Hmm, sorry Dent, going to have to be a lot more critical here.

Where to begin? Ok, the card is fantastic. I've been so excited about this for weeks and weeks. And in general, the fights lived up to expectations. No problem with the fighters at all.

Start with Lashley-Sims, and the refereeing. That Troy Waugh is fucking awful! Lashley-Sims stoppage was atrocious, way too soon. By stopping it early he made sure that fight was good for nobody - least of all Lashley. With a stoppage that early, it made Lashley look not-actually-that-impressive at all, gave him little to no experience over a washed out Sims who was hugely out of shape after just a week's notice, and will keep people doubting him. Yes, of course Lashley was going to win all along, but that doesn't mean an early stoppage is right.

Manhoef-Lawler was beautiful. I have watched quite a lot of Manhoef fights so I know what he's like, but I was still surprised by just how effective his leg kicks were, Lawler seemed to suggest afterwards his leg was ok but man he can't have been far from blowing that knee out. And an awesome comeback and accuracy from Lawler, I love that kid, so happy he won it.

Oh dear, watch out, Troy Waugh is back for the Walker-Nagy fight! Again, yes Walker is dominating the fight, but you can't stop a fight JUST because the guy is covering up, he has to be covering up AND being punched. This is probably the first fight in history that is going to go down as a TKO due to shoulder punches! Haha, absolutely ridiculous. As far as Walker - I was impressed, to an extent. A fantastic debut, but clearly has tons to learn. He could have finished it with a keylock at least 5 times, and a rear naked choke on at least two separate occasions, but in general he looked good, and for a guy making his debut at 47 you can't be too critical. He'll never be a contender though, and he HAS to drop down to light heavyweight. A heavyweight fight contested at 210-215 pounds? That's a ridiculous sideshow match-up right there that you'd never see in a proper organisation, obviously they're not cutting anything so they're actually weighing 10-15 pounds LESS than a respectable light heavyweight would fight at. Nagy was a total walkover and was never in it.

Women now, Santos-Coenen. Very impressed with Santos really. I have no idea why they kept mentioning people doubting her cardio, ferreal? Maybe, I dunno, but she has always looked like a machine to me, and she totally proved it. I literally cannot imagine any current female 145er being able to even come close to her, she's now beaten a prominent striker and a prominent BJJ artist. I don't claim to know much about the rest of the female fighters out there, but I just hope that some crazy-ass bodybuilding girls just like her are in the gym training now, otherwise her career is going to remain extremely one-sided. One point of interest - referee Jorge Ortiz telling Cyborg not to hold the cage in Portuguese or Spanish, not sure which but the first time in US MMA I've heard that done in a non-English language.

And the main event, Diaz-Žaromskis. First thing I'm thinking jesus christ it's bloody Troy Waugh again. Two awful refereeing performances earlier on the main card, and he has the cheek to kiss the sky when he's announced? Troy, even God himself thinks you're a rubbish referee. Anyway, the fight was the best of the evening by far, an absolutely brilliant round/fight, thoroughly enjoyed. I'm totally not afraid to admit that I love Nick Diaz (I decided this before he won by the way!), a great personality for the sport even if he's a bit of a douchebag. Enjoyed him sticking his oar in about the Nate-Maynard decision at UFC FN21. And they actually called him Captain Cannabis, brilliant! 100 triathlons, dude's a serious stud. His boxing, but perhaps even more noticeably, his chin, was a step above of what Žaromskis could offer. But once again, a really unprofessional stoppage. Now, it might not look like it at first, but have another look. YES it was the right time to stop it, Diaz destroyed him at the end and clearly won the fight, but it is ONLY that clear that it was the right time for the stoppage BECAUSE of the way Žaromskis reacted afterwards, staying down and staying dazed on the floor for ages. When Troy Waugh actually stopped the fight, there's no way he could have been sure that it was truly over. In my opinion, and I'm not a brutal guy, but unless the guy is all the way out, as in an actual knockout, you HAVE to let Diaz land a shot whilst Žaromskis is knocked down. Troy Waugh just stopped it as soon as Žaromskis was knocked over. My point is, 9 times out of 10 if you stop a fight in that position, it will be an early and very poor stoppage. This 1 time, it turned out to be correct, but that doesn't make it the right decision. I hope I've explained that nicely!

