Strikeforce’s “Shamrock vs. Diaz” Delivers
Published by Jim Genia on April 12th, 2009 in Current Events

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When Brett Rogers and Abongo Humphrey threw down, the night was beginning to show promise. When Benji Radach and Scott Smith had an all-out war, culminating in the kind of come-from-behind victory only seen in “Rocky” movies, it was clear Strikeforce’s first Showtime installment was well worth a Saturday night spent in. And when the brash, trash-talking Nick Diaz picked apart and eventually destroyed the fading legend known as Frank Shamrock in the main event, well, by then all doubts were dispelled as to whether there’d ever truly be a viable alternative to the UFC’s brand of mixed martial arts. Strikeforce’s “Shamrock vs. Diaz” delivered, and delivered in a big way.

As a replacement on short notice, “The Iron Ring” winner Humphrey had one heck of a difficult task ahead of him. After all, opponent Rogers is well-known for possessing the kind of punching power those who favor consciousness try to avoid. But Humphrey’s been in the ring with knockout artists before, most notably Northeast powerhouse Carlos Moreno at the Iron Ring finale; the dreadlocked Humphrey didn’t seem too concerned with Moreno’s punching power then, and he certainly didn’t seem too concerned with Rogers’ punching power last night. Circling, throwing kicks and firing off fists to the body, Humphrey took it to Rogers, who seemed slightly put off by Humphrey’s aggression and his wild hair (Rogers’ was warned twice and then penalized for inadvertently pulling it when his fingers became entangled going for Thai neck-clinches). Sure, Rogers ended up battering him by the end of Round 1 and finishing him with knees early in Round 2, but as last-minute replacements go, Humphrey made a solid accounting of himself. As for Rogers, he’s one bad mofo and more than ready for the likes of Strikeforce heavyweights Alistair Overeem and Paul Buentello.

On paper, Radach and Smith – two men known for their heavy hands – should’ve had a slugfest when they met in the cage. Instead, when the veterans of nearly every major promotion out there squared off and started swinging, what they had was a melee of epic proportions. Utilizing a well-timed hook and a sprawl, Radach rocked his foe repeatedly in the first and second rounds and prevented Smith from finding solace on the ground. It was practically a miracle that Smith made it to the third round. But despite being bruised, battered and bloody, the competitor nicknamed “Hands of Steel” somehow mustered the strength to stalk Radach, and then, in the latter half of the frame, finally found a home for his right hand. Unquestionably behind on the scorecards, Smith had won the only way he could: he’d knocked Radach out. A ton of credit to both for producing a strong candidate for “fight of the year”, and credit goes to Strikeforce for securing – and matching – these ultra-talented middleweights.

An overweight (seven pounds over the contracted 145 pounds, actually) Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos had little trouble pummeling Smackgirl veteran Hitomi Akano into oblivion throughout Round 1 and finishing the Japanese fighter early in the second. As beatdowns go, this one was entertaining, and sets up a Cyborg/Gina Carano showdown nicely, but Santos did herself – and women’s MMA in general – a great disservice for failing to make weight.

Lightweight stud Gilbert Melendez needed a little more than a round to put an overmatched Rodrigo Damm to sleep with a well-timed cross. The former Strikeforce title-holder earned himself an interim championship for his efforts, but ground-and-pounding someone like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Damm is a far cry from defeating champ Josh Thomson.

Although past his prime, Shamrock’s kickboxing skills were more than enough to make him a threat to Phil Baroni, Cesar Gracie and Cung Le. Those skills amounted to a hill of beans against Cesar Gracie-trained Diaz, whose unorthodox pitter-patter boxing style and impeccable head movement enabled him to chip away at the old-school legend and eventually drop him with hook to the body late in the second round. Throughout there was trash talk, the majority of it coming from Diaz, and when Shamrock’s downfall became inevitable the excitement-level only went up. When it was all over, Diaz helped Shamrock up and showered him with respect – and Strikeforce suddenly had itself another star to tout in the bad boy from Stockton.

Strikeforce’s “Shamrock vs. Diaz” delivered and the promotion has now set the bar pretty high in terms of thrills. A glance at the calendar has them on Showtime again and again in the coming months, and with how this one played out plus their promises of star match-ups (Robbie Lawler vs. Jake Shields, Carano vs. Cyborg), once more it’s a good time to be an MMA fan.