Strikeforce 38: Rockhold vs. Jardine Results **Spoiler**

Main Card
Luke Rockhold def. Keith Jardine via first-round TKO
Robbie Lawler def. Adlan Amagov via first-round TKO
Muhammed Lawal def. Lorenz Larkin via second-round TKO
Tyron Woodley def. Jordan Mein via split decision
Tarec Saffiedine def. Tyler Stinson via split decision

Undercard
Nah-Shon Burrell def. James Terry via split decision
Gian Villante def. Trevor Smith via first-round TKO
Ricky Legere def. Chris Spang via unanimous decision
Estevan Payan def. Alonzo Martinez via unanimous decision

Tarec Saffiedine Beats Tyler Stinson

Tarec Saffiedine took a hard-fought split decision over Tyler Stinson on the first fight of Saturday night's Strikeforce on Showtime card.

The first round appeared to be Stinson's and the second and third seemed to be Saffiedine's although only one judge scored it 29-28 for Saffiedine. One judge scored it 29-28 for Stinson, while another scored it 30-27 for Saffiedine.

The win improves Saffiedine's professional MMA record to 12-3, while Stinson falls to 22-8.

Stinson hit Saffiedine with an elbow that bloodied up his right eye in the first round, and after that he battered him with punches, with Saffiedine unable to see Stinson's left hand coming because there was blood in his right eye. It was a good first round for Stinson.

Saffiedine had a better second round, getting on top of Stinson in the early going and staying on top, landing some hard punches from inside Stinson's guard and generally looking to be in control of the fight. It was a good second round for Saffiedine.

The third round got off to a bad start as Saffiedine kicked Stinson in the groin, causing a lengthy delay. As soon as that delay was over, Saffiedine exploded for a takedown and put Stinson on his back, and that's where he stayed for about four minutes before Stinson finally got back up. By that point, however, Saffiedine had controlled the round enough to win the decision.

Tyron Woodley Beats Jordan Mein, Remains Undefeated

Tyron Woodley is a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career.

Woodley defeated Jordan Mein by split decision at Saturday night's Strikeforce event, winning his tenth fight in much the same way he has won his last couple of fights: He used his superior wrestling to control the fight for 15 minutes, and got booed afterward by fans who didn't find the fight entertaining enough.

It was surprising that one judge scored the fight 29-28 for Mein, who drops to 23-8. The other two judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 for Woodley, who said he would like to fight for the Strikeforce welterweight title.

"I should be fighting for the title next," Woodley said.

Although Mein landed some hard punches in the early going, Woodley did exactly what he wanted to do in the first round, taking Mein down and controlling him on the ground. Woodley had a good first round.

The second round was similar, in the sense that Woodley took Mein down and stayed on top of him, although this time Mein was much more active from his back, landing elbows from the bottom and at least attempting to do some damage.

At the start of the third round Mein threw a kick, and Woodley made him pay for it, catching Mein's leg and planting him on his back. Woodley stayed on top on the ground for most of the round and although they did get back to their feet at the end of the round, Woodley clinched with Mein and remained in control. It was an easy decision win for Woodley, even if one judge didn't see it that way.

King Mo TKOs Lorenz Larkin

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal gave Lorenz Larkin a one-sided beatdown on Saturday night's Strikeforce card, looking very impressive with ground and pound to finish the fight.

The victory improves Lawal's record to 9-1, and he said he's hoping to re-take the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt in his next fight. That belt is currently vacant, but it would make sense for Lawal to get one of the two spots in a fight for the vacant title.

"Next person is taking a beating like this, too," Lawal said.


Lawal took Larkin down less than 30 seconds into the first round and stayed on top for about three and a half minutes, easily controlling the fight with ground and pound that Larkin couldn't answer. The fighters were only brought to their feet because of a highly questionable stand-up by referee Kim Winslow, but Larkin failed to do anything with that gift from the ref.

