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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
STRIKEFORCE AND M-1 GLOBAL: FEDOR VS. WERDUM
JUNE 26, 2010
LIVE FROM SAN JOSE, CALIF.
The show is now live, and Strikeforce opens up once again with another very good video package to start the show. This is one part of their production they do excel at. There's the first look at the Strikeforce/M-1 Global logo tonight, as Gus Johnson welcomes us to the "Shark Tark."
"Braces" joins him on commentary to talk about Fedor, and then Mauro Ranallo joins him as the third man on commentary. He's not looking like a homeless man tonight, so that's an improvement, and he breaks down the Strikeforce heavyweight division. He oversells the "abundance" of exciting heavyweight matchups in the Strikeforce heavyweight.
FIGHT ONE: JOSH THOMSON VS. PAT HEALY (LIGHTWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Healy tries to walk Thomson down at the outset, but Thomson got in with a couple of punches first. He then shot in and got Healy down, but Healy sprawled and clinched Thomson at the cage. They jockey for position on the cage. Healy dropped down for a leg and Thomson snuck across his back and went for an armbar as he got his leg across Healy's face. He had the armbar but Healy circled out. Thomson went for a triangle but was in an un-advantageous position to lock it on. Healy finally got out. Thomson tried to get up and Healy grabbed a body lock and suplexed him to the ground and got his back with both hooks in. Thomson scrambled out and went for a knee bat and then a heel hook and used it to get up. Healy tries a single leg but Thomson holds him off and scrambles to get to his feet. Healy pushes Thomson to the cage again in the clinch. Thomson gets into top position on Healy on the ground as Healy tried to trip him up. The round then ended.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Thomson. He had a couple of close submission attempts and did much more in that round.
ROUND TWO: Healy again pushes forward to start the round. Thomson ducks under a couple of punches and lands a combination of his own. Healy keeps walking him down and gets a nice takedown and again tries to take Thomson's back. Thomson tried to puck him off and sneak out the back but Healy stayed on him with hooks in. He's not able to do much and Thomson then rolled to his back and got back to half guard. Healy lands a couple of punches. Thomson gets back to full guard. Thomson finally gets to his feet but Healy stays on him and gets him down to the ground again. Healy got to Thomson's legs and Thomson landed a couple of elbows to the thigh. Thomson scrambled again and Healy got into guard. Thomson again nearly got an armbar locked in but Healy was able to hold it off and pop out of it. Healy lands some punches in the guard. Healy rides out the round with a couple of punches to the body.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Healy. He got a couple of takedowns and kept Thomson on his back for most of the round. Thomson did have another near submission attempt, but Healy did more in that round.
ROUND THREE: Healy tried to get in close, and Thomson cracked him with a nice right. Thomson got in again with a couple of punches as Healy continued to try to walk him down. He held off a takedown attempt and landed another overhand right. He's getting in with punches here. Healy gets in a jab. Thomson throws a push kick and Healy catches it and pushes him to the cage. Thomson got separation. Healy continued to try to press the pace, but Thomson again got in with the right. Healy got in a left and Thomson countered. Healy pushed Thomson to the cage again and into the clinch. Thomson got separation again and came at Healy with a punch. Healy pinned him against the cage again and went for a single leg. Thomson tried to hold off the takedown but Healy got was resilient and got the takedown. Thomson got to his feet with Healy on his back and flipped him over. Thomson transitioned nicely and got to Healy's back as Healy was turtled up. Healy tried to get to his feet and Thomson went for a rear naked choke. Healy hit the ground face first and Thomson went for the hold but it wasn't applied properly. Healy tried to roll and finally had to tap as it got on tighter. Nice finish by Thomson.
WINNER: Thomson via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:27 of the first round.
STAR RATING: (***) Fun fight to kick off the show. Thomson was continuously throwing submission attempts at Healy, and Healy was holding his own on the ground and got some good takedowns in the fight as well. Thomson finished it off with a great submission. Once again Strikeforce did not do any post-fight interview, much like the Strikeforce: Los Angeles show last week.
