Jan 30 2010
Strikeforce – Miami Play By Play: Nick Diaz Vs. Marius Zaromskis And Herschel Walker’s Debut
While Herschel Walker’s pro debut and Bobby Lashley’s Strikeforce debut have been more of the focal point of this show, it’s Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis that will be in the main event for the Strikeforce welterweight championship.
The rest of this card should be fun. Cris Cyborg is defending her title against Marloes Coenen and Robbie Lawler is fighting Melvin Manhoef in what should be a slugfest.
1. Bobby Lashley vs. Wes Sims
Well, we saw enough of Wes Sims on the last season of The Ultimate Fighter. Sims took the fight on one week notice and he doesn’t look in shape at all.
Sims tried to get Lashley to contest him in a test of strength but Lashley wasn’t having it. It wasn’t much of a fight. Lashley took Sims down and unloaded about 15 short rights to his face. Sims gave up his back because he couldn’t keep Lashley off and flattened himself out. Lashley landed a few more shots before the referee stopped the fight.
Winner: Bobby Lashley by way of 1st round TKO
2. Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
This might be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen inside the octagon. Manhoef was literally kicking Lawler’s lead leg three feet off the ground. Lawler’s leg was legitimately injured and even after the fight, he was limping badly. I’d never seen Lawler fight so defensively before. Manhoef started to tee off on Lawler as Lawler was just trying to stay alive. And all of a sudden, Manhoef dropped his guard for whatever reason and Lawler threw a quick right hook to drop him. He then followed up with a left hook on the ground and an unnecessary right to finish him. Manhoef was a mess on the ground and it took him a couple of minutes to find his bearings.
Winner: Robbie Lawler by 1st round TKO
3. Herschel Walker vs. Greg Nagy
For whatever reason, Nagy is pronounced “nudge”. Walker looks tremendous for a 21-year old athlete, let alone a man of 47.
Herschel showed a stiff jab and a little bit of showmanship early in the round. He took very short steps toward Nagy, but called him out. Nagy went for the takedown, but Walker stoned his attempt and got him to the ground. He was working the ground and pound and there was only one spot where he was even in a bit of trouble, which was when Nagy took a hold of his leg, but Walker got out of it. Walker’s round all the way.
The second round was even more impressive. He had Nagy flattened out and on his back, and then in the mount, and then he had Nagy on his side and in all of that, ground and pounding him. Nagy is flexible, but Walker’s strength is just too much for him.
The third round was much of the same, but the referee showed pity on Nagy and stopped the fight. Total domination.
Winner: Herschel Walker by way of 3rd round TKO
4. Cris Cyborg vs. Marloes Coenen
Give credit to Coenen for hanging in there. There wasn’t really a point where you thought the fight was going to end, but she took some shots. She got her shots in too, but Cyborg’s shots were more powerful. Not a completely dominating round for Cyborg, but a very strong round.
Cyborg pulled of a Hernandez move from TNA where he picks up the guys who are on their backs and on the floor. Coenen was on the ground and Cyborg lifted her up and threw her on the ground. Cyborg had another strong round. Coenen couldn’t keep her off. She tried a takedown and was stuffed and then allowed herself to be taken down. Cyborg was landing with ground and pound.
Coenen was game, but it wasn’t enough. She threw a nice right hand that caught Cyborg flush, but she didn’t even flinch. She got Coenen on the floor and was pounding her again until the referee finally stopped it.
Winner: Cris Cyborg by way of 3rd round TKO
5. Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis
This was an amazing first round. Zaromskis came out with super fast hands. Diaz looked a little surprised, but then he immediately found his range and was tagging Zarmoskis. You could tell that it wasn’t necessarily hurting Zaromskis, but more so just overwhelming him. He then put Zaromskis up against the cage and threw about 30 knee strikes into Zaramoskis’ thigh. Zaromskis caught Diaz and put him down, but he let Diaz stay there and rest. When they were back on their feet, Diaz was beating him to the punch again and Zaromskis was in trouble. Diaz threw a wicked uppercut that hurt Zaromskis and then put him down and the referee stopped it.
Winner: Nick Diaz by way of 1st round TKO
Nick is now the Strikeforce welterweight champion. Zaromskis is the Dream champion, but I’m not sure we’ll necessarily see a rematch in Japan.
Not a bad card, but, really, since this was on Showtime instead of PPV, couldn’t they have scheduled in another hour so they could have Joe Riggs vs. Jay Heiron on the TV? Trying to stream that over the Internet was HORRIBLE.
Are you doing an episode of FGB Radio this week? If so I’d love to come on and talk about the show. I can’t find anybody else to chat with anymore LOL. Poor Kev.
They were actually really smart to not put that fight on the Strikeforce card. It was terrible, from what everyone else has said.
Showtime still has to come in at a decent time. It’s not like they can book 5 whole hours for MMA. I imagine they do better ratings with other things, so sacrificing it for MMA wouldn’t necessarily be good.
We’re going to record tonight after the Rumble if you want to hang out.