Beatings Galore at Strikeforce: “Miami”
Published by Jim Genia on January 31st, 2010 in Current Events

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If MMA events earned MPAA ratings like motion pictures do, then Strikeforce: “Miami” would’ve been stamped rated “X” – and not because of graphic sex or foul language. The latest installment of the number two “big show” in the United States featured stars Nick Diaz and Cris “Cyborg” Santos dispensing leather justice, a violent trend that was upheld by each and every other match-up broadcast on Showtime. There were strangely no submissions, nor were there decisions. It was all just beatings galore.

The most competitive of the beatings was Diaz’s championship tilt against DREAM import Marius Zaromskis. A champ within the Japanese organization, Zaromskis made a name for himself as a devastating, deadly striker, a fact which made itself apparent to Stateside fight fans when he charged right at Diaz and threw at him everything he had. It was a tactic that bore fruit, Zaromskis seeming to overcome his opponent’s reach advantage and land enough fists to send Diaz tumbling. But Diaz recovered, and when they were both upright he did what he does best: a nonstop stream of pitter-patter punches that eventually turns foes to jelly. By 4:38 of Round 1, the Lithuanian DREAM champ was done, and Diaz had himself the Strikeforce welterweight title.

Cyborg’s battle with Dutch fighter Marloes Coenen was competitive at well, at least at first, when the two came out with guns blazing and firing point blank in each other’s faces. But a pattern quickly emerged in this contest between the Chute Boxe rep and the Golden Glory rep: Coenen would land maybe one or two punches on the feet and go for one or two submissions while on the ground, while Cyborg would utterly plaster her. Gradually, as time ticked on, Coenen wore down, and by the latter half of the third she had little to offer by way of defense. The end via TKO came at 3:40 of Round 3, when the Strikeforce 145-pound female champ began banging away at the Dutch challenger and Coenen had no answer.

Ex-champ Robbie Lawler was getting completely battered by DREAM veteran Melvin Manhoef – a turn of events actually expected by pundits familiar with the Dutch kickboxer’s handiwork. For about three and a half minutes of Round 1, Manhoef chopped at Lawler’s legs with authority, mixing in punches as he stalked the American around the cage, and for all intents and purposes, it looked as if Lawler was well on his way to getting destroyed. But when Lawler’s heavy hands are involved in the equation, all it takes is one overhand right to turn the tide – and one overhand right did. Manhoef was unconscious on the canvas at 3:33 of the first round, a victim of the only meaningful strike Lawler threw in the bout.

Famed footballer Herschel Walker stepped into the cage a 47-year old in great shape but with no combat experience, but when he got done with the overmatched Greg Nagy, he was a veteran with a victorious one-sided beatdown and win by TKO on his record. For nearly two and a half rounds Walker put Nagy down and punished him from above, and aside from a few submission attempts here and there, Nagy had nothing. Wes Sims had nothing as well when he faced pro wrestler Bobby Lashley. From takedown to finish by ground and pound, Lashley was just too much for the last-minute opponent (Sims took the bout on only a few days notice), and referee stepped in at 2:06 of the opening round.