The Strikeforce: "Rockhold vs. Jardine" main card broadcasted live on Showtime from Las Vegas, Nevada, tonight (Sat., Jan. 7, 2012) featured what amounted to a welterweight number one contender bout, as Tyron Woodley looked to finally earn his crack at the vacant belt against prospect Jordan Mein.

It's been widely considered almost a foregone conclusions that Woodley has been headed for stardom and his turn was supposed to continue tonight against a tough and durable but very beatable opponent in Mein.

Mission accomplished.

No different than Tarec Saffiedine before him, though, Woodley used a strong wrestling game and a whole lot of top control to win what many casual fans would likely call a boring fight. Hell, I'm sure a lot of hardcore fans would call it the same.

Nonetheless, "T-Wood" is likely headed for a 170-pound title fight with this all-important split decision win. Like it?

Mein was a stalker early, walking Woodley down and making him uncomfortable against the cage. Woodley's big right hands looked more nervous than anything else. That's probably why none of them landed.

A clinch and failed takedown attempt led to a restart from the referee after a stall in the action but the exact same sequence played itself out. Mein walking Woodley down, Tyron looking to clinch and get the takedown.

Except this time it worked.

Woodley worked punches and top control, scoring points and doing what he does best, which is smother his opponents and steal their will.

Unsurprisingly, Woodley did the exact same thing in the second round, dragging Mein to the floor and just imposing his will. Jordan was game this time, doing what he could to stay busy with elbows from the bottom and throwing his legs up for submissions, but the judges tend to favor the dominant position, as we all know.

And that was all Woodley.

Guess what the final frame opened with? You got it. Another takedown from Woodley!

15 minutes and a cranky crowd later and Woodley emerged the victor with a split decision victory. He's likely headed for a welterweight title shot but he'll receive a response much like Jon Fitch does.

*Crickets*