The other big issue was that I stayed up til 2:00am to watch the Hieron-Riggs fight on the EA Sports MMA game website, and that completely failed. First up they FORCED you to sign up for a newsletter to be able to see it, which in my eyes is wrong in the first place. But it didn't even say that you HAD to do that to watch it, the language it used made it sound like "oh hey, while you're here, why don't you sign up?" - I had to refresh the page about 10 times waiting for the stream to start before I decided to try signing up to the newsletter. So finally I get on, about 2:10am, and it starts playing adverts for the video game, doing some previews for the main card show and so on, looks all good. And then, by accident, I clicked on the webpage around the edge, and I couldn't believe it, the video window closed! Seriously, one of the worst designed interactive websites I've ever seen, where just a simple accidental click can destroy all the refreshing, all the waiting, and all the streaming you've done. If clicking anywhere closes the video, why is the orange cross button there at all? Made me so mad... at this point I had no choice but to refresh the page, by which time the whole server had been taken down by people trying to view the fight, so no one got to see it anyway. One of the worst online video failures ever.

What else? Normal rubbish commentary - three commentators DOES NOT work, two is the optimum number. Showed so much in the Walker fight, they ended up arguing at times. Frank Shamrock is saying "Nagy is in a good position to stop Walker's attacks" (this was in the first round) and then Mauro Ranallo says "actually I disagree, Walker is totally dominating him and Nagy is not in a good position at all". First of all, Shamrock at this point was right. Secondly, it was just SO obvious that Ranallo had been told by the Strikeforce officials that he was supposed to be building up Walker and making him sound better than he was. Yes, I guess we all know this from the matchmaking in the first place, but making it even more obvious in the commentary was just so inexcusable. I lose so little respect for Strikeforce for that, basically asking Ranallo to lie to build up Walker so he's a more marketable prospect in the future. Worst thing is of course that Ranallo DOES know fighting, he knows better than the crap he was actually saying.

The referees stand way too close to the fighters most the time, getting right in the way. It doesn't help that Showtime slash Strikeforce (I'm not exactly sure which is responsible for controlling the cinematography) really don't know how to film MMA. Sometimes the referee blocks the view of the fighters for 5-10 seconds without the camera angle changing or anyone telling the referee to move. In the Cyborg fight, at one point there was a camera guy in full view who hadn't turned his flashlight off and shined it full brightness at the screen for a few seconds. So unprofessional. And in the same fight at one point when Coenen was on the ground they use the overhead camera shot, but leave it there for way too long. The overhead shot really gives you very little idea on what is really going on because you lose all depth perception.

So yeah, good fights, basically ruined by Strikeforce, Showtime and EA.
Awful organisation, awful planning, awful refereeing, awful camerawork, same old awful interviews from ***"flaming" text removed by staff, one more time and you will be banned from the forum, read the rules!****

EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS EVENT WOULD BE BETTER IF THE UFC HAD RUN IT.

Rant over.

Its so easy to sit behind a desk and be negative... I dont see no point in it.

I still think it was an awesome event, and Im really happy that its not UFC and everything isnt UFC.

Go Strikeforce!

As a point of order, you can't blame Strikeforce, or any MMA org for that matter, for poor reffing. Referees are employed by the athletic commission that sanctions the event and are in no way affiliated with the fight promotion.

While I agree that a three man booth is a bad idea, I don't think the commentary or post-fight interviews are any more or less painful than those of the UFC. The state of MMA commentary is incredibly poor across the board, even in the UFC. If you think Ranallo was trying to build up Walker in his commentary I invite you to listen to almost ANY higher level fight that Joe Rogan comments on. He seems to frequently favor particular fighters in his commentary.

