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SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 12, 2009) – Mixed martial arts made a
smashing return to premium network television Saturday with a
scintillating fight card that featured heaps of strikes, kicks,
drama, unbelievable comebacks and a brilliant, poised, victorious
performance by Nick Diaz .
In a dominant outing in which he was in control throughout, Diaz
(19-7, 1 NC) of Stockton, Calif., made good on his vow, and
impressively knocked out legendary MMA pioneer and local favorite
Frank Shamrock before an enthusiastic crowd of 15,211 at HP
Pavilion.
A Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Diaz took apart Shamrock with
seeming ease. He whipped Shamrock on the ground and at the veteran’s
game – on the feet. The fight was stopped at 3:57 of the second
round with Diaz reigning punches with both hands on a fallen,
helpless Shamrock.
At times, Diaz seemed to be toying, even mocking Shamrock. Twice,
Diaz, who was moving up to compete at a catch-weight 179 pounds,
took side-control, a dominant position, but Shamrock fought his way
out on both occasions.
Shamrock (24-9-2), however, could not get inside Diaz’ long reach
and wound up getting pummeled. How bad a night was it for the
hometown favorite? Shamrock may not have even won the battle of
introductions in a fight in his hometown.
Shamrock will be back, though, he says, and so, of course, will
Diaz.
In other televised fights, former Strikeforce lightweight champion
Gilbert Melendez captured the interim Strikeforce lightweight
championship with a second-round knockout over Rodrigo Damm , Scott
Smith rallied from the brink of defeat to register a stunning
third-round knockout over Benji Radach in a brutal battle of
determined, heavy-handed middleweights, Cris "Cyborg" Santos knocked
out Hitomi Akano in the third round of a women’s match and Brett
Rogers scored a crowd-pleasing second-round TKO over "Abongo"
Humphrey in a hard-fought matchup of unbeaten heavyweights
Brett “The Grim” Rogers lands a vicious
knee before finishing Humphrey with a right hand to the head. Rogers
is 3-0 on SHOWTIME following Saturday’s 2nd round (1:38) KO.
Cris “Cyborg” overpowered Hitomi Akano en route to a 3rd round (:35)
TKO
In what may be Fight of the Year, Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith
scores a crushing right hand on Benji “The Razor” Radach to finish
what was an all-out slugfest in the 3rd round of middleweight
action.
Smith withstood devastating strikes through two rounds to score an
impressive comeback. He was overcome with exhaustion following the
stoppage.
Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez put Rodrigo Damm to sleep with a right
hand in the 2nd round (2:02). Melendez’s victory earned him the
Interim Strikeforce World Lightweight Championship and a future
meeting with Strikeforce World Lightweight Champion Josh “The Punk”
Thomson.
Nick Diaz dominates MMA legend Frank Shamrock with his boxing skills
and outstanding endurance. Diaz stopped Shamrock in the 2nd round of
the evening’s main event.
MMA superstar Gina Carano, on hand to watch potential future
opponent Cris Cyborg, refused a SHOWTIME interview to show respect
for the ladies in the cage.
The event, the initial collaboration between Showtime Networks Inc.
and Strikeforce, aired live simultaneously on SHOWTIME and on the
World Wide Web ( Strikeforce: All Access) at
http://strikeforce.sho.com . The SHOWTIME telecast aired at 10
p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast); the Strikeforce: All Access
webcast went at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
“I used to train with Frank so it’s not like I could hate the guy,’’
the triumphant Diaz said. “He's been doing what I want to do and
saying what I want to say for a long time. It always feels good to
win."
Said Shamrock, “I’m not done. I trained hard. All credit goes to
Nick. He kicked my butt. But I am not done entertaining in this
sport.’’
Melendez dominated Damm, finishing a late substitute for Strikeforce
155-pound world champion Josh Thomson, at 2:02 of the second round.
“Josh is the true champion but I definitely want to fight him
again,’’ Melendez said. “I lost fair and square the first fight. I
know I can do better.’’
The spectacular slugfest between Smith (17-5, 1 NC) of Elk Grove,
Calif., and Radach (19-5) of Irvine, Calif., may have been the fight
of the night – if not the year.
After a wildly exciting, close first round in which both were
battered, bruised and knocked down, Radach almost finished Smith in
the second. But Smith connected with a perfect right hook and that,
for all intents and purposes was that.
“I had counted myself out,’’ said Smith, who had lost the first two
rounds on all the scorecards, including a 10-8 second round on one
of them. “There was no way I wanted to come out for the third round.
But I felt I owed it to Benji and the fans so I did.’’
Said a disappointed Radach: “Damn, I really wanted this one and
thought I had him. It was going so good. I hope they give something
(money) for fight of the night because it would be tough to top that
fight. Scott came out strongly in the third. Obviously, I should
have played it better than I did.’’
Brazil’s Cyborg (7-1) had an easy time with out-sized Akano (14-6)
of Japan, winning by third-round knockout. The ref halted the
one-sided action at 0:35 of the round.
“I feel very bad I did not make the weight,’’ said the naturally
bigger and stronger Cyborg, who towered over the shorter, smaller
Akano.
Cyborg weighed in six pounds over the contracted limit but lost two
pounds so the fight was allowed to go on. “This will never happen
again,’’ she said. “I want to be the best women’s fighter in the
world. Yes, of course, I want to fight Gina (Carano) next.’’
In the telecast’s first bout, Rogers, of St. Paul, Minn., improved
to 9-0 and 3-0 on SHOWTIME with a hard-fought 1:38, second-round TKO
(knees and punches) over Atlanta’s Humphrey (12-1).
“The only thing surprising about this fight is that I was not
surprised how tough he was,’’ Rogers said. “I knew he wasn’t going
to be a one hit and done type of guy. He was undefeated. I expected
this kind of fight. There were lots of starts and stops in my
training which may have affected me a little but I am not making
excuses. I am very happy with this victory and ready to fight
anybody,’’
Rogers had a point deducted during a give-and-take first round that
featured numerous exchanges of punches and knees for holding
Humphrey’s hair and hitting. “Believe me, it wasn’t intentional,’’
Roger said. “He needs to cut his hair.’’
Saturday’s will re-air as follows:
DAY CHANNEL
Wednesday, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME TOO
Thursday, April 23, 10 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME TOO
It will be available ON DEMAND beginning Tuesday, April 14.
Photos: Tom Casino/Strikeforce |