It was the same story in the second round: Lawal grabbed Larkin's leg and worked for the single, needing less than a minute to get the fight to the ground and get into control on top. But this time Lawal did a lot more than just control from the top. He began pounding Larkin's head with big right hands, and Larkin simply had no answer. After a bunch of rights connected to Larkin's eye, Winslow had no choice but to step in and stop it.

Robbie Lawler Beats Adlan Amagov by Stunning Knockout

Robbie Lawler knocked out Adlan Amagov in the first round of one of the strangest fights you'll ever see on Saturday night, one in which Amagov committed a blatantly illegal knee to the head, then got finished thanks to a legal knee to the head from Lawler.

When the fight started, Amagov seemed to surprise Lawler by going for a takedown. That takedown was successful, but Amagov then landed a blatantly illegal knee to Lawler's head on the ground, leading to a point deduction for Amagov.

After Lawler got a moment to compose himself and the fight re-started, he charged forward with a flying knee that appeared to only graze Amagov's head -- but which was enough to knock Amagov down, face-first. Lawler jumped on Amagov and bashed him with punches, and referee Steve Mazzagatti stepped in to stop the fight.

The whole fight lasted just 1 minute, 48 seconds.

"I'm happy to win. I'm going to go back to the drawing board, work on my skills and look to knock people out in 2012," Lawler said afterward.

Lawler is off to a good start on that front -- his knockout victory over Amagov was impressive, even if it was also an early contender for one of the oddest fights of the year.

Luke Rockhold Knocks Out Keith Jardine, Keeps Strikeforce Middleweight Belt

Luke Rockhold knocked out Keith Jardine in a brutal beating in the main event of Saturday night's Strikeforce show, retaining the Strikeforce middleweight title.

Although Jardine was a game opponent, the heavily favored Rockhold had little trouble, winning the fight just 4 minutes, 26 seconds into the first round.

The victory improves Rockhold's professional MMA record to 9-1.

"It means a lot," Rockhold said afterward. "Fighting a guy like Keith Jardine, he's a proven opponent, he's tough and he came to fight."

Rockhold looked good in the early going, landing a hard right hand to Jardine's head and then a switch kick to Jardine's body. The round turned into a bit of a brawl from there, with both men swinging wildly and not always landing. But as the round wore on, Rockhold was landing the harder punches, staggering Jardine.

And then came the ending: Rockhold knocked Jardine down with a right hand to the chin, battered him on the ground and appeared to have him finished before Jardine got back to his feet for an instant -- just long enough for Rockhold to knock him down again and land even more punches on the ground, with referee Herb Dean seeming a bit late stepping in to stop the fight. There was no question that Jardine was out.

The loss was disappointing but not surprising for Jardine, a UFC veteran who is a few years past his prime. For Rockhold, the win was impressive, but it raises questions about what's left for him in the Strikeforce middleweight division. Rockhold said afterward that he wants Zuffa to bring over a UFC fighter for him to fight. That's a good idea -- and it needs to be someone better than Jardine.

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Strikeforce Morning After: Luke Rockhold Says UFC Fighters Are Needed

Saturday's Strikeforce card, headlined by a main event of Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine was a perfectly good night of fights. And yet something was missing -- something that Rockhold himself put his finger on in his post-fight interview.

What's missing from Strikeforce these days is enough talented, recognizable fighters to fill up a full fight card, and enough talented, recognizable fighters to put together a complete weight class. And so it was no surprise that when Rockhold was asked after the fight who he'd like to defend his middleweight title against next, Rockhold said he'd like to fight someone from the UFC.

"I like fighting, I like getting paid, but I love competition and striving to be the best," Rockhold said. "Right now all the best guys are in the UFC, at least the Top 10 ranked -- besides myself, maybe, in some rankings. Those are the guys I want. I want to climb to the top, I want to fight the best in the world, and I think they should bring over some top contenders. Let's see who the true No. 1 contender is, because I believe I am, and I'd love the chance to prove it."

Showtime executives probably gulped hard when they heard those words -- here's the guy who just won the main event on the first card of the new Showtime-Strikeforce partnership, and he's basically saying Strikeforce isn't good enough.

