Strikeforce Los Angeles Thoughts And Commentary

I'm still trying to recover from staying up to watch this show, but I must say it was fairly entertaining so I'm glad I did.  However, I don't really understand the point of having a show to begin airing at 11pm ET on a WEDNESDAY night.  That's a sure fire way to get nobody to watch.  Being the MMA thirsty fans that we are, of course we tuned in after much griping and complaining.  Anyways, I thought the beginning of the show was weird with Mauro Renallo sitting atop that perch screaming ridiculous stuff with the commentating team coming down to the podium like it was the introductions to the NBA Finals line ups.  We also spoke about this last night, but where in the world was the Strikeforce brand?  Everywhere you looked, you saw Showtime sports banners but no Strikeforce. Also, that audio problem during the beginning of the broadcast was annoying.  On to the fights:

-Noons vs. Huen:  #1 the judges in this fight are retarded.  No way Huen should have gotten a 30-27 score in the split decision.  If anything that should have been Noons getting a 30-27 score, but I could see Huen getting the first round with the takedown and GnP he laid on Noons.  However, prior to that Noons was the more efficient striker and he dropped Huen at the end of the round so it could have at least been 10-10.  I thought Noons would win this one a lot easier, but I knew Huen had a good chin on him as evident in the Gurgel fight.  Strikeforce has a lot of work to do if they want to build Noons into a contender IMO, but I loved the way he picked Huen apart with his boxing at times in the fight.  He made Huen missed BADLY quite a few times and landed some nice counters.

-Kennedy vs. Prangley:  The way the fight started I thought my boy Kennedy was going to be in trouble as Prangley looked like the larger/stronger fighter.  He threw Kennedy like a little kid a couple of times.  However, Kennedy stayed with it and finally got Prangley into a vulnerable position.  The swtich from one side to the other to get the RNC was a thing of beauty as quick as lightning.  Strikeforce has a player in Kennedy at middleweight.  The only problem is that his strong suit is grappling, just like Jacare and Shields(if he stays but we know he's not going to) who are monsters on the ground.

-Zaromskis vs. Cyborg: Just another reason why you can't really put much weight on what fighters do in Japan anymore.  Zaromski's ate some huge shots before succumbing to defeat, so those saying he has a weak chin should realize that.  He was rocked a couple of times actually.  I enjoyed this fight though because at least both guys came out and put it on the line.  If you are going to stand and bang, well by golly that's how you do it without it looking absolutely atrocious.

-Lawler vs. Sobral-Ehh...I didn't really agree with the decision.  I thought the damage Lawler did to Sobral should have been enough to outweigh Sobral's volume of strikes.  The times that Sobral got the takedown, Lawler was up quickly so I wouldn't even count them to be honest.  I said as much last night though that Lawler needed to let his hands go more often.  That one punch KO stuff is great and all, but that's why he lost that fight.  However, it was fairly entertaining.

Strikeforce has a huge problem in regards to matchmaking.  I think someone mentioned it last night.  Why on earth would you have a catch-weight fight dictate who gets the next title shot in two weight classes?  Well wait, only one weight class because Sobral will not fight King Mo like Strikeforce had hoped.  He didn't deserve a shot at King Mo anyways with the way he got blasted in his last fight against Mousasi.  I do like the call out on Henderson though.  I wonder if that fight will be at MW or LHW?  Also, why on earth is Strikeforce entertaining the thought of having Nick Diaz fighting Jason "Mayhem" Miller?  Retarded...absolutely retarded.