Some final thoughts on Strikeforce: Miami...

Rex Ryan Steals the Show

I guess WKR should have seen this coming. A colorful, outspoken coach from the largest North American media market, interviewed in hostile territory a an MMA event with the re-vamped NFL Pro Bowl the next day on ESPN. No wonder Ryan's challenge to the Dolphins' fans and the one finger salute became the big news coming out of Strikeforce this weekend. If anything, this just shows how freaking powerful the New York media and ESPN are, and how they can take a non-story and turn it into big news. Which, incidentally, is why it is so important for MMA legislation to pass in New York. Imagine if that media machine was working for a major MMA event?

I really wish people would have talked more about Jenn Brown's major gaffe though...

Herscehl, Herschel, Herschel

Herschel Walker won easily and handled himself with tremendous grace but he had to know that their would be blow back from both die-hard MMA fans and casual fans. Reviews were mixed and Jay Glazer voiced his displeasure. Walker's presence will ultimately be a two-sided coin of positives and negatives.

Personally I am is torn about Herschel. We admire his attitude, what he is trying to accomplish at his age and the potential growth he could represent but at the same time the product inside the cage is poor and the fight(s) will always be gimmicks.

DREAM: The Big Losers

This narrative is still in the early stages as we begin to sift through the wreckage. Head Kick Legend and others point out that two DREAM fighters, one of whom is a champion, were just KO'd back across the Pacific. WKR is really interested in how Marius' TKO loss will affect the perception of his upcoming fight against Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-3) at DREAM.13, which was reported prior to Saturday's fights.

Plus there was some collateral damage as a lot of people second guessing whether DREAM will really send over Shinya Aoki to fight Gilbert Melendez in April on CBS, if they ever really intended to.

Electronic Arts

Everyone has been dumping steaming piles of verbal manure on EA for failing to provide a working stream for the Hieron-Riggs fight and they definitely deserve it. But WKR would like to point out that the concept of the stream was a good one.

EA's MMA IP (wow, that was a lot of acronyms) will always play second fiddle to the THQ's UFC IP (again with all the acronyms) but EA had an opportunity to get their target demo to come to their home page in big numbers and they took it. While it failed spectacularly we are still talking about EA, and perhaps more fans will know that there will be another MMA game on the market soon.

Matt Hughes hates Strikeforce

Matt Hughes took aim at Strikeforce (again) when he talked to Cage Writer saying,

"There's just a difference on how the fighters are treated," said Hughes, who has been fighting consistently in the UFC since 2001. "When we walked in the hotel there were a couple of people from Strikeforce in the lobby. By gosh, I don't fight for Strikeforce so don't worry about me [but] you would've thought they would've stood up and shook Robbie's hand but nobody did. It's little things like that. You just don't feel at home. The UFC wouldn't do that."

"There's two guys back in the lockerroom and it's been three hours since they fought. And they're still waiting for someone to come and stitch them up," Hughes said around 1 a.m. ET. He was referencing Joe Riggs and Jay Hieron, who were finished with their fight at roughly 9:35 p.m. ET. "It's the little things that are going to drive fighters away."

Cage Writer also has a video where they are talking to Jay Hieron and he is still bleeding. Which takes us to our next topic...

Updated with video of Hieron being stitched up.