Despite the pillaging of talent by the UFC, Strikeforce still has an entertaining card on tap for tonight. Gilbert Melendez, one of the few Strikeforce champs not plucked by the UFC, makes the 3rd defense of his Lightweight title against Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal, a product of the same bare knuckle, street fighting 'circuit' as Kimbo Slice, is a difficult match for anyone at 155. Despite the street fighting background, his boxing technique is as solid as almost anyone in the sport and he brings good power in both his punches and kicks. If Melendez can't get this to the ground, he loses in my opinion as Masvidal will bust him with his reach advantage and superior boxing skill. The other championship bout on the card features possibly the most dominant champion in MMA. Albiet female MMA, Cristiane Santos has no peers. Whether it's testosterone, horse meat, urine shakes or just amazing genetics, Cyborg is on a different planet as other female fighters. She defends against Hiroko Yamanaka, who has good size and grappling, but will quickly realize, like most of Cyborg's opponents, that this is just a different animal. Also on the card, and the bout I am most looking forward to, is Strikeforce Challengers Series product Ovince St. Preux squaring off against near-legend Gegard Mousasi. Mousasi who is looking to rebound from his last Strikeforce appearance, a disapointing draw with Keith Jardine, will be solidly tested by the physically strong St. Preux. Main card (Showtime) Lightweight Championship bout: Gilbert Melendez (c) vs. Jorge Masvidal Women's Featherweight Championship bout: Cristiane Santos (c) vs. Hiroko Yamanaka Light Heavyweight bout: Gegard Mousasi vs. Ovince St. Preux Lightweight bout: KJ Noons vs. Billy Evangelista
anyone giving masvidal a chance? i thought he looked pretty good in dominating noons. melendez should lose on purpose so he'd get transferred over to ufc. haha.
Masvidal is going to win. I see him boxing and defending take downs on his way to a UD. Melendez will waste time in the first couple rounds trying to strike with Masvidal only to resort to take downs later that will be predictable. If Melendez wins this one easily, he needs to come to the UFC and get the winner of Hendo-Edgar.
melendez right hand won that fight. seemed like all he really had but it was enough. had never seen him before. he landed some hard shots and masvidal was apprehensive to press harder
Melendez is a great fighter. His specialty is his ground game so i was surprised he stayed up the whole fight. He needs to be in the UFC right away.
Beating Masvidal standing is a hell of an accomplishment. Melendez is ready for a shot at the big time. I loved him daring the UFC to send some fighters his way rather than asking to move the UFC. By the way, this just in, Mousasi is ordinary.
But he's getting paid to compete. So either he lacks the mental toughness or he doesn't have the desire to be great. In a combat sport, he needs both of those unless he's planning a career as a tomatocan.
Unless your talent level is off the scale, then yes training and dedication is a big part of being elite/great etc.
He trains his skills, but he doesnt train to fight. This man is always putting seminars together and teaching/training, but he doesnt train to fight. I think in 2011, i have gotten maybe 25 invitations to train at his seminars. I always wondered when this man has time to fight. And the next thing you know, he is scheduled to fight and im shocked. But the guy has only lost 1 time in the past 5 years.
He doesn't have the desire to be great, or he wouldn't train less than optimal. He may have beautiful technique, but if he knows he's going to be fighting a skilled competitor and doesn't train as hard as he can to be prepared for it, he's showing he just doesn't have that desire to be the best. Sounds like Jose Luis Lopez.
Like you said, he doesn't train to fight, which makes me wonder why he bothers. I guess he figures there's enough money to be made by being relatively close to the top and not putting out as much effort as he needs to be champion. Damn shame.
That's ok, you just said it wrong. When you said "he doesnt lack the desire to be great", I thought you were debating the point further. All good in the 'hood.
I was shocked at how easily Melendez beat Masvidal, the whooping he put on KJ noons was way worse than what Diaz did to Noons. I thought he's be able to beat Gilbert standing. Melendez is looking damn good lately and it's lame that he is not coming tot he UFC any time soon, at least according to Dana White he's not.
Gotta admit, I'm surprised Melendez beat Masvidal standing. Masvidal is a very solid stand up fighter. What kind of a match was it? Worth watching? What was it about Bert's standup that had success?
He was landing the right hand at will basically. Madvidal must have respected his power, because he never went for broke and rarely threw more than one at a time.
Yeah, but let's be honest, he hasn't fought ANY of the elite 205'ers in the world since maybe Jacare back in 2008. And even in that fight he basically lucked out catching Souza with an up-kick in a fight he was losing. If this version of Mousasi was fighting in the top guys, like Machida, Evans, Rua, Jones, Rampage, Henderson, etc, he would have a handful of loses. And I've liked the guy since he won the Dream MW tourney, but there is nothing lately that even hints at him being elite. And I can't help but thinking that he's another guy that has benefited in MMA by fighting outside the UFC and avoid the great wrestlers in the sport. The way he looked against King Mo, who was the first D-1 wrestler he ever faced, my guess is that Mousasi would have been an average fighter in the UFC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_SeSrOaB4&feature=player_embedded#! Here, Mousasi says he only had one trainer for this fight, his wrestling coach. Crazy.
He should only work on wrestling since that is his major weakness. His striking has always been well above average. His TDD, no so much.
