David Estrada, Jr
CNHI
BEAUMONT —
Strikeforce: Houston last weekend ended up being a very entertaining event for Southesast Texas fans and the national audience tuning into Showtime. Although a great event for viewers, Strikeforce: Houston may be seen as a short term loss and long term win for Strikeforce.
Of the three high profile bouts, including the two for championship titles, all three of the popular fighters lost. These were fighters who were quickly becoming the face of Strikeforce.
The first of the high profile fighters to go down was former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley. He entered MMA with much fanfare and went undefeated until last weekend when he faced Chad Griggs. Early in the bout, Lashley was totally in charge using his wrestling skills to mount Griggs and lay down a ground and pound attack.
Unfortunately for Lashely, he gassed out. He landed many non-power punches on Griggs and tired himself out. Griggs took advantiage of the depleted Lashley, turned the tide on the muscular fighter and defeated him by TKO. Lashley
simply could not continue after the second round bell and the fight was called.
In the second high profile bout of the evening, the highly touted Texan, Tim Kennedy was set to take the Strikeforce middleweight title. Strikeforce has cultivated the Army Green Beret on its prior events. The real life hero who's
had stints in Iraq and Afghanistan would be a perfect title holder for Strikeforce.
Kennedy lost by judges' decision to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. MMA followers remember Jacare from the Japanese DREAM promotion, but the non-English speaking Brazilian is a relative unknown to casual fans. Jacare was more the aggressor throughout which clearly factored in the decision.
The final of the three high profile bouts was for the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship. The flamboyant Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal was set to defend his title for the first time against lesser known Rafael "Feijao"
Cavalcante. This bout was an absolute back and forth war full of excitement.
Early in the first round, King Mo pulled a page from Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's book and body slammed Feijao to the canvas. The slam brought the Toyota Center crowd to its feet.
The decisive third round was full of attacks and counter-attacks. The momentum swayed in Feijao's after he received desperation body shots from King Mo. Feijao countered with a powerful knee to head of Mo and ended the fight with elbow strikes to the head.
These three marketable fighters going down coincides with the recent losses of
two other prominent Strikeforce fighters - Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko.
Ultimately this is good news for fans and a long term win for Strikeforce. Today's upsetters will be next year's headliners. Fans know this isn't the dark times of boxing where some outcomes were predetermined. Strikeforce president
Scott Coker signs the fighters, lines up the bouts, and what happens is in their hands.
This all plays into the soap opera that is MMA. Underdogs have struggled to rise to the top and others will fight back another day to redeem themselves.
David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. He an be e-mailed at DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com
