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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Fabricio Werdum's upset win over Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday night wasn't the only thing that happened on Strikeforce and M-1 Global's "Fedor vs. Werdum" event on Showtime, as Cung Le found redemption against Scott Smith and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos defended her Women's 145 lb. Championship for the second time.
Le and Smith faced off in a rematch of their December headlining bout. Smith won the first fight with a come from behind knockout in the third round after Le punished him for the entire fight. There would not be a repeat performance.
Smith felt more confident in himself heading into this bout, and he immediately chased after Le to start the fight. But Le was able to avoid Smith's rushes, hitting him with well timed shots as Smith engaged. He was eventually able to get separation and began tagging Smith with more and more shots.
In the second round, Le was able to begin implementing his kicks into the arsenal as well. The end came after Le's continued body shots put Smith to the ground as a spinning heel kick landed right to the liver. Smith buckled over in pain and Le finished the assault on the cage with a knee to the body and a few punches, forcing the ref to stop the fight.
It was an emotional victory for Le, who earlier in the week had another son after his wife endured 14 hours of labor before undergoing an emergency c-section. He has now avenged the only loss on his record.
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The Women's Championship bout was the third bout down on the night's card, and it provided one of the more uncomfortable viewing experiences in women's MMA history.
The bout was a clear mis-match when it was put together. Cyborg was as high as a -2500 favorite on most betting sites for a reason: Finney had no chance.
From the outset this fight became a one-sided beating. Finney was able to connect on a few punches, but it was Cyborg who rocked Finney multiple times, knocking her down on four occasions in the first round. Finney's "defense" consisted of turtling up and trying to grab for an ankle to hold on, but referee Kim Winslow refused to stop the fight, instead telling Finney to "fight back."
Cyborg had a point deducted in the first round because of landing a number of strikes to the back of the head, but somehow the round still came to an end with the fight continuing.
The assault continued in the second round, with Cyborg knocking Finney down yet again. Cyborg was at times reluctant to continue putting the beating on, but continue she did and the fight was finally stopped at 2:56 of the second round.
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In the opening fight on the night's card, Josh Thomson picked up his first submission win since 2007, securing a rear naked choke on Pat Healy late in the final round of a good fight. Thomson now continues on his road toward a rubber match with Gilbert Melendez.
Penick's Analysis: Cung Le looked great in his fight. He looked to be in a little better shape than in the December fight, he was more patient with his strikes and picked Smith apart with smart shots to the body. It was an entertaining win and Le was energetic and fun in his post-fight interview.
The Cyborg fight was just brutal. Whether or not the bulk of discomfort came from the fact that it was two women fighting, this was a fight that would have been uncomfortable to see continue between two men. Kim Winslow had a disgraceful display as a ref in this fight for allowing it to continue to the point that it did, and Finney's corner should have looked out for her well being and called it after the first round. She had zero chance of winning that fight.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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