I’ll be doing live play by play at Strikeforce: Fedor Vs. Werdum including the prelims, which starts shortly. Until then, you can read the preview I did last night about the top four fights.

But thanks to Dave Meltzer, here’s what’s happened so far:

Bobby Stack beat Derrick Burnsed in what looked like a fun three rounder.

Stack won by split decision.

Yancey Medeiros defeated Gareth Joseph by second round TKO.

Brett Bergmark beat Vagner Rocha by decision.

Chris Cope stopped Ron Keslar in the last prelim.

I am finally in my seat and ready to go.

5. Pat Healy vs. Josh Thomson

Really good grappling battle in the first round. Healy was aggressive with his wrestling and when Thomson was trying to get out of his grasp, he was dogged. Thomson grabbed an arm twice and looked to have an arm bar, but Healy got out of it, got his back, and then they were back on their feet. Healy also pulled off an awesome back suplex.

Healy is relentless. He took him down with a big slam and just stayed on top for half the round. Thomson looks tired. He’s been fighting off his back for nearly the entire fight, but he has been working from it. It was Healy’s round, and based what the judges thought of his relentlessness in the first, he could be up 2-0.

After standing up for half the round and neither guy getting an advantage, Healy took him down again. Thomson switched positions with him and
got his back. He sunk in the rear naked choke and Healy moved around in it for awhile before tapping. Wow.

Winner: Josh Thomson by way of 3rd round submission

There’s a good amount of people in here, but it’s really not as full as I thought it would be come main card time. Fedor’s face on the big screen got a big pop. Werdum looks way too happy to be fighting Fedor. Not a ton of people seem to know Allistair Overeem.

6. Jan Finney vs. Cris Cyborg
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I didn’t have the chance to get the FGB crew’s picks for this weekend’s Strikeforce card, but I wanted to give my quick picks here.

Josh Thomson vs. Pat Healy

I haven’t seen Pat Healy fight but one time, and honestly, I don’t remember much about that fight. He has a pedestrian record, but if you look deeper into his fights, he’s beaten several fighters who are in the upper echelon of the welterweight division like Carlos Condit, Dan Hardy, and Paul Daley. But that was many years ago. He hasn’t beat anyone of note since 2006 when he beat Condit.

Also, the fight is at 155, which is where The Punk is most comfortable. I’m not sure how long Healy’s been fighting at 155, but he did make weight today. I have to believe that unless he’s injured, Punk is going to win the fight. He’s at the top of his game and a third fight with Gilbert Melendez is what I assume he’s looking forward to. I have The Punk winning by decision.

Cris Cyborg vs. Jan Finney

This is one of the more unfortunate fights that’s been booked in a while. Take a look at Finney’s career. Any name that she’s ever fought, she lost. And she’s a true 135 pounder moving up in weight to face someone who probably walks around at 170 pounds.
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F4W is reporting that Keith Jardine was released from his UFC contract after losing to Matt Hamill on last weekend’s Ultimate Fighter Finale.

It may be time for Jardine to consider an exit strategy from the fight business. He’s racked up four back to back losses, and taken a ton of punishment in the process. Even prior to that current string of defeats, he had suffered some pretty devastating KO’s at the hands of Wanderlei Silva and Houston Alexander. His punch resistance is clearly deteriorating, and he’s really struggled when pressured in recent fights.

Keith seems like a genuinely good guy, but I don’t know how much money there is to be made outside of UFC for him. He’s had some big nights over the course of his career, but it’s difficult to see how he can turn the ship around at this point. The timing might be right for him to move on to other things.

The draw for Wednesday night’s Super Middleweight Prizefighter tournament has just been announced. The card takes place at London’s York Hall, and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from 9pm British time.

Patrick Mendy (5-4) vs. Sam Horton (15-2)
Daniel Cadman (11-4) vs. Eddie McIntosh (10-1)
Jeff Evans (3-0) vs. Peter Fedorenko (5-2)
Tony Salam (9-1) vs. Paul David (10-4)

I like Eddie McIntosh in this one.

Yesterday, still 10 days before UFC’s biggest fight of the year, Stone Cold Steve Austin made two predictions.

After watching Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin again, he made a simple prediction for Lesnar/Carwin:

I got Brock.

But it was his second prediction that was eyebrow raising.

He said:

I predict Carwin – Lesnar will be the biggest UFC ppv to date.

I think it’d be a huge surprise if Lesnar vs. Carwin did close to the 1.6 million buys that Lesnar vs. Mir did last summer. But Austin is one of the biggest money draws of all-time, so he knows what he’s talking about.

I replied to him and made sure that he meant of all-time and not just this year, but he never replied back.

For the record, right now, I think it will do 1 million buys even. Though, based on the last week of build up, I may change my mind.

James Toney decides to cut one promo on both guys. He’s not wasting time here.