Last night’s event was great. None of the fights on the card went to a decision. That’s a rare case in any MMA event.
Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund
I was more excited about this matchup than the Shamrock vs. Baroni fight. Why? Fryklund is a very experienced fighter and Cung’s last opponents were pretty much cannon fodder.
Cung looked impressive and now improves his record to 4 – 0. I was a bit disappointed with Fryklund. It was appearent that Fryklund was losing the stand-up yet he continued stand and strike. I was expecting to see some ground work in the fight, but it turned out to be more of a kickboxing match than an MMA match. Even with this win, Cung didn’t really show much of his MMA skills, but rather his display of flashy kicks.
I want to see Cung go up against someone like Jeremy Horn. Horn would surely test Cung’s ground game. Or David Loiseau, and see how he fair against elbows.
Shamrock vs. Baroni
Shamrock was dominating, and it looked like the fight was going to end in the first round. Shamrock had the top position and was pounding on Baroni. The fight was stoodup by the ref after Shamrock threw some illegal blows to the back of Baroni’s head. Luckily for Baroni, he was able to get his barrings and held off Shamrock for the round.
It was the second round that saw Shamrock out of his element. He was tired. Shamrock has always been known for his conditioning and ability to take the fight to his opponents even into the later rounds. But Baroni was the fresher of the two coming into the second round. Baroni was winning the round up until his failed attempt of a takedown which Shamrock was able to take his back and sink in a choke.
Conditioning-wise Shamrock looked terrible. He couldn’t even walk himself out of the cage after the fight. He had to be carried out by his cornermen. During the interview Shamrock stated that he had two blown out knees which may have affected his training.
Now, Strikeforce should focus more on competitive match ups rather than marketing rivalies or glorificating local fighters. I’m starting to get tired of Frank Shamrock fighting an old washed-out Gracie or Cung Le padding his MMA record by fighting some “Joe Schmo” with a record of 3 – 5