, he’s been around the block in the fight game. This will be his first fight since signing with Strikeforce earlier this year and he’ll have his hands full with an equally experienced Joe Riggs. At one point in Riggs’ career he was considered a top five welterweight in the UFC. He hits hard, he’s crafty, and he can also pull off submissions. His one loss since leaving the UFC was because of an injury suffered during the fight, meaning he can still compete at a high level. The question for Riggs is can he handle Misaki’s tireless work ethic? Will he be able to still fire on all cylinders if this fight goes deep into the third round? After all, Riggs hasn’t fought to a decision since February of 2006 and Misaki has only been finished twice in his career. It looks like the longer this fight goes the more the advantage will turn toward Misaki. That’s basically how I see it playing out. Riggs might come out strong, but I look for Misaki to weather the storm, keep a steady pace and impress the judges enough to come away with the win. Prediction: Kazuo Misaki via unanimous decision Lightweight champion Josh “The Punk” Thomson (15-2) vs. Ashe “The Machine” Bowman (6-4) in a non-title fight “The Punk” never looked better than when he defeated long time training partner Gilbert Melendez to capture the lightweight belt back in June. His stand up looked great, his takedowns and wrestling were solid, and his cardio, considering the fight went all five rounds, was phenomenal. There aren’t too many people picking the Lion’s Den product, Ashe Bowman, to do much in this fight. This is by far the biggest fight of his career. He hasn’t faced anyone to date with any where near the skill level of Josh Thomson. I look for Thomson to not only win, but to do so in impressive fashion. Prediction: Josh Thomson via first round submission (rear naked choke) Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz (21-11) vs. Trevor Prangley (17-5) These two have fought once before with Prangley submitting Ruiz in the first round with an armbar. Trevor Prangley is obviously the more skilled and all around talented fighter, but Ruiz is a workhorse and should never be counted out. He’s always in great shape and always brings a relentless attack to his opponent. Prangley has been training to fight Matt Lindland, who really isn’t too much different than Ruiz stylistically. They both use a solid wrestling base to wear their opponents down. So, even with the short notice, Prangley should be well prepared. The only problem I can foresee for Trevor is moving up in weight for this fight. He was training to compete at 185 pounds, which obviously means he’ll be giving up a size advantage to Ruiz, who always competes at 205 pounds. But in Prangley’s defense, this won’t be his first fight at light heavyweight and he has defeated Ruiz before. I don’t really see this one going much different. I like Ruiz to go the distance, but I think Prangley will earn the win. Prediction: Trevor Prangley via unanimous decision Cory “The One” Devela (9-1) vs. Terry Martin (17-5) Terry Martin is coming off a knockout loss to Vitor Belfort at Affliction: “Banned.” That loss made it three out of four for him coming up on the short end of the stick. Devela, on the other hand, hasn’t lost a fight since June of 2004 to Ed Herman. His last three wins are against decent competition in Lodune Sincaid, Joe Riggs and Dan Molina. He brings a nice submission game to the table and is riding high on confidence right now. I see this one going pretty much the same way most Terry Martin fights have gone lately. Either he’s going to come out and knockout Devela (which has never happened), or he’s going to get frustrated and tired, leading to another disappointing loss. It should also be noted that Martin has never been submitted and Devela has never knocked an opponent out, which just adds more contrast to their respective styles. I think Cory Devela is a talented young fighter with a bright future, but something is telling me that Terry Martin is going to rebound here with a big win. But if Martin can’t score early with his power, he might lose on the score cards. I’ll stick with my gut. Prediction: Terry Martin via first round knock out Mitsuhiro “The Endless Fighter” Ishida (16-4-1) vs. Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (5-2) Ishida is known for his insane wrestling and non stop motor, as evidenced by his nickname. He was the first fighter to put a loss on Gilbert Melendez’s record and that had everything to do with his style. He frustrates his opponents by controlling them and usually wins by decision, ala Sean Sherk. In fact, 12 of his 16 wins are by decisions. However, this will be his first fight in the U.S. and he’ll be looking to make a name for himself here with an impressive win. Perhaps we’ll see him look for the finish more against the less experienced Justin Wilcox. Wilcox is a small show veteran with zero experience on the big stage. It’s a difficult assignment for him to step up to not only the bigger stage, but also to be fighting someone like Ishida in his first high profile fight. I think this mountain might be a little to high for the “Silver Back” to climb. I look for Ishida to dominate, but more than likely in another unanimous decision win. Prediction: Mitsuhiro Ishida via unanimous decision “Strikeforce at the Mansion II” is set to stream live from the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sherdog.com beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local) later on tonight (Saturday, September 20). We’ll have live results and as well as a post event recap, so make sure to check in to MMAmania.com before, during and after for all your coverage on this event. | ||||||
| Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote odds UFC 90 Posted: 20 Sep 2008 11:24 AM CDT UFC 90 odds for the "Silva vs. Cote" pay-per-view (PPV) event at he Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday, October 25 are beginning to trickle out. We shared news just yesterday that the fight card had been finalized, which made us curious about just how big a favorite UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is in the main event against Patrick Cote. Cote isn’t a Matt Serra-type underdog (against St. Pierre at UFC 67); however, the sportsbook currently sees the “Spider” as a very heavy favorite … just like everyone else. It’s hard to predict how this line will move in the next month or so as fight night draws close. However, if you like what you see this is a great opportunity to lock-in some early odds before the lines begin to narrow (or widen) as show time approaches:
All of the UFC 90 odds should be out soon. Of course, we'll pass them along right here at MMAmania.com when the complete lines become available. To check out the complete UFC 90 fight card click here. | ||||||
| ‘Pit Fight Redux’ features former UFC fighters; artsy filmmaking Posted: 20 Sep 2008 10:12 AM CDT |
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