Issue 038
June 2008
A crowd of 15,192 fans (that’s among the biggest in North American MMA history) packed into the HP Pavilion to witness a fight many have called an all-time classic. While officially a co-promotion, Strikeforce has been cultivating the San Jose market and building the Shamrock-Le fight since the promotion’s debut two years ago.
EliteXC provided the live cable TV broadcast on Showtime, some money and a few fighters; but as a live event, this show, and its tremendous success, should be credited to Shamrock, Le and Strikeforce boss Scott Coker.
Originally boasting a stacked undercard, things soon went awry. Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos had the dreaded visa issues while Jake Shields, Josh Thomson and Jorge Masvidal all picked up injuries in training. Nick Diaz was controversially pulled from the show due to a complicated situation involving his pre-fight paperwork and concerning his medicinal use of marijuana.
Despite the late changes this ended up a hugely enjoyable event. There were very few competitive fights but plenty of thrilling demolition jobs – also some truly world-class performances and the odd upset to keep the crowd very happy. Speaking of the audience, the good people of San Jose may be the loudest, most enthusiastic mixed martial arts (MMA) fans in the world (at least when ‘their’ stars are fighting) and they gave this show the kind of atmosphere that helped make it a genuinely momentous event.
The King is dead, long live the King
San Jose is a genuine MMA hotbed and Frank Shamrock can take plenty of credit for that. A true sports celebrity in the city, he was essential to the success of the first Strikeforce event in March 2006 (and to the promotion’s very existence). Vietnamese-born showman Cung Le is also accustomed to drawing big crowds in the city. As far back as the late 1990s he was pulling thousands of fans to watch him destroy his unfortunate opponents in San Shou fights. A genius of self-promotion and a legitimate fighting legend, Shamrock is probably the biggest non-UFC star in North America, but he’s no longer the King of San Jose. Instead, Le captured that somewhat ephemeral title (along with Shamrock’s very real Strikeforce middleweight title) in a stirring display of striking excellence, forcing an injury-assisted TKO after the third of a scheduled five rounds.
Before the fight Shamrock had insisted he would stand and trade with the former kickboxing champion, saying a lot had changed in the years since Le used to dominate their sparring sessions. Certainly his stand-up has evolved, but some insiders felt he’d have little choice in the matter, given Le’s Greco-Roman wrestling background and superb takedown defence. Indeed, Le shrugged off an early takedown attempt and the fight remained standing throughout.
Most truly classic fights feature a variety of action – the odd knockdown, a near-submission here and there – and some dramatic shifts of momentum. This one didn’t. Aside from a ferocious final minute, this mostly resembled a closely contested kickboxing match in front of a wildly enthusiastic crowd. For much of the fight, Shamrock landed a few heavy shots but was kept at a distance by Le’s dazzling array of kicks and his sharp (if not exactly concussive) punching. Le blasted Shamrock with a high kick in the first and sent his mouthpiece spinning through the air with another early in the second. He used most of the kicks in his flashy, diverse repertoire, several of which Shamrock painfully blocked with his forearm.
The second round was the closest and the quietest, while the third was a joy to watch as Le landed some hard kicks to the face and a lovely spinning backfist, looking firmly in control. As he tired Shamrock came back, a look of determined fury on his face where earlier he was all taunts and smiles. Shamrock threw more and more punches, badly hurting Le in the closing seconds. That was until Le threw a brutal kick that landed on Shamrock’s already swollen forearm. Shamrock backed off and Le followed, landing a relentless series of punches as time ran out. Saved by the bell, Shamrock’s relief didn’t last long. His right forearm broken just above the wrist, the fight was over. With Shamrock’s fight purse a hefty $300,000 and Le pocketing $200,000 both men more than earned their money for an incredible night’s work. They drew a great crowd, a whopping live gate of $1,117,855 and put on a tremendous display in a fight that will surely remain a very strong ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate, no matter what happens over the next few months.
Melendez Annihilates Lemley
Melendez was coming off his first career loss, dropping a decision to Mitsuhiro Ishida in an incredible fight, but he bounced back in style. Using his mixture of boundless energy, artful jiu-jitsu, powerful wrestling and frenetic striking, he battered Lemley without mercy. Along with some great takedowns and sharp kickboxing, Melendez spent much of the fight on the mat, easily landing barrage after barrage of shots despite the totally defensive Lemley’s best efforts. Finally, a sustained assault of right hands prompted referee Herb Dean to rescue Lemley 2:18 into the second round of an absolute mauling. Next up for Melendez is hopefully a title defence against Josh Thomson, his originally scheduled challenger for this event.
Villasenor Triumphant
‘Smokin’ Joe Villasenor wowed the live crowd and Showtime TV audience with a devastating knockout of the extremely tough Ryan Jensen. It all started very cautiously, with both men reluctant to do anything more than throw vague, speculative strikes. Then, just as the crowd started booing, Villasenor blasted Jensen with a big left hand. A clearly hurt Jensen gamely fought back with some very crisp punch combinations. He even looked to be taking control of the fight until Villasenor ended it with a dramatic right hand, neatly set-up by a pair of jabs. Landing perfectly, the punch sent Jensen plummeting to the mat, face first and completely out of it, 4:45 into the first round. Despite that slow start, Villasenor gave everyone tremendous value for money with a spectacular finish.
In Other Action
His beard resplendent as that of a storybook pirate, the ever-more likeable Kimbo Slice had little of interest to say; but his sheer charisma and mushrooming popularity ensured his live interview drew a bigger cheer than some of the night’s fights. On a night of short, explosive fights the judges were called into action just once as they gave Tiki Ghosn a unanimous decision over the previously undefeated and dangerous grappler Luke Stewart. Ghosn just had too much experience, avoiding Stewart’s frequent takedown attempts and peppering him with punches, kicks and knees. Darren Uyenoyama and Jesse Jones both picked up quick victories. Uyenoyama dominated on the mat and finished Anthony Figueroa with a guillotine choke in 87 seconds while Jones needed just 35 seconds to TKO Jesse Gillespie after immediately taking him down, going for a choke but switching to the decisive battering with punches.
Full Results
Jesse Jones def Jesse Gillespie via TKO (Strikes) 0:35 Rd1
Darren Uyenoyama def Anthony Figueroa via Submission (Guillotine Choke) 1:27 Rd1
Tiki Ghosn def Luke Stewart via Unanimous Decision
Billy Evangelista def Marlon Sims via KO 0:39 rd3
Joey Villasenor def Ryan Jensen via KO 4:45 Rd1
Wayne Cole def Mike Kyle via Submission (Armbar) 0:45 Rd1
Gilbert Melendez def Gabe Lemley via TKO (Punches) 2:18 Rd2