One thing I think Strikeforce should consider is never putting Shamrock in front of the camera. He is clearly uncomfortable and stiff on camera, and it starts the evening off with awkwardness. I wonder what happened to Gus Johnson? He made up for his lack of MMA knowledge with a very professional and smooth broadcasting presence. He also didn't have adult braces, which just look silly on camera. It seems petty, but the appearance of your broadcast team is important in adding a sense of polish and professionalism.

Yes people be surprised, I watched this event already whilst normally it takes me ages to see certain events hehehe.

Now for the event itself. I must say I was a bot disappointed as a Dutchman. Manhoef was doing very well and I think Lawler's first punch was a bit of a lucky strike but he did jump in for the kill right after, which made it very effective. Great move Robbie. I think Manhoef was too hungry for the finish therefore dropping his guard and POW, lights out and then 2 more to close the curtains (I think the last punch was a bit too eager as Manhoef was already out but I guess that is the adrenaline) And Lenoz, Lawler did mention in the interview afterwards that Manhoef was kicking the crap out of his legs and that he will need to rest them.

Thumbs up for the 47 year old. He really looked strong and fit Just like they said at Sirius XM Fight Club. Sure Walker will not be the best of the best but for someone new to this scene he was very focussed and calm. The fight itself was not the most explosive one to watch but some just like the ground they Walk(er) on.

For Sims I have just a few words. No chance, unfit and no contest for Lashley who does look very massive (so does Sims but then more like some guy from Burger King to be honest).

Cyborg won fair and of course I hoped Coenen would win but she was too slow and well just not strong enough. I did not know Cyborg nor Coenen for that matter but I was impressed by Cyborgs way of power and also the way she could take a hit.

Last but not least the main event. I liked that match a lot even though it was short. Why? I just like kicking and hitting more than ground fights. Diaz threw so many punches at Zaromskis, it was like a machine gun fired at him. Zaromskis tried to do the same and almost got away with it when Diaz was hit but Diaz recovered nicely. What I did hate after the match was those people surrounding Diaz and the way he did the interview. All those helpers showing those caps and t-shirts making sure it was in the picture...I do hate it when they overdo that. Let him wear a T-shirt and maybe a cap (he took it off himself) and leave it to that. Also the questions asked were just ignored and all that was basically said was thanks to some people and mostly sponsors. I know like EA sports always mentions, IT is in the game but do answer questions for the fans man.

Overall a nice event, I liked the stats after the games and I think Strikeforce is doing pretty well. Dutch disappointment surely as mentioned before but that is MMA, one blow can change the day. Concerning the referee as Lenoz mentioned. I think he was right about stopping the fights but with Walker I can agree with you, that could have been continued, although it is all about the question: does the opponent fight back or not. Nagy did not really do fight anymore so I can live with the TKO.

What else? Normal rubbish commentary - three commentators DOES NOT work, two is the optimum number. Showed so much in the Walker fight, they ended up arguing at times. Frank Shamrock is saying "Nagy is in a good position to stop Walker's attacks" (this was in the first round) and then Mauro Ranallo says "actually I disagree, Walker is totally dominating him and Nagy is not in a good position at all". First of all, Shamrock at this point was right. Secondly, it was just SO obvious that Ranallo had been told by the Strikeforce officials that he was supposed to be building up Walker and making him sound better than he was. Yes, I guess we all know this from the matchmaking in the first place, but making it even more obvious in the commentary was just so inexcusable. I lose so little respect for Strikeforce for that, basically asking Ranallo to lie to build up Walker so he's a more marketable prospect in the future. Worst thing is of course that Ranallo DOES know fighting, he knows better than the crap he was actually saying.

