Thomson Topples Melendez, Southworth Defends at Strikeforce
Posted by Chad Edward on June 27th, 2008“Punk” Josh Thomson (15-2) won a five-round unanimous decision over “El Niño” Gilbert Melendez (14-2) for the Strikeforce lightweight title Friday night in San Jose by scores of 50-45 on all three cards.
“[Melendez] is the toughest motherfucker I’ve ever fought,” Thomson declared after dominating the former top ten 155-pounder.
In the final round, Thomson landed a front kick to Melendez’s face as if to say, “All night, Gil”
All night, Thomson kept Melendez at bay with a front kick. And, when Melendez passed that, he got zapped with a jab, and a hammered with a knee after that.
Melendez stalked for five rounds, right hand cocked; but, Thomson never set long enough for Melendez to get a beat on him with his knockout punch.
In the fourth and fifth rounds, Thomson shot and scored takedowns, nearly finding a rear naked choke as the fourth round dinged closed.
But, Melendez was just out-kickboxed in every round and gassed trying to corner Thomson for the big shot.
Stack Attacks Palacios
Crowd favorite Bobby Stack (5-1) out-wrestled lightweight San Shou fighter Jose Palacios (3-1) over three rounds for a UD by scores of 29-28 three times.
The southpaw Palacios’s right hook over Stack’s jab convinced Stack to take the fight to the mat after that punch popped Stack’s mouthpiece free in the first round.
Stack took damage for the single-leg shots, but muscled Palacios down and nearly sank an armbar with 25 seconds left in round two.
Stack declined the stand-up again in the third session and rode Palacios across the mat most of the round, though Palacios defended adeptly. The “W” was sealed in the last half of the round when Stack mounted and landed shots to Palcios’s head.
Phan Robbed
Lightweight Nam Phan (14-4) got robbed in a split decision loss to Billy Evangelista (7-0) by scores 29-28 twice for Evangelista and 29-28 once for Phan.
Evangelista certainly dominated the first round, taking Phan to the mat against the cage and dribbling his head off the mat.
But, Phan fed Evangelista a steady diet of overhand rights for the final two rounds, mixing in a body kick and knees.
Evangelista couldn’t nail the same takedown the rest of the fight, taking an elbow that split his head in a stuffed second-round takedown attempt.
Evangelista’s head was the only thing split about the fight.
Fighters.com scored it 29-28 for Phan.
Southworth Defends
Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth (9-5) remains controversial even after his first-season The Ultimate Fighter run.
During his cage entrance, his hometown crowd in San Jose Friday night couldn’t even decide whether to boo or cheer the AKA fighter.
They did both.
He also remains the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion by five-round unanimous decision over “El Torro” Anthony Ruiz (20-11) by scores of 50-45, 49-46, and 48-47.
After the 25-minute back-and-forth roll on the mat, the controversy subsided, but not in Southworth’s favor as the crowd pelted the champion with boos.
“This is my cage! This is my belt!” Southworth announced after his victory over the fighter who had TKO’d him due to a cut last November.
Southworth dominated the slog, attempting a rear naked choke, armbar, omoplata, and triangle choke in the first round alone.
But, both fighters had emptied their tank near the end of round two and the rest was a sloppy tussle.
Still, Southworth caught a second wind in the fourth and rattled Ruiz with an uppercut/knee combo underneath a Ruiz haymaker.
Later in the round, Southworth had a Kimura held tight, but was too weak to turn Ruiz’s arm over to his back.
Ruiz wrote-in a bit of fifth-round drama when he locked in a guillotine, but was also too weak and Southworth too slippery to finish the technique.
Fighters.com scored the “W” for Southworth by 50-45.
Cariaso Dominates Figueroa
It was a feat for bantamweight Anthony Figueroa (4-3) to survive to 4:34 of round two versus Chris Cariaso (7-1), who submitted Figueroa by rear naked choke.
Cariaso plopped Figueroa on the mat three times over the two rounds; but, it only took once in the second round.
Figueroa couldn’t find his feet as Cariaso passed to mount, pounding and attempting an Americana.
But, it was as Figueroa rose up when Cariaso swept to his back and sank the choke to win.
Metcalf Welcomes Daniels to the Real Deal
Another one-dimensional athlete was sacrificed to the MMA gods when Jeremiah Metcalf (9-4) welcomed “Real Deal” Raymond Daniels (0-1) from Chuck Norris’s World Fight League into mixed martial arts.
Daniels entered the cage 18-0 in the WFL kickboxing promotion.
He left battered, bloodied, and 0-1 in MMA.
Metcalf dominated, taking Daniels down, passing to full mount, and ripping into the MMA rookie.
Daniels gave his back to a rear naked choke as blood oozed from his nose 59 seconds into round two.
Welcome to the real deal, Raymond Daniels.
Caraway Chokes Cacdac
Bryan Caraway (9-2) went octopus on Alvin Cacdac (4-4), shooting at the opening bell and wrapping Cacdac in a rear naked choke at nearly two minutes of round one Friday night in San Jose for the submission “W”.
Trivino Taps Jacob
“Spider” Alexander Trivino (2-0) manhandled Eric Jacob (1-4) for 37 seconds before slipping in an armbar as Jacob defended the guillotine choke Trivino had caught him in as Jacob shot to open the fight.
Padhillo Out-Hustles Johnson
Welterweight Travis Johnson (2-1) flipped the switch at the end of the second three-minute round versus Cyrillo Padhillo (1-0) and scored a left hook knockdown in round three; but, Padhillo’s early takedowns and pot-shots breaking the clinch were too much to overcome.
Padihillo celebrated in the final seconds, coming away with a unanimous decision by 30-27 and 29-28 twice.
Saint Jorge Slays the “Dragon”
Jorge Interiano (1-0) was sainted in his professional debut, slaying “Last Dragon” Travis Johnson (0-1) by doctor stoppage after the second round of a sloppy brawl. A left hook in the second round opened a cut under Johnson’s eye, prompting the stoppage.
allteeth said:
Punk Rocks!
All except for one fight this night was rather bland. They may consider changing the name to wrestleforce. I appreciate good ground technique, I just didn’t see any.
The highlight of the card was definately the fight everyone came to see. Thomson vs. Melendez. Though I didn’t call a Thomson sub win correctly, I was pleased to be proven wrong by such a brilliant showing. Thomson brought and used every tool in the box.
Melendez was focused, then irritated, frustrated, confused, exhausted and finally beat. It was a clinic by Thomson in a fight where the defending champion never saw a moment of daylight.
Thomsons ability to control the pace and the range with strikes that baffled his opponent with a 68% landed compared to Gilberts 24%.
Thomsons front kicks were some of the best and numerous that I’ve ever seen in a MMA fight, much less a championship belt. In so doing, Melendez strikes and counters were simply never able to reach their mark. To add insult to injury Melendez recorded 0 take downs and 0 sub attempts. Gilberts usual dominance was no where to be seen.
With two fighters of this caliber, and with their similar records, there’s not much doubt that a rematch is on the west coast horizon.