All I can say right now is this: God Bless America!
The fight card for today’s Strikeforce: Nashville boasted three title fights. It’s a great way to build a stacked card. The problem was that for each of the three title fights, the winner was just too obvious.
Gegard Mousasi would easily destroy Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. Shinya Aoki was going to take home Gilbert Melendez’ belt along with one of his limbs. Dan Henderson’s right hand was going to break every bone in Jake Shields’ face and knock him out for good measure.
Well … things didn’t go as planned. Not at all.
King Mo spent five rounds taking down and beating up Gegard Mousasi, completely outclassing the “The Dreamcatcher” and taking the Light Heavyweight crown in convincing fashion.
Gilbert Melendez was more than ready for Shinya Aoki’s submissions attacks. This was our first chance ever to see how good Shinya Aoki’s grappling game is without his crazy-bright neon pants – and most importantly, all the extra traction that they provide.
Apparently, Aoki ain’t all that great without his fancy pants. Melendez may have been over-cautious – probably not a bad idea when you face a guy with as many submission victories as Shinya Aoki – and the fight was kind of boring as a result.
In the end, Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez dominated the fight from start to finish and earned his first title defense as Strikeforce Lightweight champion.
I will update the article with the results of Jake Shields vs Dan Henderson once it’s done, but since both are from the good ol’ USA, a red, white and blue sweep is inevitable.
God Bless America – US Fighters Sweep Strikeforce: Nashville