-Alistair Overeem is interviewed cageside and predicts a Fedor knockout. Mauro feeds him his responses in the questions
FIGHT TWO: CRISTIANE "CYBORG" SANTOS VS. JAN FINNEY (WOMEN'S 145 LB. CHAMPIONSHIP)
PRE FIGHT: Cyborg says her legacy as an athlete has just begun. She said she's prepared for any situation, and Jan Finney says she has prepared for the fight to go anywhere.
ROUND ONE: Finney landed a hard right early and Cyborg pressed her to the cage with a series of punches. She ties her up against the cage. They trade knees. Cyborg backs out with a right and gets back to the center of the cage. Cyborg lands a few punches and rocks Finney. She hits Finney with a huge knee and she is hurting. Cyborg pushes her to the cage and starts landing knees. Cyborg backed off the cage and dropped Finney with some really big punches. Finney grabs for a single leg and Cyborg starts landing some bombs to the side of the head. Finney gets to her back and Cyborg steps back and lets her up. She drops her again with a flurry and lands some big knees to the body. Cyborg starts throwing a ton of punches and she gets stopped by the ref for shots to the back of the head and she takes a point away. Wow. They restart and throw more punches and Cyborg pushes her to the cage. Cyborg throws some more bombs and they trade punches. Cyborg drops her again. She lands some more punches on the gorund and then backs off from a head kick. Cyborg comes back with more punches and Finney is still surviving. She grabs for a leg again and Cyborg throws a punch. Cyborg throws some bofy shots and somehow this is getting out of the first round as Cyborg is throwing massive shots at the end of the round. Kim Winslow is allowing Jan Finney to get destroyed right now, but credit to Finney for continuing.
Penick's Scorecard: 9-7. That was unbelievably one-sided, and there's no reason this fight should still be going.
ROUND TWO: Finney lands a nice right to start the round and Cyborg gets her down again with a punch. Finney is on her knees and Cyborg lands more punches and she's on her back again, just covering up. The crowd is booing the fact it hasn't been stopped yet. Finney tries to grab a leg and Cyborg stands back up. She lets Finney get up again. She lands a series of punches to push her to the cage and they rest in the clinch. They should not have Winslow miked up here. Cyborg steps back and they trade briefly before Cyborg goes back to the clinch. Winslow then separates them. Cyborg lands a leg kick. Cyborg gets her back to the cage with punches and drops her hard with a knee and lands some more punches and the fight is finally stopped. Should have happened last round, Finney took a lot more punishment than she needed to in this fight.
WINNER: Cyborg via KO 2:56 of the second round
POST FIGHT: Cyborg thanked the fans and said she was prepared for the war. She said she never takes her fights easy and she trains hard.
STAR RATING: (**) This was a disgraceful display of officiating by Kim Winslow. Finney was turtled up and just holding on multiple times in the first round, and took a wholly unnecessary beating from Cyborg in that fight. Finney's corner should have thrown in the towel and Winslow should have stopped the fight. Cyborg didn't want to hurt her anymore. It's just a black eye on women's MMA.
-Frank Shamrock narrated his own tribute video package and then was introduced into the cage to announce his retirement. This really just feels very out of left field and out of place on this broadcast here tonight. He deserves respect for being one of the sports best fighters in its infancy, but he hasn't fought in over a year and this ass-kissing fest takes away from the action in the cage.
FIGHT THREE: CUNG LE VS. SCOTT SMITH (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: Smith said he's more confident and prepared for this fight than the first. Smith said he wants to go out in the first round and beat him up. Le said we're going to see him at his best tonight. Smith said as long as he's standing, he's dangerous.
