StrikeForce: Rockhold v. Jardine - Post Fight Recap

Say what you want about Strikeforce, more often than not they deliver exciting and fun fight nights. And with the sole exception of Tyrone Woodley vs. Jordan Mein, tonight was no different.

Going in to the main event, I wanted Keith Jardine to score the upset against Luke Rockhold for absolutely no logical reason. However, I was not at all disappointed in the way Rockhold tore apart The Dean of Mean. From the opening bell, Rockhold had no problem dealing with Jardine's unorthodox striking. He neutralized him from the start and managed to land some flashy and effective kicks en route to a TKO victory off a strong counter to Keith's questionable chin. It looks like Luke's next challenge will be Tim Kennedy and after tonight I'm excited to see the fight.

For Keith Jardine, there's really not a lot that interests me. I doubt he retires of this fight, which he should probably think about doing. So, we'll likely see him try to force a couple more slugfests in the Strikeforce Middleweight division.

Robbie Lawlor made me smile when he came out like a berserker, it was almost his downfall though, when Adlan Amagov scored a takedown. I think Lawlor, milked the knee that Amagov landed while he was down, but I don't fault him as it was a smart move. Lawlor followed by taking full advantage of the restart with a huge flying knee that felled Amagov and finished him with some vicious ground and pound. Because it's Strikeforce and excitement is typically more important than "sensible" matchmaking, we could see Lawlor in a title fight in the future. But that doesn't really matter to me. He'll be matched up against whoever they decide to put him against and he's going to swing for the fences. There's no way not to cheer for that.

Great work work by "King" Mo Lawal tonight against Lorenz Larkin tonight. As many suspected King Mo came out looking to wrestle and wrestle he did. He followed his takedowns up by establishing a dominant position and brutalizing Larking with ground and pound. It's time to crown a new StrikeForce Light Heavyweight Champion and Gegard Mousasi is the man to contend with Lawal for the vacant title. After seeing Mousasi dominate Ovince St. Preux at the last Strikeforce event, I'm looking forward to the rematch.

Tarec Saffiedine was able to pull off a split decision in an ugly fight against Tyler Stinson. With the Welterweight title abandoned by Nick Diaz, look for Saffiedine to get a shot at the vacant title against Tyrone Woodley. Chances are it will look just like the fight tonight against Mein and I don't look forward to it.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine

I'm writing this immediately after the prelims, while it's fresh and I'm sober, so bear with me. Overall, the preliminary fights were pretty good with Gian Villante being the stand out. He came out strong and seemed to laugh off Trevor Smith's lazy strikes and low kicks before earning the quick TKO victory. I'd like to see him step up to fight Mike Kyle next. Mostly because Kyle is infamous for those late hits against Brian Olsen and I'd be happy if Villante is able to hurt him. A lot.

For the rest of the fights, I didn't see any one that truly impressed me. I did really like Estevan Payan's striking against Alonzo Martinez, but his inability or lack of desire to force the finish concerned me. He very obviously had Martinez out matched but he was content to take the decision. This will work against lesser competition, but probably not as he moves up the ranks.

Despite giving up the unanimous decision to Ricky Legere, I still have some hope for Chris Spang. His striking was on point even if it was a little reckless. If he can shore up his takedown defense and take a more measure approach, I think he'll see some success. Legere, on the other hand, is going to have a lot of problems with any one that can stop the takedown and he didn't have a lot of offense once he got it to the ground. It got him the win here, but I don't see him going very far. I have the same feelings about James Terry. He's was able to exploit Burrell's TDD weakness, but had a lot of trouble controlling him and wasn't really able to inflict any damage when he got it to the ground. Nah Shon Burrell's striking looked pretty sharp and he liked to throw with power. I doubt he'll ever be a world beater, but he should be able to fill out some cards with fun fights.