A King Without a Crown: Feijao and Jacare take home titles, Griggs upsets Lashley at Strikeforce Houston

In the main event of the evening, Rafael  “Feijiao” Cavalcante knocked out “King” Muhammed Lawal at 1:14 of round three to capture the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship in an exciting back and forth affair. Feijao and King Mo spilt the first two rounds before the final frame, where both fighters came out headhunting for the knockout. Mo moved in with a pair of body shots when a big knee by Feijao sent King Mo crashing to the canvas. Mo managed to work his way to his feet but after absorbing several elbows to the head as King Mo pushed his opponent against the cage Referee Big John McCarthy decided that he had seen enough.

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza outpointed Tim Kennedy to take home the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Jacare took home the first two rounds with a reserved striking attack, effectively countering Tim Kennedy’s strikes with power hooks and crosses. Kennedy managed to land more strikes in the final two rounds but Jacare landed the stronger blows throughout the contest and bloodied the former Green Beret in route to the decision victory.

KJ Noons took home a controversial knockout victory over Jorge Gurgel. As usual, Jorge exchewed his BJJ pedigree and chose to valiantly stand and trade with Noons; however KJ’s high octane boxing was simply too much as KJ landed hard body shots at will. KJ landed a knockout out shot on Gurgel that was barely beaten by the bell but the true controversy came at the beginning of round 2. KJ landed another pair of hooks to the face and dropped Gurgel again; however as KJ moved in for the finish he glanced an illegal knee off the face of Gurgel as the ref interveined much to the chagrin of Strikeforce commentator Mauro Ranallo and the fans in Houston.

In a major upset, International Fight League veteran Chad Griggs defeated former WWE Superstar Bobby Lashley. Lashley controlled most of the action using his strong wrestling skills and 10 pound weight advantage to bully Griggs on the ground but Griggs managed to sneak in several hard shots as well, including an uppercut in round one that sliced open the two time NAIA wrestling champion. In the deciding round, a bleeding and exhausted Lashley found his takedown stuffed and ate several hard shots to the face from Griggs before the bell. An exhausted Lashley waived the white flag after the bell, unable to continue to a third and final round.

Andre Galvo and Daniel Cormier both scored victories on the undercard of Strikeforce: Houston. Galvao seemed to be winning the first round but his poor striking defense nearly cost him as the rugged veteren Jorge Patino dropped him twice in the first stanza, but rounds two and three saw Galvao take over with a grinding top game that eventully earned him a TKO victory at 2:45 of the third round.  

Former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier’s path to victory was one of much less resistance. The newly crowed KOTC and XMMA Heavyweight Champion immediately pushed the pace against NAAFS heavyweight champion Jason Riley, landing a big right hand and swarming him with brutal ground and pound before coaxing Riley to submit to strikes at 1:02 of the first round. This was Cormier's third victory in less than a month's time and roughly a week after he defeated Tony Johnson Jr. to win the KOTC Heavyweight title

 
Strikeforce: Houston results
Rafael Cavalcante def. Muhammed Lawal KO, 3rd round, 1:14
Ronaldo Souza def. Tim Kennedy Unanimous Decision
KJ Noons def. Jorge Gurgel – TKO, 2nd round, 0:19
Chad Griggs def. Bobby Lashley – TKO, 2nd round, 5:00
Daniel Cormier def. Jason Riley – Submission (Strikes) 1st round, 1:02
Andre Galvao def. Jorge Patino – TKO, 3rd round, 2:45
Vinicius Mahalhaes def. Rocky Long – Unanimous Decision
Adam Schindler def. Kier Gooch – Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Reynaldo Trujillo def. Jose Santibanez – TKO
Chad Robichaux def. Humberto DeLeon – Split Decision
Artenas Young def. Chad Cook- Unanimous Decision