Fighting, A Family Business

Ryan Couture, Strikeforce Challengers 14

Taking a third-round rear naked choke victory at Strikeforce Challengers 14, lightweight Ryan Couture did the family name proud. The win, over a now 2-1 Lee Higgins, came after Higgins fended off a number of near submissions and was dropped in the second. Couture takes a solid 2-0 line after a 5-1-1 amateur career. If he could be lured to the UFC before dad calls it a day, a Ryan-Randy combo would be the first time a father and son have ever competed in the UFC. As if the elder Couture needs to add any more records to his résumé.

How’s Taste My Teep Teep

Anderson Silva, UFC 126

Vitor Belfort was supposed to be Anderson Silva’s toughest test on the feet, not the man to hit the deck within one round after a crazy teep/front kick melange. Somehow former Hollywood star Steven Segal managed to the take credit for the rarely seen punt, made all the more striking by it being one of only six hits from ‘The Spider’, after being a semi-regular tutor to Silva for the past six months. Now, if only Georges St Pierre and his ‘90s action hero doppelganger Jean-Claude Van Damme could join forces…

Thread Count

Opening Ceremony, Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva

What’s a grand prix without an elaborate, and slightly superfluous, introductory fighter walkout? Strikeforce not only did exactly that to open its heavyweight grand prix in mid February, but the California promotion also gave each participant a swish, tournament-themed black and white varsity jacket to strut out in. Though the intros weren’t quite as epic, impressive, or even dramatic as those from the days of Pride (Dream more recently), it was an appropriate introduction to what should be a sizeable occasion.

Worst Idea

Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos, Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg

Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos taking Nick Diaz to the ground wasn’t the best thing he could have done to the vaunted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. The two threw thrilling blizzards of chin-tagging punches for the length of their encounter until the hard-hitting Santos, upon finding himself clinched with Diaz late in the second round, elected to trip the Stockton bad boy and work some ground ‘n’ pound. Unfortunately for the Chute Boxe fighter and husband of Cris ‘Cyborg’, Diaz instead took the opportunity to lash on an armbar 24 seconds later and retain the Strikeforce welterweight belt.

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski, Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva

There was a time when people considered Andrei Arlovski unbeatable. With ‘The Pitbull’ losing four in a row, three of those being brutal knockouts, it’s hard to believe. The Belarusian suffered a grim ground ‘n’ pound KO via Sergei Kharitonov’s fists at Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva, but his wasn’t the only legend to be sullied. The eponymous Fedor Emelianenko took a loss after being dominated with strikes and submission attempts in the second against Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva. With Fedor’s right eye pulling a ‘Koscheck’ as a result of mounted punches, ringside doctors were forced to call it off before the third. For the first time in 35 bouts and 11 years, Emelianenko has lost two in a row.

Saved By The Bell

Jake Ellenberger, UFC 126

Tipped UFC welterweight Jake Ellenberger had to survive some close calls to get the unanimous decision win against BJJ wiz Carlos Eduardo Rocha. The latter electrified the UFC 126 crowd with several near-fight-ending submission attempts: at the end of the first after masterfully rolling the American into a straight armbar, the close of the second being within inches of a triangle, then the third where the Brazilian nearly had Ellenberger’s back. Rocha is evidently a non-subscriber to the ‘ground work is boring’ mantra.

Ain’t Nothing But A Number

Herschel Walker, Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg

At around 15 months older than UFC greybeard Randy Couture, 48-year-young former NFL star Herschel Walker proved you’re only as old as you feel at Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg. The heavyweight emphatically TKO’d revitalized old hand Scott Carson to take his second MMA win, after dropping his opponent early then finishing with strikes at 3.13 of the first round. Oddly the 4-2 Carson is actually a WEC alum, having fought on the company’s very first card in 2001. It was also the last time he won.

Remote Voting

Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva

Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix drew so much hype that ratings for the Fedor vs Silva event in February peaked at 1.1 million pairs of eyes. It’s the largest viewership in the company’s history. For years UFC fans pleaded with Dana White and the UFC to consider staging a tournament, but, aside from a few informal four-contender eliminators, the company rebuffed the idea. With MMA fans evidently placing a vote of confidence in the grand prix format via their televisions, perhaps tournaments might be worth some reconsideration in Las Vegas.

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