BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

On Saturday night, Strikeforce reminded me of Johnny Blockbuster, the local punk from my hood who sold and delivered me fireworks back in the day. The only difference was Strikeforce didn't charge me any money for my stash. Here it is, early December, freezing temperatures, and Christmas is a few weeks away. The last thing you expect is fireworks. Well, fireworks we got. Any MMA fan who was smart enough to watch Strikeforce's Showtime card on Saturday night from St. Louis was treated to a night of highly entertaining fights and some of the most vicious knockouts we've seen in a long time. If you chose to watch the UFC's "Ultimate Fighter" finale on Spike TV instead, you made a big mistake. The UFC card was marred with yet another horrendous judging decision and for the most part, lackluster fights. Strikeforce was just about as exciting as ANY mixed martial arts card in recent memory. Actually, in distant memory. Just from a talent level and match-up perspective, it was a no-brainer opting to watch Strikeforce live and DVRing the UFC. On one hand, Strikeforce was showcasing experienced, world class, seasoned fighters in quality match-ups. On the other hand, the UFC was showcasing a combination of up and coming talent with a few veterans sprinkled on top. To expect the UFC to compete with Strikeforce on a head to head basis just isn't fair in this instance. That said, this isn't about which show was better, its about how impressive Strikeforce's card was all by itself. They really needed a show like that to give them a shot in the arm and to prove to all the haters and naysayers that they aren't going away anytime soon. As a company, Strikeforce is as tough, hard and resilient as the fighters they put in the cage on fight nights. To say there was fireworks is actually an understatement. It was more like a scud missile attack. We're talking intense, violent, exciting fights with nasty KO after nasty KO after nasty KO. Did I mention that there were multiple nasty KO's?!?



The show started off with a LHW fight featuring Ovince Saint Preux(OSP) and Benji Radach. Benji not only took the fight on short notice but he also jumped up a weight class. Those two factors along with a 3 inch height and 7 inch reach disadvantage all spelled trouble for Radach. The 1st round was especially brutal for Benji. OSP thoroughly dominated, riding his back for the last 3 minutes while blasting him with several dozen strikes to the back and sides of his dome. Benji must have been hearing thunderclaps in his head after each of those heavy blows he took. The 2nd round was more of the same, same position, same limited defense from Benji. He wasn't "intelligently defending himself" in any way, shape or form. The only good thing for Benji was that after "blocking all those punches with his head" OSP seemed to shoot his cardio load. That's what made the 3rd round interesting. Amazingly, OSP secured the exact same position again after Benji came out throwing bombs, landing a few, but eventually getting caught with a counter punch. The rest of the fight was rather uneventful, both fighters showing the fatigue that the giving and taking of a protracted beating will bring. OSP earned a well deserved unanimous decision. Was it a good fight? Yes, but nothing like what the rest of the card was about to deliver.

Next up was an excellent scrap between Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and the tough veteran, Mike Kyle. Kyle normally fights at 205 and was outweighed by 44 pounds in this fight. I honestly didn't expect much from Mike but I was quickly proven wrong. Not 30 seconds into the fight, Kyle dropped Bigfoot with a perfectly thrown, BIG, right cross. He proceeded to hammerfist the crap out of the big man who was somehow able to survive. Bigfoot remained active on his back and was eventually able to control Kyle, who seemed a touch winded and didn't want to completely drain his gas tank. Silva rode out the round which could easily have been a 10-8 stanza for the underdog Kyle. Being the absolute beast that he is, Bigfoot came out in the 2nd round determined to show what he's made of. That he undoubtedly did! Silva got a TD and proceeded to brutalize Kyle with some vicious GnP. He almost sunk in an anaconda choke, couldn't quite finish it and transitioned to full mount. It was all over from there. After a dozen or so varied, BIG, punishing strikes, Kyle was out cold. It was a very enjoyable fight with each fighter having a chance to finish, but only one being able to do so. Props to Kyle for taking a fight with such a massive, talented fighter like Bigfoot and on short notice. At 205, Kyle can and will do serious damage. King Mo better be ready for some of that because Mike is coming to make some noise. If they end up fighting, I think Kyle puts a bad beating on Mo. Let's go, Rich Chou, book that fight already, Coker will be all for it!

The third fight on the card was a classic striker/grappler match-up between two old school veterans, Robbie Lawler and Matt Lindland. "Ruthless" couldn't have been any more ruthless than he was in that fight. He ruthlessly and unapologetically put the former Olympic wrestler into practically a comatose state. At least that's what it looked like. The dude was motionless on the mat for a while. Lindland took an unusually long time to wake up from the devastating combination that dropped him and the diving right hand that left him in that unscheduled slumber. This was no cat nap, dude was in a deep sleep! In fact, he was sleeping for at least quadruple the length of time that the entire fight lasted. It was a bit scary for several tense minutes. Lindland finally came to but still didn't seem to have much of his faculties.. He was "on vacation" for quite a while. It was amazingly quick, amazingly violent and amazingly enjoyable to watch!

From literally the second the match-up between Scott Smith and Paul Daley was announced we all knew someone was getting knocked the fuck out. No doubt, this was a quintessential KTFO style fight. With nicknames like "Hands of Steel" and "Semtex", how could it not be explosive? Everyone knew how this fight was going to end. The questions were, who was going to be standing at the end and who was going to wake up not knowing what year it is? Unfortunately for Scott Smith, he took an unexpected lesson in the art of the faceplant. It only took Semtex 2 minutes to land of on the sickest, most brutal left hook knockouts I've ever seen. Smith's hands might be made of steel but his nose definitely isn't. When he finally dragged himself off the mat, his honker looked busted from directly smashing the canvas as hard as it did, not from any punch. Again, amazingly quick, amazingly violent and amazingly enjoyable to watch. Smart move, Dana, who needs Semtex? Dumb ass!

After all of that high paced MMA madness, we still had the main event left. The rematch between Babalu and Hendo was 10 years in the making. Nothing about the first fight had any bearing on the second. Both dudes are completely different fighters now with a decade of training, evolving, experience and dozens of fights under their belts since. Hendo needed the win badly and he got it in superb fashion. Babalu is an excellent fighter who, unfortunately, doesn't always fight like an excellent fighter. This was another one of those fights. Don't get it twisted, Hendo most definitely beat him down, but with Babalu, his inconsistency is always an issue. His chin can also join the party of reasons he's never totally fulfilled his potential. Once Big John McCarthy commanded, "let's get it on", I knew I'd again be reminded of Johnny Blockbuster. After a minute of feeling each other out Hendo loaded up those fists and dropped some heavy artillery on Babalu. Forget blockbusters, Dan has dynamite is his hands, especially his right. As soon as he postured up to start blasting Babalu with his nasty GnP, it was over. Chin issues aside, no one could have absorbed the bombs Hendo dropped. Mauro Ranallo called his right hand, "H-Bomb". That is very apropos. All Dan needed was one word to describe the KO as he watched it on the big screen during his post-fight interview. That word was "ouch". Well said and 'nuff said, Hendo!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you hear that? The was the sound of Strikeforce blowing a huge hole in the mixed martial arts landscape on Saturday night! Let's just hope the "Average Joe/MMA Fan" heard the explosion as loud as the hardcores did. He deserves to know that there is a BIG mixed martial arts world out there beyond 3 small letters.