Ten Things We Learned From Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

MOUSASI BOUNCING BACK

When Gegard Mousasi burst onto the scene and claimed the Strikeforce light heavyweight title, a lot of people (myself included) rushed him into the pound-for-pound discussion and christened him the next big thing.

Then Muhammed Lawal showed he had poor takedown defense, and everyone (I’m still included) broke their ankles jumping off the bandwagon. Since then, Mousasi has steadily and quietly worked his way back into the mix, earning three straight wins and showing improvements on the ground.

Despite the majority draw, Mousasi was clearly the better man in the cage on Saturday night. To quote Heavy’s Jeremy Botter, “Jardine looked like someone beat him with a shillelagh” at the post-fight press conference, a tribute to the Dutch fighters tremendous boxing.

The fact that he fell from grace a little last year looks like a positive; he’s had time to work on his weaknesses and shore up his strength. Now Mousasi appears ready to once again challenge for the light heavyweight title.

THE UBIQUITOUS JUDGING COMMENT

I thought I had the scoring of the Mousasi/Jardine draw all figured out.

As much as I didn’t like it, I could see the three ringside officials awarding Jardine the first because of the takedowns; a 10-9 turning into a 10-8 after Mousasi had a point deducted for a sloppy, illegal upkick.

A pair of 10-9 rounds for “The Dreamcatcher” followed, tally up the totals and you have a 28-28 draw.

One judge had it that way, while another scored the fight (as I did) 29-27 for Mousasi, the first round point deduction preventing the standard clean sweep score. The other official, however, gave Mousasi the first and final round while awarding the middle stanza to Jardine.

After getting the first round right, a frame that saw Jardine score multiple takedowns that correctly weren’t given much value, how could you possibly screw the second round up so badly?

Then again, I don’t know why I’m surprised. This is a commission that had Cecil Peoples refereeing a world title bout.

You can’t see it, but I’m shaking my head in disbelief right now.

Shinya Aoki

THE CURIOUS CASE OF SHINYA AOKI

After Saturday night, where does Aoki fit in the 155-pound hierarchy?

He made quick work of Lyle Beerbohm, has won five straight and eight of his last ten, but got thoroughly dominated by Melendez this time last year. And to be fair, one of those two losses was a bad idea bout at welterweight against “Mach” Sakurai.

Aoki is an absolute monster on the mat, capable of submitting almost anyone, and he’s got a nasty streak too; the broken arm-middle finger combo on Mizuto Hirota was gnarly.

But I can’t shake the feeling that if you put him in there with anyone else from the upper echelon of the lightweight class and he’s in trouble. Melendez showed that a strong top game can nullify Aoki’s submission skills, and his striking is far from enough to contend on the feet, so where does that leave him?

For now, he remains a top 10 lightweight, but his hold on that ranking is slipping. As we move towards an even more UFC-centric sport, Aoki will need to continue proving himself on North American soil to still be considered amongst the 155-pound elite.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ALREADY, PART I: MAURO RANALLO

I know I mention him every time there is a Strikeforce event, but every time there is a Strikeforce event, my fellow Canadian gives me reason to call him out.

What was with all the shouting about history being made at the end of the Diaz-Daley fight? The only remotely historic thing that happened is that Daley was stopped for the first time by strikes, but that’s nothing to get all squeaky about.

Here’s the worst part: the guy could be excellent. If you’ve ever heard some of his early stuff from Pride, you’ve heard a more measured and relaxed commentator who knows what he’s talking about and does the job well.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, Ranallo morphed into a guy who has to use 35-cent words when a 10-cent word will do just fine and takes the spotlight away from the action in the cage with his histrionics on the mic.

Settle down, man.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ALREADY, PART II: JIMMY LENNON, JR.

(You have to read this like you’re introducing a fight to get the full effect)

Now standing in the cage with a microphone in his hand, this man is a nasally voiced, over-elaborate bore who rambles on in his descriptions of fighters for 10 minutes longer than is necessary.

He finds ways to drag out an introduction longer than any man to ever handling the ring announcer duties, and seems to stumble over his words and get ahead of himself at least once per evening.

He is a boxing holdover who has never been good as an MMA announcer, introducing the worst ring announcer in the history of ring announcers, Jimmy Lennon Jr.

Plain and simple: the guy has got to go. Like Ranallo, he uses 367 words when 15 would do, and that’s brutal. Short, simple and lively is what you’re there for, not long, in-depth and capable of putting people to sleep.