Daniel Cormier defeated Josh Barnett by unanimous decision in the Strikeforce main event heavyweight tournament final on Showtime. Cormier dominated most of the fight and was a whitewash on two scorecards and just lost one round on the other. Barnett probably had his best moment of the fight when he clearly hurt Cormier with a knee near the end of the opening session, but Cormier still took the round. By the next round, Barnett was a bloody mess and in round three, Cormier even managed to slam Barnett on the mat like a rag doll showing off his wrestling talent. The big men slowed some late, but it was a good fight overall and impressive win for Cormier.
Gilbert Melendez defended his Strikeforce lightweight title against Josh Thomson in a split decision win. Melendez was more active in the first half of the fight. In round three, Thomson started to become more effective and it was probably the closest round of the match. As the fight progressed, Thomson became stronger while Melendez began to wilt and at the end of round four Thomson nearly completed a submission choke. In the final five minutes, it was evident that Thomson was beating down Melendez, but it became a difficult fight to score going the distance with a story of two halves. Fans booed in disfavor of the split decision win for Melendez, but it was a tough fight to score. Thomson also had to stop multiple times during the bout due to receiving unintentional eye pokes.
In the other televised undercards, "Feijao" Rafael Cavalcante won by submission via guillotine choke over Mike Kyle 33 seconds into round one after Kyle was rocked by a knee to the chin to help set up the early submission. Chris Spang also defeated Nah-Shon Burrell in a quick match with a left hook on the button followed by numerous hard knees to the head leading to the TKO win in round one.
Strikeforce- Daniel Cormier- Post Josh Barnett Interview- Showtime
Gilbert Melendez defended his Strikeforce lightweight title against Josh Thomson in a split decision win. Melendez was more active in the first half of the fight. In round three, Thomson started to become more effective and it was probably the closest round of the match. As the fight progressed, Thomson became stronger while Melendez began to wilt and at the end of round four Thomson nearly completed a submission choke. In the final five minutes, it was evident that Thomson was beating down Melendez, but it became a difficult fight to score going the distance with a story of two halves. Fans booed in disfavor of the split decision win for Melendez, but it was a tough fight to score. Thomson also had to stop multiple times during the bout due to receiving unintentional eye pokes.
In the other televised undercards, "Feijao" Rafael Cavalcante won by submission via guillotine choke over Mike Kyle 33 seconds into round one after Kyle was rocked by a knee to the chin to help set up the early submission. Chris Spang also defeated Nah-Shon Burrell in a quick match with a left hook on the button followed by numerous hard knees to the head leading to the TKO win in round one.
Strikeforce- Daniel Cormier- Post Josh Barnett Interview- Showtime
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