Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum Results

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Main Event, Heavyweight Bout: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum

Werdum defeated Emelianenko via Submission (triangle choke) at 1:32 of round 1.

Middleweight Bout: Cung Le vs. Scott Smith

Le defeated Smith via TKO (strikes) at 1:46 of round 2.

Strikeforce Women's Middleweight Championship Bout: Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (C) vs. Jan Finney

Santos defeated Finney via TKO (strikes) at 2:56 of round 2. Cyborg retains the Strikeforce Women's Middleweight Championship.

Lightweight Bout: Josh Thomson vs. Pat Healy

Thomson defeated Healy via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:27 of round 3.

Josh Thomson vs. Pat Healy- I wasn't paying much attention to this fight.
Cyborg" Santos (C) vs. Jan Finney- Cyborg came out throwing bombs. She unloaded with rights, lefts, knees, ground and pound, over and over. Finey took some major punishment, but she was tough and she kept coming. Cyborg got warned about punches to the back of the head in the 1st rd, but the only reason she was getting the back of her head is Finey was just tutrling up and hanging on. When the 2nd rd start, Cyborg came out to finish the fight and she did, in impressive fashion. Cyborg is one tough broad.
Cung Le vs. Scott Smith- Both guys came out swinging, but Le pretty much dominated. He finished Smith in the 2nd rd, with a great looking spin kick to the chest and then he followed up by pounding him out.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum- This one had a shocking end. Fedor came out swinging, knocked Werdum down, but that is when it all went wrong for Fedor. He got in Werdum's gaurd to do some damage from the top, but Werdum tried to hook up an arm bar, and when that didn't work, he quickly transitioned to a Triangle Choke. Fedor stayed in the hold for a few seconds, but he had to tap out. So much for the number 1 fighter in the world.

Only got to watch the Fedor fight so far...and man...the HW division just got turned upside down. How far down does Fedor fall down? How far up does Werdum move up? Does Fedor still deserve a title shot against Overeem? Does Fedor really consider retiring now that his record is blemished?

I don't see any way that Fedor can jump over Oveereem for a title show, when they said on last nights broadcast that Oveereem gets the winner of Fedore vs. Werdum. Oveereem even siad "I want the winne of this fight." That fight will be interesting because apperantly Werdum is Oveereem's only loss. The next question would be who will Fedor fight next? Strikeforce only has a couple of real HW contenders and they will be fighting each other soon.

If Fedor retires after last night, his legacy turns to shit as far as I am concerned. This is the first time in his career he has face real adrevisty. Every great MMA fighter takes a loss once in a while, even in there prime. Couture lost in his prime, Liddel lost in hist prime, even GSP has 2 losses on his record. Fedor has got to come out of this strong and he has got to fight someone worthy of his status. After watching last night, I am question his desire to fight. He showed no emotions in his post fight interview. Hell, his expersion never changed from the time he came to the ring, to the time he tapped out. I know he has that Russian stoic thing going on, but I wanted to see him get upset about the way he lost.

For now, this puts that #1 HW thing to rest. I did not think he was #1 going into that fight and I sure as hell don't think he is now. #1 is going to be settled next Sat, when Lesner and Carwin collide.

Fedor has said that he wants a rematch and Werdum wouldn't mind. If I'm Strikeforce, I book that rematch, but only if M-1 is willing to add another fight to their current co-promotion deal (so if Fedor wins, they can put him up against Overeem).

I don't think that would be fair to Werdum. I mean, he already earned a title shot, why should he have to risk it and I seriously doubt that Fedor would make the same mistake again. All of the MMA analizers kept saying that Fedor "had the key to beat BJJ." Apperantly he forgot to bring it with him on Saturday. The obvious mistake was Fedore following Werdum to the ground. He barely hit him with that punch and I think it was kind of a flop and just a way for Werdum to pull gaurd. No way Fedor would do that again and if Fedor makes Werdum stand, Fedor will win the rematch. If the rematch is to happen though, I think it should happen soon, but, that would mean Fedor would have to sign an extension with Strikeforce, because he only has one fight left on the orginal deal. Is he going to win a HW title shot and then leave Strikeforce, in favor of the UFC?

Well as it stands right now, Fedor only has 1 fight left on his contract. If Werdum loses to Fedor in the rematch and he doesn't re-up with Strikeforce, Werdum would probably still be next in line to face Overeem.

Good point. Why did Werdum leave UFC anyway?

I think it was money. He got beat by a relatively unknown JDS at the time, but I don't think it was that loss that was the reason he didn't return.

Watching Strikeforce now and so far Healy/Thompson is looking like a really good fight. High energy, great takedowns and slams by Healy, a lot of sub attempts and escapes, and some very impressive transitions on the ground.

Finney/Santos was just full of poor officiating IMO. Not because of the punches to the back of the head because regardless of whether Finney was turtling up or not, it's Santos' responsibility to punch around it. The poor officiating came into play though firstly with all the verbal officiating. She was asking Cyborg if she wants Finney to stand up or not, warning her about holding the cage, and the first back of the head warning, even though Cyborg doesn't even seem to understand any of it. Her post-fight interview kind of proved it when the interviewer asked her a question and her first response in English wasn't even intially answering his question. So basically the ref was giving instructions that the fighter couldn't even understand and in cases like these, the ref needs to use more physical signs. Also, the fight probably should've been stopped 5 or 6 times before it was finally called (and that's what I think the entire crowd was booing for). Kinney pretty much played the role of a punching bag and it seemed like even Cyborg didn't want to beat up on her anymore.

Le/Smith pretty much went the way most people thought their first encounter would go. That fake jab, spinning heel kick at around 4:30 of the secound round was hot. Then again at around 3:20 of the second round as well with 2 jab fakes beforethe spinning heel kick. Almost like it was out of Tekkan...hmmm. Smith knew though coming into the fight that he had nothing to gain regardless of whether he won or not and his condition for taking this rematch was that if he lost, there would be a third fight between them. I'm curious to see whether Strikeforce makes that happen right away and make them fight 3 times in a row or whether they give them a little break from each other first.

Gonna edit this post as I watch the fights unless someone responds, then I'll continue with another post in this thread.

*EDIT*
Done editing.

I agree that the Santos/Finey fight went on about 3 mins too long and I also agree that the ref in that fight was not very good. A lot of times, people complain because they feel that a fight was stopped too soon and maybe that is why she was hesitant to stop the fight. The ref can't let the crowd call the shots and they have to protect the fighters. Strikeforce, not any other promotion, has anyone for Cyborg to fight. It was obvious from the very begining of that fight that Finey did not belong in the same cage with Cyborg.

Another thought on the ref. She should have called time and took Santos to her corner. That way, her corner could have translated "don't hit her in the back of the head" into Portegues...I can't spell, but you get the point.

I don't even think that she needed a translation. When she gave the first verbal warning, Cyborg didn't even really look at her (probably because she didn't understand someone was yelling to her). What the ref should've done was just call time and when distancing the fighters (at which point she'd have Cyborg at least looking at her), all she had to do was just like tap the back of her head and I'm sure Cyborg would've understood.

Big John would have handled that fight way differently.