A light heavyweight battle took place on the main card of the Strikeforce: "Rockhold vs. Jardine" event tonight (Sat., Jan. 7, 2012) live on Showtime, as Muhammed Lawal took on rising prospect Lorenz Larkin.

It was a big bump up in competition for Larkin, who looked every bit ready to take the next step. But was he really?

No. Not really. Not at all, actually. That's because "King Mo" used his superior takedowns and ground-n-pound to just put a beating on Larkin, to the point that referee Kim Winslow is again under fire for not stopping the fight sooner.

Indeed, Larkin was laid up against the cage and eating shot after shot to the grill, clearly defenseless. Even Lawal told Winslow right in the cage that she let him get hit with too many punches.

Oh well. Lawal won by knockout in the second frame and looked damn good doing it.

Lawal wasted no time at all grabbing a takedown and unloading with his trademark ground-n-pound. The entire first frame featured the wrestler plying his craft, putting Larkin on his back and frustrating him.

The second saw much of the same except this time, the power punches on the floor were finding their mark with deadly precision. CompuStrike pegged Lawal with landing 32 power strikes.

Larkin? Just two.

The Strikeforce light heavyweight is vacant now that Dan Henderson has bailed to the UFC and Lawal, who just signed a new four-fight contract, seems as good a candidate as any to fight for the belt.

Anyone disagree?