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I was just getting used to watching the Elite XC fights on CBS as well as watching the WEC on Versus TV but the Elite XC league did not last long. I found out the fighters moved to Showtime under Strikeforce so I signed up for a Showtime deal from my local cable company! The first fight I found was the Shamrock vs. Diaz show that also hosted the Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos vs. Hitomi Akano fight!
To be sure the CBS Elite XC fights were kind of a let down as the competition did not seem up to other organization’s standards; still it was free so I watched. I found Gina Carano really stole the show! The fight I was waiting for was Carano vs. Cyborg but the fights fizzled on CBS. I am going to talk about women MMA fighters today and review the Cyborg vs. Akano and Shamrock vs. Diaz matches. Let watch the first video.
Santos came in 7 pounds overweight but Akano agreed to the fight. Santos mostly avoided the ground game except for some ground striking. Akano was trying to fight on the ground as she could not really hang with Santo’s strikes. Akano kept trying for the slick jumping arm and leg locks but she was overpowered in the 3rd round.
Now I like watching women fight because I think they are great role models for other women. If women compete at every level of the martial arts, it is easy for women to believe they can defend themselves – a common theme in this blog. Strikeforce seems to be trying to let women fighters get a foothold and the fans seem to like it. The WEC and UFC don’t have female MMA yet as far a I know but as more woman fighters want to compete in MMA… that will eventually happen.
I watched the other fights on the card but was disappointed with the main event featuring Shamrock vs. Diaz. First off Diaz was not very respectful. This was kind of like pro wrestling where they had their feud before the match and did not even tap gloves. I guess they were trying for whatever advantage they could muster. Well watch these fights if you want and you will see what I am talking about. I should say that Diaz did show respect to Shamrock at the end of the match.
Diaz easily outclassed Shamrock and seemed to be taunting him during the match. I noticed that while Diaz was measuring Shamrock the whole time – he did not have much of a defense. I guess he did not think he needed it with Shamrock’s shorter reach. I can only guess that Shamrock was trying to avoid going to the ground so he was not really committing with his short strikes. At one point Diaz stuck out his chin and did not cover very well. All in all a disappointing loss for Shamrock but Diaz easily had more tools.
I am waiting to see Carano vs. Cyborg when that happens as they both have a lot of heart. It will also be interesting to see Strikeforce grow as a league and mature. The fight I am most looking forward to is the WEC match between Brown and Faber 2, on Versus TV June 7th!
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June 26th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Not sure if you realize it or not, but the above link to the YouTube video has been removed by YouTube for Terms Of Use violation.