But Rockhold is largely correct: The best guys are in the UFC, and if Rockhold wants to prove that he's one of the best guys, there's really no way for him to do it until he's fighting opponents from the UFC. If Zuffa won't either move Rockhold into the UFC or move UFC fighters into Strikeforce, there's just no way for Rockhold to show where he stacks up.

Unfortunately for Rockhold, all indications are that it's simply not going to happen: The UFC is going to keep its best fighters in the Octagon, and Strikeforce will have to make do with what it has. Don't expect a Top 10 fighter from the UFC to be challenging for Rockhold's Strikeforce belt.

That's too bad for Rockhold, but that's the reality: Strikeforce is capable of putting together entertaining fight cards, but if you want to see the best you have to watch the UFC.

Strikeforce Notes
-- Starting with this card, all of Strikeforce's preliminary card fights will air on Showtime Extreme, which is a welcome development -- at least for people who get Showtime Extreme. Unfortunately, the level of talent on display in some of the undercard fights was lacking. About the only thing Alonzo Martinez showed in his unanimous decision loss to Estevan Payan is that he can take a punch, and Martinez took a whole lot of punches for 15 solid minutes. Martinez really didn't look like he belonged in a televised fight. And Ricky Legere's unanimous decision victory over Chris Spang was a ho-hum affair. I realize Strikeforce preliminary cards aren't exactly going to have Top 10 fighters, but they need to improve the matchmaking on the prelims to give the fans a reason to tune in a couple hours before the main card starts.

-- Seeing UFC President Dana White interviewed during a Strikeforce broadcast was a surprise, and another indication that the UFC's ownership of Strikeforce is not, contrary to what White says, "business as usual." White looked a little uncomfortable in the role, but the bottom line is that White -- not Scott Coker -- is the promoter the fans want to hear from, and it just makes sense that White would be the promoter to appear on television during a Strikeforce show.

Strikeforce Quotes
"She explained to me that she wants to give us a fair chance to keep continuing, and I respect that. Because if that was me, I would rather be put to sleep than her jump in and me still be awake." -- King Mo Lawal, saying he understood why referee Kim Winslow stopped his win over Lorenz Larkin when she did. It's to Lawal's credit that he was concerned enough about his opponent that he wanted the fight stopped sooner, and it's also to Lawal's credit that he acknowledged that the referee has a hard job knowing exactly when to step in.

Having said that, I thought the stoppage was a little slow -- Winslow let Larkin take a couple punches too many.

Good Call
The judges for that Payan-Martinez fight all got the scores right -- 30-27 for Payan -- which gave me some hope that we'd see a night of good judging. Unfortunately, there were some highly questionable scorecards in the three split decisions later in the night, including ...

Bad Call
The scores were all over the map on the Tarec Saffiedine-Tyler Stinson fight. Only one judge got it right, 29-28 for Saffiedine. One judge scored it 30-27 for Saffiedine, which was highly questionable given Stinson's performance in the first round, and another scored it 29-28 for Stinson, which was highly questionable given Saffiedine's performance in the second and third rounds.

Stock Up
Gian Villante is an athletic young light heavyweight with potential, and it was good to see him turn in an impressive first-round TKO win over Trevor Smith. Villante did a phenomenal job of ground and pound, grabbing Smith's leg with one hand and battering Smith in the face with his other hand.

Stock Down
Keith Jardine is a fighter I've always liked, but it's hard to see why he should keep fighting. Jardine is just 2-6-1 in his last nine fights, and he's now been brutally knocked out several times in his career. For the sake of his long-term health, Jardine needs to seriously consider hanging up the gloves.

Fight I Want to See Next
Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Kennedy. Bringing in a middleweight from the UFC would be great for Rockhold, but the reality is that it's not going to happen. Kennedy is the Strikeforce middleweight who makes the most sense for Rockhold.

Geen disrespect naar de vrouwen in het MMA, maar die vrouwelijke ref bij King Mo z'n partij kan echt niet zeg, dat is een levensgevaarlijke ref. ze had die match allang moeten stoppen en zelfs king Mo vond die punishment te ver gaan 15 punches vol op die tegenstander z'n gezicht heb ik geteld aan het einde. dit kan toch niet voor zo'n groot organisatie!

