In a fight that has already passed into MMA legend, Fabricio Werdum ended the ten year undefeated streak of Fedor Emelianenko. In a fight that was strangely reminiscent of Brock Lesnar’s loss to Frank Mir, Fedor was completely dominant before getting trapped in a submission after over-committing while pushing for the TKO finish. While such a mistake is understandable from a fired-up rookie it was a strange lapse in concentration from such an experienced fighter.
Fedor started strongly knocking Fabricio Werdum down with a left hook and unloading several vicious punches from the top. Fedor was aggressive, straying in Werdum’s deadly guard while trying to finish the fight. Despite the warning of what was to come when Werdum almost secured an armbar, Fedor continued with his ground and pound. This was his fatal mistake with Werdum having the opportunity to go for another submission soon trapping Fedor with by combining a triangle choke with an armbar. The usually calm and collected Russian was forced to thrash and flail as he desperately tried to power his way out of Werdum’s grip but he had no choice and tapped out at one minute eight seconds. Both fighters complimented each other afterwards and talked about the possibility of doing an instant rematch.
Fedor’s undefeated streak wasn’t the only thing that ended last night, with Frank Shamrock announcing his retirement. The former UFC light heavyweight champion was the key star in the early days of Strikeforce, with his unrivalled ability to sell a fight helping the promotion secure attendances that it still hasn’t matched. He talked about his career and thanked his fans in what was a moving send-off for one of the most important fighters in the history of MMA.
This show was in part promoted as a unique chance to see both the best male and the best female fighter on the planet, with Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos defending her 145Ibs title against Jan Finney. Cyborg absolutely destroyed her undersized, outmatched opponent in one of the most disgraceful matches I’ve ever seen. Cyborg quickly established her dominance over Finney with her superior strength too much for the challenger. Throughout the fight Finney was able to expose the suspect boxing guard of the champion but her stinging jabs didn’t have the strength behind them to be anything more than an irritant. By contrast, single shots from Cyborg were having a devastating impact on Finney with the challenger being knocked down four times in the first round alone.
Within the first few minutes the fight was nearing a TKO finish but the referee spotted several punches to the back of the head from Cyborg and docked the champion a point. However, the resulting stand up only prolonged Finney’s agony. The fight should have been stopped by the fourth minute at the very latest with it clear that Finney was not able to effectively defend herself. In a piece of shameful officiating (and cornering for that matter) the fight was allowed to continue until Cyborg finally finished her in the second round with a combination of punches and knees to the head. This was an unpleasant mismatch that probably should never have been sanctioned and certainly shouldn’t have gone to a second round.
On a brighter note, the other two matches on the televised card were entertaining, action packed affairs. In the co-main event Cung Le avenged his only loss by defeating Scott Smith by TKO in the second round. Scott Smith tried to deny Le the space to unleash his devastating kicks by using his boxing to stay close. Unfortunately for Smith it turned out that even at 38 years old Le is the better boxer, with Le getting the better of the exchanges in the first round even though Smith had rocked him early on. In the second round Smith visibly began to wilt and was soon drifting into range of several devastating kicks including a spinning back kick that securing the knockdown which allowed Le to swarm all other Smith and secure the TKO victory. In the show’s opener, Josh Thomson defeated Pat Healy by submission after nearly fifteen minutes of very entertaining and surprisingly competitive action, with both fighters securing takedowns and going for submissions throughout the fight. The end came when Healy tried to take Thomson’s back only to be flipped and so end up on the bottom. From the top Thomson was able to take Healy’s back and secure the victory via rear naked choke with around 30 seconds left of the third round.
Strikeforce Fedor vs. Werdum was one of the better MMA cards we’ve had this year with the event capturing the big-time feel that MMA’s second promotion often lacks.
- Fabricio Werdum defeated Fedor Emelianenko via triangle choke/armbar combo submission at 1minute 8seconds in Round 1
- Cung Le defeated Scott Smith via TKO at 1:46 in Round 2
- Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos defeated Jan Finney via TKO at 2:56 in Round 2
- Josh Thomson defeated Pat Healy via Rear Naked Choke submission at 4:27 in Round 3
