Strikeforce: St. Louis - First Person Perspective

     As some of you know, I attended this past weekend’s Strikeforce event in St. Louis, and boy did I and everyone else who tuned in get their money’s worth.  I couldn’t have asked for more…so here is the run down from my experience:

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva vs. Mike Kyle

The main card is here and we are starting to get pumped.  Silva and Kyle enter the cage; they have the flames shooting up from the walkout ramp, now we are in business! The match gets started, and bam!! Kyle drops Silva with a big punch, and everyone goes nuts!! The rest of the 1st round was Silva trying to stay alive as he seemed pretty rocked after that shot, but he kept his composure and made it through round 1.  Round two starts, Silva looks to be throwing his hands a little better.  Kyle goes down, and Silva takes top position, and easily moves into full mount.  He starts throwing two handed hammer fists, and my friend and I were like “No he didn’t!!! hahaha.”  Kyle eats a few punches, can’t seem to do anything from the bottom to escape, and the fight ends with Silva taking the TKO victory.  Exciting fight nonetheless and now maybe Bigfoot Silva can get a quality opponent for his next match-up.

Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland

Lawler comes out to a huge ovation, he trains in Granite City, IL, at the Hit Squad, just a few miles away from downtown St. Louis.  Lindland comes out, and well, he looks a little soft and old maybe? Lol. The fights get underway and I’m like “surely Lindland won’t stand with him.”  Well, he did, and 50 seconds into the 1st round, Matt Lindland was taking a 5 minute nap on canvas thanks to a thundering right hand of Lawler, followed up by a huge blow as Lawler dropped down on a rocked Lindland.  Everyone in the place went crazy, I was jumping up and down, always nice to see a KO like that. 

After a few minutes, Lindland moved his legs, so I knew he was still alive.  He managed to walk out of the arena, well, guided out of the arena, but he looked to have a concussion because he about fell as he was walking behind the curtain.

Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith

I was pumped about seeing Daley fight, and especially since his opponent was Smith.  I knew for sure they would throw bombs from the get go, and to say the least, this fight didn’t disappoint.  Daley seemed to be more of a fan favorite, but Smith also received a warm welcome.  This fight gets started and no time is wasted feeling each other out as Daley begins to throw with everything he has.  Smith gets rocked, but manages to survive the first onslaught.  Daley backs off, knowing that Smith can survive and throw some bombs of his own.  Around the 3 minute mark, Smith gets rocked again, Daley backs off, Smith comes forward, and BOOM! Lights out! I could hear Smith’s body crash to the canvas with a lifeless smack.  My friend and I look at each other and are like “Are you f@#$%%$ serious!!” We explode with joy, jump around and high five again.  I couldn’t believe it, back to back KO’s, what a treat this card has turned out to be so far. Eventually Smith awakens, he looks better off than Lindland was, but he got owned. “This isn’t a movie, he ain’t no Rocky Balboa, when I hit him, he ain’t gettin’ back up.” - Daley

Dan Henderson vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

The main event was here, and I couldn’t wait to see Henderson fight again.  Especially since the first time I saw him was when he fought Shields in Nashville, and it was a rather lackluster fight besides the first round.  Sobral comes out first and he didn’t get the reception I thought he might, but I guess not everyone is as educated as I think they should be.  The man is a legend, and he deserves respect.  Henderson comes out to the biggest ovation of the night, to no surprise.  The men step in the cage and the fight is about to begin.  My nerves were already shot by this point from the previous KO’s, and I was sitting on the edge of my seat hoping for another.

The fights begins. Henderson looks good, focused.  His right hand always loaded up as usual.  He threw it a few times to no avail, but the crowd “ohhhhed and awwweeed” everytime, hoping for one to connect. Before we knew it, Henderson connected with a shot to Babalu’s chin, he starts to wobble and goes down.  He was hurt, but he still had his wits…at least for a few more seconds.  Henderson rushes over, is postured up, and drops 2 bombs that connect to Babalu’s chin.  He is pretty much out already, but Henderson comes down to full guard, lands a hammer fist and one more bomb that puts Babalu away for good.  The whole places goes crazy, for the third time in about 30 minutes it seems.  I honestly couldn’t believe what just happened.  3 knockout’s, in a row, that pretty much unheard of and it made what was already going to be a good night, a great night.

For those who haven’t watched this fight card, it’s a must see for any MMA fan!

That’s a wrap, hopefully you like my story, I figured I’d do a write up since it seemed that no one else from this site was going…look what you missed!!! (I couldn't figure out how to add a picture or I would have included some.)