Current Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey made quick work of former Champ Sarah Kaufman at Strikeforce in San Diego on August 18th. Rousey retained her title by beating Kaufman with her signature and devastatingly effective armbar at just 54 seconds of the very first round. Rousey charged Kaufman hard at the bell firing off a couple punches, got her in a clinch to a takedown and then the armbar finish. The bout served as the main event for the show which aired live across the country, with the main card on Showtime and the prelims on Showtime Extreme.
The Co-Main Event was a possible play to see who is next in line for middleweight champion Luke Rockhold when Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza took on Derek Brunson. The fight lasted all of 41 seconds as Souza landed a heavy right hand that sent Brunson to the canvas.
Referee Mike Beltran and his amazing beard let the fight continue a bit so Souza fired off a couple more right hands until the ref called it a night for Brunson.
The fight definitely showed a difference in Jacare's skillset since the last time he fought and lost to Rockhold in Sept of 2011. Aftewards, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said a rematch between the two will definitely be looked into.
One of the night's most talked about bouts came in the last fight of the prelims. Former Strikeforce 135 lb Champion Miesha "Cupcake" Tate was making her comeback after losing her title to Rousey back in March and since rehabbing from an arm injury she sustained during that fight.
Tate faced Greg Jackson's MMA fighter Julie Kedzie and she knew she was in for a war with the veteran Kedzie as she walked out to the music from the movie Rocky. From the opening bell, Kedzie came out on fire, lighting Tate up with strikes and timing her perfectly. Kedzie continually stuffed Tate's takedowns and landed her strikes as in her corner, World-renowned MMA coach Greg Jackson, talked her through her next moves. Tate looked for the takedown the whole first and second rounds, but she got severely punished in doing so.
Tate sustained so many hard kicks and punches, it was amazing she had anything left to establish a rallying comeback for the third round... but she did! Tate sucked it up and went after Kedzie, stalking her and looking for the takedown once again. But she couldn't get it and continued to get beat up until she ate a huge shin kick to the face and collapsed. Tate wasn't out however and on the ground she took hold of Kedzie in a scramble, got an arm, and wasn't letting go. After a back and forth struggle over the arm, Tate finally forced Kedzie to tap at 3:28 in the final round in what can only be described as a true life "Rocky" performance!
In a lightweight matchup on the main card, Ovince St. Preux left the fans with a highlight reel KO after landing a clean left hook on T.J. Cook early in the third. Cook & St. Preux battled back and forth for two full rounds before the KO. The two fighters opened up round one with an amazing display of brawling to the crowd's delight
St. Preux thought he had Cook finished on the cage, but Cook fired back and got St Preux a bit unsteady. The two fighters beat on each other back and forth for a good round or so until the bout slowed down. Towards the end of round two, St. Preux took things to the ground and mounted Cook scoring points. In the third though, it was all she wrote for Cook at just 20 awesome seconds in as St. Preux hit Cook with a left and ended his night.
Tarec Saffiedine and Roger Bowling battled it out in a welterweight bout on the main card. Tarec was able to use his takedown defense to keep Bowling at bay, while at the same time was able to land clean kicks to score points and do damage in the clinch. After three rounds, the judges awarded Tarec a sweep 30-27 unanimous decision win over Bowling. However, Scott Coker said aftewards that he didn't feel the win was good enough to warrant an immediate title shot against newly crowned welterweight champ Nate Marquardt.
In the evening's first bout, Bobby Green showed the fans how to open up a show by bobbing and weaving his way to victory with an amazing display of footwork. Green was constantly moving and timing his opponent Matt Ricehouse, who himself was quick and punched well. But as the fight progressed, Green was able to read his punches and start throwing better combinations and knees.
Ricehouse ate a ton of these knees during the fight and it was amazing to see the amount of punishment Ricehouse could take and still dish out strikes. What was also amazing was Green's ability to listen and respond to his corner's voices.
Green talked to his cornermen through the fight, even saying "yes sir" after they asked him for certain combinations to follow up a punch or two... unreal! This was a great start to the event and both Green and Ricehouse fought their hearts out, but in the end it was Green who took home the unanimous decision win.
Strikeforce's next event will be Sept 29th in Sacramento when the NW's own Pat "Bam Bam" Healy gets his title shot against current 155 lb Champion Gilbert Melendez. Learn more at www.strikeforce.com.
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