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The Event

The organization's broadcasting effort in the UK was, to say the least, not quite up to scratch. Not only did British viewers have to wait until Sunday night to watch the event, but what was billed as three title fights in a two hour slot, was actually two fights. So that's 50 minutes worth of action in 120minutes of TV. Where did the other 70 minutes go? Advertising and general promotional filler.  Also surprising was the fact that in two hours they couldn't find the time to show us a world title fight between champions in two different orgs, but they did find the time to end the broadcast with one of the most ridiculous outbreaks of mass stupidity in the history of MMA. The brawl that followed the headline fight was truly cringe-worthy, I for one don't think you can blame an organization for the actions of it's fighters, but what exactly do Strikeforce think of the UK market when they make the decision to show a glorified bar fight but not Shinya Aoki's US debut? All in all it was a huge let down. I should also imagine that most UK viewers were more grateful than ever, at how the UFC look after the UK market.

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Gegard Mousasi

I don't know if anybody recalls a fight at UFC109 that involved a Mr. Sonnen and a Mr. Marquardt. It was a classic example of how a good wrestler can essentially squash the efforts of more or less any other kind of fighter. That is also exactly what we saw in this fight. There is no doubt that take downs and control were what swayed the decision. But in terms of action on the ground, Gegard seemed to do just as much damage from his back as King Mo did from top position. King Mo certainly decided that the fight would take place on the ground, but he didn't seem to have any clear advantage there in terms of doing actual damage. The thing that was perhaps most surprising was Gegards lack of submission attempts. It seemed clear that Gegard underestimated the wrestling ability  and toughness of the 29 year old Mo and even during the brief spells of stand up fighting, failed to establish a rhythm and couldn't do any significant damage. A huge upset for Mo and perhaps a wake up call for Gegard to don a singlet and get some wrestling practice in!

Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson

For a fight that was almost over in the 1st minute, I think most were surprised that it went the distance. Once Shields had managed to screw his head back on in between rounds one and two. He executed a near flawless game plan. With several near submission attempts and probably the longest time that I can recall anybody spending in the mount position, Jake completely dominated the two time Olympic wrestler on the ground. It seemed that Shields was in the mount for so long, waiting for Dan to turn out of it and give up his back for a choke. A submission that Dan has fallen prey to in the past and that Jake has found success with, but Dan's refusal to co-operate led to an interesting stale mate with Jake holding the mount and pounding away with less than vicious punches that didn't seem to trouble Henderson at all. I was also interested to hear that Dan found himself 15-20lbs too heavy with 2 days until fight time. If true, that is a truly shocking mistake for a veteran like Dan. Either way, Jake clearly dominated the top 5 MW and took the fight with apparent ease, displaying physical strength that I think he surprised even himself with. For a WW that basically stood in to fight for the MW title and now had to defend it against a former LHW champion, most had him losing this fight, badly. Ladies and gentlemen, Jake Shields is for real! Now a free agent, I think everybody except Scott Coker want to see Jake in the UFC. Lets hope we get what we want and soon!