Apr 10
19
Strikeforce: Nashville Results
Well, I went oh-fer on my picks last week, as every one of my picks lost their fights. As my girlfriend said, “Wow, you’re really terrible at this.” She’s always there to boost my ego for me. 
The only fight I feel was remotely in question was Mousasi/Lawal. I didn’t feel that King Mo really did enough to win that fight, squeaking by with a victory courtesy of an illegal upkick by Mousasi that cost him a point in the fifth round. So imagine my surprise when the scores came in heavily slanted towards Lawal. Admittedly, Lawal dictated where the fight took place, but Mousasi was far more active in his striking than Lawal. Mousasi hardly took any damage, while Lawal came away from the fight bruised and swollen, albeit, with ten pounds of gold around his waist.
Melendez/Aoki was just a disappointment all around. Aoki was supposed to be the guy to prove that the Japanese could hang in Western MMA, and he came away looking as outclassed as Diego Sanchez did against BJ Penn. There was some questionable referee work by Mario Yamasaki in the fight, but nothing that changed an incredibly one-sided affair.
Lastly, Jake Shields shocked everyone, including Vegas odds makers, with a stunning title defense against Dan Henderson. Shields weathered a storm of shots by Henderson in the first round, punches I was sure would end the fight. After escaping the first round, Shields got back in his wheelhouse, took Henderson down, and mounted him at will, raining down fairly weak punches on Henderson. Every round from there on out was the same, peppered a bit with a submission attempt here or there. I would have loved to see Shields end the fight, but he doesn’t have devastating power from the mount, and elbows aren’t allowed on CBS broadcasts.
Sadly, an unexpected title defense turned into a bit of a black eye for Shields, Strikeforce, and CBS as a brawl broke out when Jason “Mayhem” Miller lived up to his moniker by confronting Shields and demanding a rematch. Shields shoved Miller, and a fight broke out with Shields camp attacking Miller. It was disgraceful, and I expected more from the Strikeforce poster-boy. Hopefully this won’t affect his UFC aspirations.
Jake Shields talks about his title defense, the brawl, and his contract negotiations in this interview with Loretta Hunt at Sherdog.com.