Strikeforce: Miami Results

Main Event: Welterweight: Nick Diaz vs. Marius “Whitemare” Zaromskis

The main event for the card sees Strikeforce star Nick Diaz up against DREAM Welterweight Tournament winner Marius Zaromskis to crown the promotion’s first welterweight champion. Look for this to be a standup affair, as Diaz has said in interviews that he dislikes going fishing for takedowns, which he should be doing when the gap between the two fighters’ ground games is this large. If this fight hits the mat, look for a quick and decisive finish from Diaz, but his seeming unwillingness to do so combined with Zaromskis’ improved scrambling and takedown defense, look for this one to stay on the feet. Diaz seems to love to brawl and it has worked for him in the past, but is a huge mistake here, especially against a technically proficient fighter with proven knockout power like Zaromskis.

Zaromskis by Technical Knockout, Second Round

Featherweight (Women’s): Christiane “Cyborg” Santos vs. Marloes Coenen

In the battle for the Women’s Featherweight title as well as to make my spellcheck explode, Santos takes a break from doing squat thrusts and strangling reporters to make her first title defense against Holland’s Marloes Coenen. Coenen is the top female fighter coming out of the Netherlands and brings a strong BJJ game to the fight, but I don’t think she should get too comfortable here. Coenen’s best hope evaporated yesterday when “Cyborg” made weight, because barring any weight issues, she should have no problems quickly dispatching her talented, albeit overmatched opponent. Santos is too strong to allow Coenen to take her down or submit her, and will happily eviscerate her in the standup game. Strikeforce better get cracking on finding more quality female talent to keep Santos busy, because she is going to be at the top of the heap for a long time.

Santos by Technical Knockout, First Round

Middleweight: “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs. “Marvelous” Melvin Manhoef

In my personally most anticipated fight of the night, two heavy-handed brawlers meet in what promises to be one of, if not the most entertaining fight on the card. Both of these men have knockout power, but the difference is that while Lawler needed two fights to put Scott Smith down, Melvin Manhoef knocks out heavyweights like Mark Hunt in less time than it takes Lindsay Lohan to call her dealer. The ground game remains Manhoef’s Achilles Heel, but I doubt Lawler will fully utilize his wrestling to plant Melvin on the mat and will instead indulge in a standup war for the fans’ sake. Unfortunately he should be more concerned with future brain damage, as Manhoef will only need a round before Lawer can no longer spell his own name.

Manhoef by Knockout, First Round

Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Wes Sims

Sometimes pro wrestler, sometimes fighter Bobby Lashley continues his campaign against embarrassing TUF rubes when he clashes with Wes Sims. Notified a week prior to the fight, I have the utmost confidence that Sims is in excellent shape and is mentally prepared to fight Lashley. Lashley has fully entrenched himself as a prime investment/golden boy for Strikeforce, and the promotion is doing its damndest to ensure everyone is aware of it by feeding him yet another can. Expect a one sided affair consisting of double leg, GnP, rinse, repeat. I’ll give Sims the benefit of a round before he is too exhausted to fight back and the referee steps in.

Lashley by Technical Knockout, Round Two

Heavyweight: Herschel Walker vs. Greg Nagy

This fight is a toss-up. No one knows who Greg Nagy is, seriously, no one. Herschel Walker is 47, and up until the weigh-ins I was concerned about what kind of shape he would be in after a full and damaging NFL career. He looked in good shape though, great shape for his age, and reports from his camp, American Kickboxing Academy, say that he is looking prime and ready to go. Whether or not he pulls through once the cage shuts, however, is the big question. Still, I place more faith in a promotion’s ability to bring in high-quality beatable cans than I do in Walker’s failing in the fight. It will most likely be overly cautious and mediocre, but Herschel Walker should emerge from this one a winner.

Walker by Unanimous Decision

Undercard

Welterweight: Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs

The only, I repeat, only fight on this undercard worth being on as high-profile a card as this one, this will be a solid welterweight clash to undoubtedly create a number one contender to square off against the winner of the main event. Look for Hieron to utilize his crisp boxing and wrestling skills to either earn the unanimous decision or a late stoppage against Riggs.

Welterweight: David Zitnick vs. Micheal Byrnes

It is absolutely baffling that this fight is taking place on this card, or even in this promotion for that matter. Isn’t Strikeforce being billed as Coke to the UFC’s Pepsi? How is that when they are pitting a fighter with a 4-6 record against one that has a 0-2 one? I’m gonna bet on Zitnick in this one, because he’s actually won a fight before.

Lightweight: Craig Oxley vs. David Gomez

This is Oxley’s first fight since 2001, and he has yet to win a fight at all in his career. It’s likely to stay that way, as Gomez takes an easy TKO win in another astoundingly horrible undercard matchup.

Featherweight: Sabah Homasi vs. John Kelly

In a battle between two undefeated fighters early into both of their careers, this could be anyone’s fight. Kelly takes advantage of his superior striking skills and notches the fourth win of his young career.

Featherweight: Pablo Alfonso vs. Marcos Da Matta

One of the few intriguing matchups of the undercard, two strong BJJ fighters square off in the featherweight division. Look for Da Matta, a solid prospect fighting out of American Top Team, to be too much for Alfonso and remain undefeated, moving to 8-0 with a convincing submission win.

Lightweight: Ryan Keenan vs. Hayder Hassan

In a matchup between a decent mid-level prospect in Keenan against a not-so-decent prospect in Hassan, look for Keenan to improve to 4-0 with a late TKO stoppage.