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Originally Posted by MMAProfessor

Geen disrespect naar de vrouwen in het MMA, maar die vrouwelijke ref bij King Mo z'n partij kan echt niet zeg, dat is een levensgevaarlijke ref. ze had die match allang moeten stoppen en zelfs king Mo vond die punishment te ver gaan 15 punches vol op die tegenstander z'n gezicht heb ik geteld aan het einde. dit kan toch niet voor zo'n groot organisatie!

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Een 7,5 voor politieke correctheid!

Vond t maar matig allemaal. Hoofdpartij vond ik nog wel oke.
Maar het gaat wel echt bergafwaatrs met SF zeg... hoeveel mensen waren er aanwezig? Paar honderd?
Leek wel een gymzaaltje van een school waar t werd gehouden.

Jardine moet echt stoppen. Die gast heb ik nou al zo veel stoten zien vangen en zo vaak KO zien gaan achter elkaar. Kan niet gezond zijn.
Ben benieuwd hoe Rockhold het in de UFC zou doen. Tegen een Bisping of zo iemand.
Lawler zou ik ook wel tegen een paar mensen van de UFC in aktie willen zien.

Het is jammer dat er van zo'n goede upcoming organisatie is overgebleven na de overname.
Enkele van hen hebben nu een probleem zoals bijvoorbeeld Rockhold.

Kan hij geen afstand doen van zijn titel en dan naar de ufc gaan?

Strikeforce Fighter Salaries: Robbie Lawler Banks $150K

Middleweight Robbie Lawler was the highest earner at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine, banking a flat purse of $150,000 in his fight against Adlan Amagov.

The next highest paid were Muhammed Lawal and Luke Rockhold at $95,000 and $90,000, respectively, at this past Saturday's Showtime-televised card in Las Vegas.

Below are the Strikeforce fighter salaries, reported by Strikeforce to the Nevada state commission.

Showtime Main Card
Luke Rockhold: $65,000 + $25,000 (win bonus) = $90,000 def. Keith Jardine: $30,000
Robbie Lawler: $150,000 (no win bonus) def. Adlan Amagov: $10,000
King Mo: $80,000 + $15,000 (win) = $95,000 def. Lorenz Larkin: $17,000
Tyron Woodley: $30,000 + $30,000 (win) = $60,000 def. Jordan Mein: $9,000
Tarec Saffiedine: $15,000 + $15,000 (win) = $30,000 def. Tyler Stinson: $4,000

Showtime Extreme Preliminary Card
Na-Shon Burrell: $4,000 + $4,000 (win) = $8,000 def. James Terry: $9,000
Gian Villante: $10,000 + $10,000 (win) = $20,000 def. Trevor Smith: $4,000
Ricky Legere: $5,000 + $5,000 (win) = $10,000 def. Chris Sprang: $6,000
Estevan Payan: $4,000 + $4,000 (win) = $8,000 def. Alonzo Martinez: $5,000

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Saffiedine tegen Stinson vond ik een toffe partij, de rest matig

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Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine Draws $68,805 Live Gate

Strikeforce gave away more tickets than it sold at its Jan. 7 "Rockhold vs. Jardine" event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

According to figures released Wednesday by the Nevada athletic commission, the event sold 927 tickets for a live gate of $68,805. A total of 1,992 were in attendance, 1,065 of which watched for free. Meanwhile, 727 tickets were left unsold.

As previously reported, the total fighter payroll was $566,000.

The previous event, "Melendez vs. Masvidal," fared better, drawing an attendance of 2,995 for a $154,075 gate. The amount of tickets sold/papered at the Dec. 17 event in San Diego were undisclosed. The fighter payroll for "Melendez vs. Masvidal" was $580,000.

"Rockhold vs. Jardine" was the first Strikeforce card under the promotion's new deal with Showtime. The main card was televised on Showtime and the preliminary card aired on Showtime Extreme.