The referees stand way too close to the fighters most the time, getting right in the way. It doesn't help that Showtime slash Strikeforce (I'm not exactly sure which is responsible for controlling the cinematography) really don't know how to film MMA. Sometimes the referee blocks the view of the fighters for 5-10 seconds without the camera angle changing or anyone telling the referee to move. In the Cyborg fight, at one point there was a camera guy in full view who hadn't turned his flashlight off and shined it full brightness at the screen for a few seconds. So unprofessional. And in the same fight at one point when Coenen was on the ground they use the overhead camera shot, but leave it there for way too long. The overhead shot really gives you very little idea on what is really going on because you lose all depth perception.

So yeah, good fights, basically ruined by Strikeforce, Showtime and EA.
Awful organisation, awful planning, awful refereeing, awful camerawork, same old awful interviews from ***"flaming" text removed by staff, one more time and you will be banned from the forum, read the rules!****

EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS EVENT WOULD BE BETTER IF THE UFC HAD RUN IT.

Rant over. [/quote]

Lenoz agreed and you wrote most of what i was gonna write...the production was awful, camera men had me and subs going ape..How many times did the camera get hit by someone.
Over all fights were good..felt bad for manhoff and the walker fight was not pro level, Santos is a man...what a fighter she is.

generally did like the show myself , even tho 5 short fights. less is more and i mean my amount of text

Not sure how luck has anything to do with that punch. Manhoef often drops his guard when he's about to flurry on someone. While I was impressed with his gameplan and thought he looked really good early on, I knew it was only a matter of time before he flurried and Lawler caught him with a counter. Apparently Robbie thought so as well, as he stated that was his gameplan in his post-fight interview. Kinda risky, but it plays to Robbie's strengths to fight a guy like Melvin, who always gets over-eager for the finish and drops his guard. Not to mention his somewhat suspect chin.

Although I didn't do so well on my picks for this card (7-4), this is one of three fights that I called pretty easily (the others being Diaz/Zaromskis and Cyborg/Coenen).

This has to be the lamest card I have ever watched on any MMA event. It was like watching WWF (shows how long ago I watched that). The "winners" were set up with guys that had little skills or at least didn't show any. The Lawler fight the only acception, but it just wasn't a well matched fight. Thanks for the upload, but what a dissapointment. I will be weary about wasting time watching Strikeforce again, they hype themselves up but need tremendous work on their match making to succeed in the MMA world. UFC isn't the only show in town but if other programs can only put together junk like this they will be.

JMO

You're entitled to your opinion, but if this was the lamest card you've ever seen you must not have watched MMA for very long. You can definitely make the case that the Lashley and Walker fights were poorly matched but I can't see how any self-respecting MMA fan could walk away disappointed with Cyborg/Coenen, Diaz/Zaromskis, and Lawler/Manhoef. For the roster Strikeforce has there was nothing wrong with the matchmaking for those three fights.

If you didn't like the performances of particular fighters, then that has nothing to do with Strikeforce. It seems like people want to blame the promotion for things that are beyond it's control, such as bad reffing and the in-ring performance of the fighters.

Cyborg/Coenen - Cyborg hasn't been tested on the ground with a top submission fighter like Coenen, so this was a good matchup with tremendous potential. There also wasn't an appreciable size difference as there is in many women's fights. Coenen wasn't able to show that much but that is not the matchmaking.

Diaz/Zaromskis - Diaz is a really skilled fighter, but is very hit-able. Zaromskis has major artillery in both hands and feet. This was an intriguing bit of matchmaking for me. It ended up being one-sided, but again that isn't the fault of Strikeforce.

Lawler/Manhoef - This was an exciting matchup that lived up to the potential. It showed what makes Lawler great (his power and countering ability) and also what keeps him from greatness (his one-dimensional style and unwillingness to check leg kicks).

My only major complaint about the card was the decision to relegate Hieron/Riggs to the internet stream (which didn't even work) while putting Lashley and Walker on TV. I can understand why these two need to be shown on TV but either Lashley or Walker should have been moved to another card to make room for skilled and experienced MMA fighters.