ROUND ONE: Le's wife just had an emergency c-section this week for their child and she's in the building with him tonight, according to Mauro Ranallo. Smith comes right after Le right at the bell and gets him to the cage. Le got separation and landed a couple of strikes. Smith comes in and lands a punch. Le comes back and gets in with a combination. Le ducks under a punch from Smith and backs off to avoid the follow up. He rocks Smith with a straight left and Smith shoots in as Le sprawls. Le landed some knees to the shoulder of Smith and kept his body weight on him. He threw some good body punches in there as well as Smith tried to get to his feet. Le continued to do damage with punches and Smith pressed Le to the cage and powered up to his feet. Smith separated and landed a couple of punches. Le again rocked him with the straight left. He threw nice kick. He popped in with another good combination and clinched on the cage. He landed a couple of knees and Smith dropped to the ground. Le landed some punches in a sprawl position to the head and body. Smith is hurting but he'll get out of the round. Le keeps up the body punches until the horn.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Le. He had Smith rocked a few times in that round.
ROUND TWO: Smith tried to come forward again and Le landed a hard combination. He got in a high kick. Smith pushed forward with some punches. Le got in with a spinning heel kick to the body and then dropped Smith with another shot. He gets on his back and lands some hard knees and punches to the body. Smith gets to his feet with Le on his back standing. Le lands some knees to the hamstring of Smith and then separates. Smith tries to walk him down but he is getting beat to the punch. Le landed another spinning kick to the body that dropped Smith. He landed a knee to the body and a couple of punches on the ground to the head and body and the fight was finally stopped.
WINNER:Le via TKO at 1:46 of the second round
POST FIGHT: Le talked about his training and concentrating for this fight. He said he's got a big box of chocolate chip cookies waiting for him after cutting it out of his diet. He talked about his gameplan for the fight as well. He said this time he fought smart and Smith came into the power. He said the last time was Smith's night and tonight was his night, and he said his next fight will be whatever Scott Coker wants. He talked about his wife's emergency C-section and his new son and said he knew what she went through was more than what he'd have to do tonight.
STAR RATING: (***) Great fight from Cung Le. He got his revenge and finished what he was unable to do in December.
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FOUR: FEDOR EMELIANENKO VS. FABRICIO WERDUM (HEAVYWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: They run through the EA Sports video game footage for the breakdown of this fight. Werdum said he's reached every goal he's set for himself, and this fight is his next step to get to a title fight. Fedor said he's just a normal man and he doesn't care about the titles he's won. He said he doesn't think about how fast he wants to finish a fight, he just wants to put on a beautiful fight for the fans.
ROUND ONE: Fedor takes the center and calmly stalks before backing off. Werdum throws a leg kick but it barely grazes Fedor. Fedor stalks him back down and drops him with a combination. Werdum goes for an armbar and then grabs a triangle choke! Fedor is trying to hold it off and he throws a punch, but Werdum turns it into an armbar and Fedor taps! Holy shit that just happened. That actually just happened.
WINNER: Werdum via submission (triangle choke armbar) at 1:09 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Werdum said he was very, very happy. He said his team is a great team and he said this fight was so important for his family and camp. He still said Fedor was the best. He said in the first round it's easier to get the triangle. He said he would face Fedor again. Fedor was talked to after as well and said if you don't fall, you don't stand up. He said he made a mistake as he was concentrating on striking.
STAR RATING: (****+) That's something that's never been seen before, and every fight fan that missed it will want to seek it out or watch a replay of this fight. Fabricio Werdum just pulled off what was thought near impossible, especially with how quickly that came. It was an incredible rush and a once in a lifetime finish with Fedor losing for real for the first time.
-Strikeforce will once again go off the air early as they are winding down the broadcast at the top of the hour and it's scheduled to 12:30 ET. Werdum will now get a rematch with Alistair Overeem, and I don't honestly know what's next with Fedor in Strikeforce. I think this knocks him off the #1 perch right now, and the #1 heavyweight will be crowned next weekend at UFC 116. Thanks for joining us tonight, be sure to tune in to our Livecast tomorrow afternoon as we will take your calls on this show and preview next weekend's UFC 116 event with the UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.
Join us tomorrow afternoon at BlogTalkRadio.com/MMATorch from 2-4 PM ET for another edition of the MMATorch Livecast Sunday Conversation. I will be joined by my co-host Matt Pelkey for a live call in show, and we are expecting to be joined by Cung Le on the show, fresh off his victory over Scott Smith provided all is well tomorrow.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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