Fedor Emelianenko post-fight
While handing “The Last Emperor” his third straight loss, the match was by no means as disappointing as Fedor’s last two bouts, even though it might have come to an end a tad soon. “I love Herb Dean, and I think he’s the best in the world but I would have liked to see Fedor have an opportunity to recover,” added UFC commentator Joe Rogan via Twitter following the match. I can’t help but agree. Though it looked as though Henderson might have momentarily shut Fedor’s lights off with a massive right, Dean gave the legendary fighter very little time to prove himself able to continue. It’s hard to argue that Fedor didn’t appear stunned, and an onslaught of fists from someone the likes of Hendo was only going to make matters worse, but the jaw-dropping manner in which the historic bout came to an end (made that much more remarkable considering the blistering swing-fest displayed by both men for the first 30 seconds of the fight) still feels a little empty.
“What ifs” aside, the finish apparently felt a little questionable to Fedor, as well, as the fighter explained that he was not satisfied with the stoppage and would continue to allow God’s will to determine his future in the cage. As for Henderson, who like Fedor has no more fights remainnig on his current Strikeforce contract, the current Light Heavyweight Champion explained in the post-fight interview that “we’ll see what happens; I’d like to defend that belt in Strikeforce.” Though Henderson’s future as a fighter is hardly in doubt, this would be a sad ending if indeed it does mark the close to Fedor’s storied career: Despite it being a losing effort, he still looked sharp and turned in his most exciting effort in recent memory.
Satisfying the card’s pre-fight hype quota was Miesha Tate, who built up talk of how she was going to dominate Women’s Bantamweight Champion Marloes Coenen to capture the title. Yet to offset the glow which accompanied Tate as she made her way to the cage (all the while lipping the lyrics to Nicki Minaj’s “Moment 4 Life“) was Coenen, who made her entrance with a firm look of determination. (For those keeping track, she came to the cage with Kanye’s “All of the Lights” blazing.)
With Tate maintaining control in what was an early grappling duel, the wrestler eventually scored a takedown on the champion, though doing so also gave up what looked to be a very tight choke. Eventually escaping before the round ended, the challenger found herself in a different position in the second as Coenen was able to take her down, securing control and manhandling her for the entire round. The third, again, found the fighters on the mat, yet while Tate maintained control, she mustered little offense, eventually succumbing to a sweep reversal as the round ended. The fourth round looked as though it was going to mirror the third before Coenen allowed Tate to jockey for position and lock down an arm triangle, quickly leading the champion (herself a submission specialist) to submit.
Miesha Tate submitting Marloes Coenen
A Green Beret in the United States Army, Tim Kennedy was relentless with his shot attempts during the first two rounds of his match with Robbie Lawler. That said, the heavy-handed veteran did well to defend the takedowns, in the second even clipping Kennedy with a laser of an uppercut which created a nasty gash on the fighter’s nose. Maintaining dominance in the second, by the third it appeared as though Lawler’s window had opened as Kennedy looked to be gassed, yet “Ruthless” was terribly tentative with his offense, eventually allowing the fighter to find his second wind and take Lawler back down and close the fight out by dropping a series of hard shots as time expired, earning the unanimous decision in the process (30-27). For Kennedy, this might mean a big step up, and a potential rematch against Ronaldo Souza for the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship (if he makes it past Luke Rockhold in September). For Lawler though, this loss certainly doesn’t spell great things: Despite his wicked knockout of Matt Linland last December, this loss marks his fourth in six Strikeforce fights, and might leave him somewhere close to the edge of no longer having a home with the company.
Paul Daley and Tyron Woodley’s fight lined up due to a wild series of events that swirled around what might have been a Welterweight Title Match (or at least a firm qualifier) following Nick Diaz vacating the belt last month. Evangelista Santos was first set to fight Tarec Saffiedine before the latter of whom was replaced by Paul Daley despite not being injured (signalling likely title implications). Yet Santos was then forced out of the bout due to injury, and as Saffiedine had been paired with Scott Smith, the undefeated Woodley was brought in to face Daley. That wasn’t complicated at all, was it?
With little substantial action in the first round, the biggest shift came when one of the Brit’s wandering knees clipped Woodley’s groin, causing a forced separation of the two just as Woodley was gaining control against the fence. Unable score any takedowns in the first, Woodley was surprisingly more successful as a striker in the first, something which was expected of historically strong stand-up fighter Daley. From there the wrestler was able to score his takedowns however, though by the end of the second he looked a bit gassed after pushing so hard to contain Daley. In the third Daley was able to gain control after another big takedown, following up with a series of strike attempts before pulling a completely unexpected omoplata attempt out of nowhere. Unable to do much with it however, the round wound down with the fight being all but summed up, with Woodley taking the decision (29-28). Though it’s hard to say where this might leave Woodley considering the young fighter’s still limited range, the loss most certainly impacts Daley’s proximity to title contention, and will likely leave him far outside of the loop when talks do begin to solidify surrounding viable contenders for the vacant belt.
One such name who might be replacing him in those discussions is the man Daley had originally replaced, Tarec Saffiedine. Himself, coming off of a loss to Tyrone Woodley, Saffiedine left a strong impression during his fight against Scott Smith, suggesting that maybe he, too, should be among those considered to fight for Strikeforce’s vacant welterweight title. The aggressor through the entire fight, Saffiedine pushed the pace early in the fight before buckling Smith in the second round. Unable to capitalize on the dazed Smith, Saffiedine later nailed the veteran with a series of short elbows which left Smith gingerly falling to the ground. An experienced kickboxer, Saffiedine effectively showed off his abilities as a combat marksman, landing a number of headkicks throughout the fight, complementing them with a series of hook combos in the third which prevented the bloodied Smith from effectively landing any damaging blows. Going the distance, judges awarded Saffiedine the unanimous decision victory (30-26, 30-27, 30-27).
UPDATE: Fedor vs. Henderson animated GIF
Then again, maybe Herb Dean was dead on.
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