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By: Steve Sutcliffe, MMATorch Columnist
No Fedor. No Lashley. No problem? Problem.
Strikeforce:Nashville was one of those night's where everything seemed to go wrong for Scott Coker's promotion. CBS found out what happens when you try to pack three five-round Championship fights into a 2-hour broadcast (surprise, you're bound to go late and piss off old local affiliates who are trying to start their local news on time). The most exciting action happened in a post-fight scuffle that resembled something out of Monday Night Raw and was simultaneously amusing and pathetic. And at the end of the night, the future of Strikeforce airing on network television remained up in the air.
Dana White celebrated by holding to the old adage that a picture is a worth a thousand words in posting just a smiley face on his Twitter page.
The selection of Henderson-Shields to headline Strikeforce's second show on CBS was always questionable in my mind; outside of the core MMA audience, how much mainstream recognition does Hendo command? Sure, his spectacular knockout of Michael Bisping was one of the highlights of the most successful UFC PPV in history, but does that translate to the former Olympic wrestler commanding an audience on the level of a Kimbo Slice (surely not) or Fedor's semi-successful headlining turn back in November? Time will tell, but my gut says that he'll fall short (note: the preliminary numbers just came in, and they ain't pretty, folks).
That's not to say the night was filled with lackluster performances. King Mo pulled off an upset victory by using his wrestling skills to control the the more talented Gegard Mousasi and Jake Shields survived an onslaught in the first round to retain the Middleweight Championship against Henderson.
But those fights, along with GIlbert Milendez dominating Shinya Aoki, didn't exactly make for compelling television. Mousasi's strategy entering the fight was to tire out King Mo, but it backfired as Mousasi didn't factor in his own conditioning and was unable to take advantage of a completely winded opponent. Then Milendez pretty much picked apart the Dream champion for five rounds.
And Henderson joins the ranks of the likes of Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski; fighters who don't look exactly word class in their post-UFC careers, proving Dana White's crystal ball to be an eerily effective prognosticator. Henderson appeared to be overly relying on his single weapon, that explosive right hand, in an almost cartoon-like fashion, loading it up a la Popeye and tipping the entire world as to his strategy in winning the fight.
Lucky for Shields that he was able to weather the storm and make Henderson look as his old as he actually is. At this point, what do you do with Henderson, who is signed to Strikeforce's second most expensive contract? Who do you match him up against to get Hendo back on track and not make it look like a gimme fight?
And then there was the whole post-fight melee. Mayhem Miller really should have let Shields at least start his post-fight interview but that doesn't justify trying to attack him. That wasn't just a pull apart scuffle, there was some deadly intentions with those punches being thrown. If that doesn't make Strikeforce look like a second-rate promotion, I don't what does. Maybe having Brett Rogers fight Overeem for the heavyweight title right after his defeat to Fedor? Oh wait a second...
Steve Sutcliffe can't take Frank Shamrock seriously with those braces that make him look like Jaws from the James Bond movies. Share your thoughts at steve.w.sutcliffe@gmail.com.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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