Issue 157
August 2017
Purebred American heroes clash in the City of Roses
When Strikeforce arrived in Portland, Oregon in its penultimate year of existence, it brought three future UFC champions. However, while one retained his belt and status as the promotion’s poster boy, two others experienced some of their worst moments as professional athletes…
All-American
Who would win in a fight: a green beret Army sniper with multiple deployments in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, or a Californian surfer dude?
Usually, the answer is the military man but on this occasion, it was the West Coast wave rider who proved to be the elite force in international combat. Luke Rockhold was building a name as one of the brightest stars in MMA, but his previous title defense against Keith Jardine was not much of an addition to his résumé. Stalking Tim Kennedy down, beating him up and controlling the action for the best part of 25 minutes was, and a sure sign the American Kickboxing Academy product was ready for the step up to the UFC. Three-and-a-half years later, he was champion in the Octagon, too.
In the doldrums
Future UFC king Robbie Lawler’s best days were not in Strikeforce at 185lb. Sure, he had a couple of stunning KOs, but Lorenz Larkin handed him his fifth loss in eight fights by simply outworking him for 15 minutes.
Fun times with elbows
UFC champ Tyron Woodley gets (mostly undeserved) flak for being boring. Nate Marquardt used to get almost as much. Great things were not expected when they faced off for the Strikeforce 170lb title but, shockingly, they delivered four rounds of thrilling action that ended with a spinning whirlwind combination straight out of a button-mashing beat ’em up video game. Narcoleptic Nate? Certainly not this time.
Slip ’n’ slide
Roger Gracie is arguably the greatest competition grappler in history, so he was expected to take an easy submission win over Keith Jardine. However, because he made ‘The Dean of Mean’ bleed like a stuck pig, there was no friction to get any kind of finish locked up. He had to settle for delivering a beatdown instead.
Bad day at the office
Poor Mizuto Hirota had every broadcaster other than Mauro Ranallo calling him Hiroto. Then the Oregon Athletic Commission assigned Dave Hagen, from Oregon, to ref his fight with Oregon’s Pat Healy. Finally, Portland judge Andy Dinger didn’t give Hirota the first round, which he clearly won. ‘Bam Bam’ may have been on the end of a few hometown favors. The Japanese import had good reason to look vexed when the decision didn’t go his way.
Also on the Oregon trail...
Jordan Mein
- Despite being just 22 years, nine months and four days old, Jordan Mein fought for the 33rd time and earned his 25th win against Tyler Stinson.
Ryan Couture
- He was never going to be as good as his pop, but Ryan Couture continued to prove he was better than people thought he’d be with a solid win over Joe Duarte.
Jorge Masvidal
- Jorge Masvidal did Jorge Masvidal things – looking smooth and skillful as he beat the breaks off Justin Wilcox for five minutes, then cruised to a decision.
